Changes worth celebrating, that have happened in my lifetime

[accountantpete]

What should have happened in our lifetimes is the use of that fact to make us truly at ease in our European homeland with functional fluency for all anglophones in at least one other European language. It is an opportunity that can still be taken up — but unfortunately the prevalence of English which you welcome has been allowed to feed a mindset that denies anglophones the chance to take their proper place in their European history, homeland and future.

Sorry - but I feel I have far more in common with the Five Eyes world than the mainland Europe. That is where our future lies I hope.

 

[PK99]

Ah, I see. I guess my problem is that I don't think it matters, each has advantages:

French is good, as they are our our nearest neighbours and the roots are similar
German teaches us about our own language as English is essentially a dialect of German. Also, as an English and German speaker I can understand a lot of Dutch.
Welsh is beautiful and complex and fascinating.

I could go on, but I don't think it matters where you start, as long as you are taught to speak it well: it opens a new world of literature and cultural understanding, new opportunities and It is excellent for neural development, and once the brain adapts to learning a new language it is easier to learn another (despite this I still haven't learned to speak Japanese)

Again I would not disagree with any of that.

But in the same way that kids in the UK school kids kick back at having to learn Algebra and Geometry as they are "non-functional"* as opposed to (say) learning about domestic finances. Similarly learning (say) German is perceived as "non-functional".

* But, as with the Latin, Algebra and in particular Geometry, were useful in Garden Design
Lay out an octagonal lawn? Lay out one square, overlay with another rotated at 45 degrees, ignore the pointy bit and you have a perfect octagon.
Lay out an ellipse? fix two centres and a loop of string and scribe the perimeter - a perfect ellipse.
Lay out a square? 3-4-5 triangle.

On the other hand, anywhere in the world learning English has an immediate functionality - Socal media, You tube, Games, Music, Cinema, US TV streams, BBC world service, online study aids etc

D1 studied German to GCSE and French to AS level (ie the language part, dropping it for A2 which was more literature IIRC), and enjoyed them both but she was/is academically outstanding (5A's at AS, 4 A's at A2, predating A*)

D2 studied German to GCSE. She is just normally bright.

Both were at selective private schools.

 

[newfhouse]

I learned to speak Mandarin as it was helpful to my business and I was spending a lot of time in China

Regarding the benefits of learning a foreign language for the sake of it, I take a different view. Native English speakers have an advantage; they don't need to learn another language and thus have more bandwidth for other subjects. As, say, a Croat, it must take a lot of effort to learn English and this must reduce focus on other areas

I don’t believe that’s how learning works, at least not with younger people. If it did, those with very restricted educational opportunities would be more likely to excel in the one or two topics they do study. My experience is the opposite; those with a breadth of learning are more likely to reach their full potential.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Wrong the body of modern cars are designed to "crumple" resulting in pedestrians and often cyclist being able to walk away when hit at much higher speeds. Of course this doesn't apply to vehicles with "bull bars" and to a similar degree to SUV where they tend to be sent under the car. On the upside it does give the driver of those types of vehicle the feeling of manliness and superiority. The epitome of the latter is land-rover drivers with bull bars.

Risk of death to a vulnerable road user if hit by car at 40 mph is 85%
” at 30 mph is 45%
” at 20 mph is 5%

It hasn’t done that much as drivers accelerate faster and spend more time at the higher speeds. Cars are much heavier, so carry more energy, and energy kills. From the safety point of view reducing the default speed limit in any built up area to 20 mph would be the most effective. Then councils would have to justify increasing the risk of death at least 9 fold to vulnerable users, if they wished to raise a road’s speed limit.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I don’t believe that’s how learning works, at least not with younger people. If it did, those with very restricted educational opportunities would be more likely to excel in the one or two topics they do study. My experience is the opposite; those with a breadth of learning are more likely to reach their full potential.

It isn't: the brain develops and physically changes to accommodate learning: the more you learn the more neural pathways are created to allow information to flow, and the more your long term memory can recall information. This is especially true of children.

 

[Andy in Germany]

You live in a dream world where your extremely protectionist EU is considered to be the best way forward for society. Its for benefit of France but mainly Germany. In the case of euro Germany were the ones that gained and most of the rest of Europe lost out. Good bye and good riddance.

Including the EU dictatorship!!

Why don't you come over to this thread and explain why leaving was such a jolly good idea?

Also, you could explain how the EU is a "dictatorship".

But bring it over to the Dark Side first, most other people on this thread will probably appreciate it.

 

[Brains]

Including the EU dictatorship!!

Errrr what is the name of the European Dictator ?

 

[Once a Wheeler]

Sorry - but I feel I have far more in common with the Five Eyes world than the mainland Europe. That is where our future lies I hope.

The Five Eyes are anglophone. English is French spoken by Germans. You not only have much in common with mainland Europe, you are part of it.

 

[snorri]

The replacement of the solid glass bottle with a plastic squeezable bottle for the dispensing of tomato sauce, HP sauce etc at the domestic meal table.

 

[matticus]

The replacement of the solid glass bottle with a plastic squeezable bottle for the dispensing of tomato sauce, HP sauce etc at the domestic meal table.

Good call. However, my big sister once smacked the bottom of a ketchup bottle (in the usual fashion) but not realising the lid was already loose. Ketchup, lid, much mess, all over the table.

Could never have happened with a squeezy bottle

(there are possibly recycling benefits of glass over plastic too? Not sure ... )

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Mod note:

Folks, the discussions about languages and car crumple zones would make good topics in threads of their own. Now that this has steered back on topic could we keep it there.

Thanks

 

[Notafettler]

Errrr what is the name of the European Dictator ?

The European Union, what did you think it was? With Germany at its head.

 

[Drago]

Us Scots will be

I'm a Scotsman and I admire your optimism.

 

[Blue Hills]

Latin I used every day when working in Garden Design - and would have been able to communicate with Gardeners the world over using the same Latin.

I very much doubt that. You are talking about names of things.

Care to give us an example para of one of your chats down the cabbage patch in latin?

 

[Blue Hills]

The explosion of the craft beer scene over the last 15 years has been a big improvement - largely driven by US innovation.

(I don't live in the UK, but can easily get hold of great UK beer - Neon Raptor has been a good recent discovery. Will be interesting to see if it's as easy to come by in the coming months)

Plenty of innovation in the UK over the last decades.
I drink draught.