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It's the dream, really
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this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2024
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I know it's a joke about Americans not speaking a second language, but they aren't too bad at it. They land at about 23% and seeing how the EU average is 25% that's rather good. https://www.americathebilingual.com/the-surprising-truth-about-american-bilingualism-what-the-data-tells-us/
That site is so weird. And whoever wrote that article is also mathematically illiterate. Not to mention they didn't link to any sources. So here is one they claim to have used:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Foreign_language_skills_statistics#Level_of_command_of_best_known_foreign_language
This source says that 65% of 25-64 year old spoke at least a second language in 2016. The much lower number of 24% is when asked about proficiency, which can't be compared with the US given Americans' notorious overestimation of their own qualifications.
Most of the 25% of Americans (I couldn't find a source for this) claiming to speak a second language is immigrants. I guess it needs to be said, but when people comment on the monolongualism of Americans, it's about those who are not immigrants or first generation born in the US.
In my experience, most non Hispanics claiming to speak Spanish in the US struggle to hold even a basic conversation. And I have been to 35+ states, including door to door canvassing, etc.
I know this is anecdotal. As an American, when I mention knowing a second language, I will occasionally get "oh, I know that language too!" from someone. And... They don't. They know a couple phrases at best.
"Well, I speak the most Italian, so I'll be your escort. Donowitz speaks the second most, so he'll be your Italian cameraman. Omar speaks third most, so he'll be Donny's assistant."
"I don't speak Italian."
"Like I said, third best."
Bon jor no.
Prime example: according to numerous surveys more Dutch people speak French well than Belgians.
Belgian is half French speaking, French is taught in Flemish schools from an early age, and many Dutch/Flemish speakers work in predominantly French speaking Brussels, and/or have French speaking friends/relatives.
But it's understandable: a Dutch person thinks their French is great if they manage to order something in a French restaurant while on holiday and have the waiter understand them. That's more than enough for their purposes. A Flemish Belgian thinks their French is bad, if they're unable to write a letter in French which respects rules like those about accord COD/COI (Elle a pris des photos. Les photos qu'elle a prises. Elle est allée prendre des photos. - Hope that's correct)
That and Dunning Kruger. If you have little competence in foreign languages, you don't know enough to know that you don't know enough.
Exactly! They think they know German because of a few phrases. Meanwhile, I think my German is bad because I watched the TV show "Real Humans" (Echte Menschen) in German with German subtitles and got lost anytime they were talking about legal matters in the lawyer's office!
This is broadly true with white Americans that their immigrant background is there already for generations... but a huge part of america does not even speak English at home. America is a melting pot of people from everywhere in the world.