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mack4289
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
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 Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:49 am Post subject: how the Dutch learn English |
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I was talking to this Dutch guy who speaks flawless English and he told me that he didn't start studying English until he was 11 and that his parents didn't teach him anything. He said that his earliest but probably most important experience with English was on TV- in Holland they don't dub the English language TV but use subtitles.
I can't generalize about all of Holland but is his experience true in general for the Dutch (and the Scandanavians, who also seem to always speak perfect English)? Should Koreans just stick their kids in front of English TV and forgot about the hagwans? |
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LuckyNomad
Joined: 28 May 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:53 am Post subject: |
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| As far as I know, Dutch is the closest relative to English, so I'm not sure that the Dutch method could be emulated. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:21 am Post subject: |
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I taught adults for a while, and noticed that all the students that spoke English without much of a Korean accent said they learned a lot through music and or movies.
Obviously it won't work for everyone, but it certainly can for some. |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:03 am Post subject: |
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Its easy to pick up dutch, so its probably easy the other way round.
Lekkerrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:29 am Post subject: Re: how the Dutch learn English |
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| mack4289 wrote: |
I was talking to this Dutch guy who speaks flawless English and he told me that he didn't start studying English until he was 11 and that his parents didn't teach him anything. He said that his earliest but probably most important experience with English was on TV- in Holland they don't dub the English language TV but use subtitles.
I can't generalize about all of Holland but is his experience true in general for the Dutch (and the Scandanavians, who also seem to always speak perfect English)? Should Koreans just stick their kids in front of English TV and forgot about the hagwans? |
Same in Belgium.
Dutch and French are normally taught at the age of 6.
At the age of 12 we start learning English. I basically learned my English from watching the BBC, they had the best kids entertainment, educational at that. I spoke English before I was 10, just by watching TV.
But what you are forgetting is that languages in Europe have mixed a lot, and therefore, if you know a European language, it is very easy to learn English (actually English is the easiest language around!), plus we share the same alphabet and stuff.
So there are some cultural issues you need to consider before generalizing.
On a side note, i once had to do an English oral test, this person asked me after 30 seconds whether i was a native speaker. LOL, I told him it was my third language  . |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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I have read somewhere that watching TV stimulates the right hemisphere, which is NOT responsible for verbal tasks, and puts the left hemisphere, which is the verbal hemisphere, to sleep.
Therefore, according to the source, watching TV is not a good way to learn language skills.
But perhaps that source is about to get disproven. |
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mack4289
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| You learn your native language from listening at first so why couldn't you learn a different language from television at a young age? I understand the televisiion isn't talking to you like your parents are, but the principle is at least close to being the same. |
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lostandforgotten
Joined: 19 Sep 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Spreek u Nederlands? Nederlanders kunnen engels goed spreken. Ik denk dat nederlandse mannen zijn de mooiste in dit wereld. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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| LuckyNomad wrote: |
| As far as I know, Dutch is the closest relative to English |
Of all the major languages yes, though this one's even closer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisian_language
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It is interesting to identify a migration from German to English via Dutch and Frisian: zur�ck (German) -> terug (Dutch) -> tebek (Frisian) -> back (English); Schafe (German) -> schapen (Dutch) -> skiep (Frisian) -> sheep (English). It is interesting that the plural of sheep in Frisian and English (and also several German dialects) is identical to the singular form. |
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brento1138
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, from your link, I found out there is a language called "Scots"... funny, I never thought Scotland had a language other than English. Or is "Scots" considered a dialect of English?
And I know this is EXTREMELY ignorant... but I was surprised when my Irish friend told me they have their own language too.  |
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darkhorse_NZ
Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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| brento1138 wrote: |
Wow, from your link, I found out there is a language called "Scots"... funny, I never thought Scotland had a language other than English. Or is "Scots" considered a dialect of English?
And I know this is EXTREMELY ignorant... but I was surprised when my Irish friend told me they have their own language too. |
Scots seems to be a language/dialect (there's always debate on the diference) related to Old English. A Germanic language not a Celtic one as you would expect in Scotland. have you ever heard a Scots person say the word 'ken' for 'know'. This is probably some Scots that has slipped into Scottish English.
studying languages is cool, man. It's a pity we're losing so many of them though. |
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Treefarmer
Joined: 29 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:21 am Post subject: |
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koreans all watch plenty of american movies tho
they have a lot of advantages over koreans learning english (similar grammar, alphabet, cultere etc etc |
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HighTreason
Joined: 15 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Junior wrote: |
Its easy to pick up dutch, so its probably easy the other way round.
Lekkerrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Yes, this is most definitely the case. It is much different for a Dutch speaker to learn English than for a Korean speaker. Dutch speaking folks can easily learn German and English. English speaking people are in an even better position in that we can pretty easily learn both Germanic and Romance languages so German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and French are all pretty easily within our grasp. Similarly, Koreans should have less trouble learning Chinese or Japanese... English is very different, though. |
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Treefarmer
Joined: 29 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| i'm really into japanese video games and they share a lot of words. koreans told me that the languages are very different, but i just think they are being thick |
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teachergirltoo
Joined: 28 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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| The above comments remind me of a woman I worked with in Vancouver. She spoke flawless English with a North American accent. Being as she was German I asked her how she did this. She told me she took no formal training but starting watching Friends episodes as a teenager and copied the speaking style. |
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