What's the second language in English-speaking countries?

[Boris Tatarenko]

Hello.


It's not an English question. I'm sorry for that, but I'm really curious what's the second language in the USA, Austrlia and England.
Russian kids are learning English as a second language, but there're several schools where they are learning German, French, Spanish (as a third language).
Maybe this question sounds weird, but I really want to know.

(I think in the USA the second language is Spanish :-D)


Thanks in advance.
Boris. :up:

 

[Raymott]

There is no second language in Australia. The status of the minority languages reflects the regions that our latest immigrants are from. There's no large minority language.

"Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 1.6%, Italian 1.4%, Arabic 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2% and Greek 1.2%.[SUP][1][/SUP] "
Languages of Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[5jj]

Languages of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hello.


It's not an English question. I'm sorry for that, but I'm really curious what's the second language in the USA, Austrlia and England.
Russian kids are learning English as a second language, but there're several schools where they are learning German, French, Spanish (as a third language).
Maybe this question sounds weird, but I really want to know.

(I think in the USA the second language is Spanish :-D)


Thanks in advance.
Boris. :up:

The question about the second most common language in a country is different from the second most common language taught in a country. In the US, Spanish is the second most common language. But that is mostly due to immigration. I believe Chinese is third, but for the same reason. I don't know if there are valid statistics for what languages are taught. In my experience, one of the most common languages taught in the USA in the past was Latin. This has fallen off dramatically, which is a serious error in my opinion. Learning Latin was a serious help to students in learning English grammar, learning other Latinate languages, and for careers in science, medicine, and the law. These days, the teaching of Spanish, French, Italian, and German seem to be the most common.

 

[SoothingDave]

Hello.


It's not an English question. I'm sorry for that, but I'm really curious what's the second language in the USA, Austrlia and England.
Russian kids are learning English as a second language, but there're several schools where they are learning German, French, Spanish (as a third language).
Maybe this question sounds weird, but I really want to know.

(I think in the USA the second language is Spanish :-D)


Thanks in advance.
Boris. :up:

The second most common language used by people in the US is Spanish.

The vast majority of people here speak only one language, English. Unlike in Europe, for example, we can go thousands of miles and still encounter people speaking English. And English is the lingua franca of business and technical fields.

Schools do teach foreign languages, but often not until high school. Spanish, French, German would be the most common foreign languages taught in American schools, in my experience.

 

[Raymott]

French and German were the two main languages taught when I was at school too. It bore no relation to the number of speakers in Australia, but looked more backwards to History and Science. (After all, the migrants who came here could already speak their language - why teach it in the schools?) There have been experiments with Japanese, Indonesian (probably a real need), Chinese, and other Asian languages. But you can graduate with a BA in an Asian language without being able to carry on a conversation. (I guess that's the same as in other countries, where you can graduate in English, not be able to hold a conversation, but get an English teaching licence. I think my French teacher of 40 years ago was in a similar position.)

 

[Tdol]

French was the language when I was at school too, with German and Spanish next in line. The choice is greater nowadays, but the numbers learning languages are worryingly low- under half of GCSE students are studying a second language.

 

[charliedeut]

(I guess that's the same as in other countries, where you can graduate in English, not be able to hold a conversation, but get an English teaching licence.)

It is the same in Spain. I do believe, however, that granting a teaching license to someone unable to speak the language taught is a big mistake.

 

[Barb_D]

Two years is all you need to meet the mandatory minimum requirement.

I have one daughter in her fourth year of German and one in her second year of French. They will leave high school with a total of five years. Most schools don't start a foreign language until 7th grade. I think that's too late.

 

[SoothingDave]

My daughter is in 7th grade and she has a half year of Spanish this year. Last year they did an "intro" to both Spanish and French.

When she was in kindergarten, they were teaching them French and Spanish numbers and colors. Then the teachers went on strike, and in the new contract they cut some programs. Like the elementary school foreign languages.