Wich country has the best english speakers?

malev   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 18:31 GMT
uh. my american highschool was not sport-oriented and we had to read chaucer and beowulf in the original texts!
american nic   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 18:48 GMT
Did you go to a public or private school? That probably explains the difference.
malev   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 18:54 GMT
what difference would that make? we are both still american
Larry   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 19:02 GMT
I think we all have to agree that English is kinda a bastard-language . Mix of french, various scandinavian languages and others . The thing that bothers me the most is that old English is probably closer to modern Dutch than modern English . I hate modern English, it has lost it's cultural value .
Jason Winslow   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 19:07 GMT
It's true , we americans DON'T have a good educational system . There is absolutely no doubt that the low countries ( Belgium / Holland ) have the best schooling in the world ! It 's not that we are dumber , we just take things slowly .
Hilma   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 19:21 GMT
Maybe i said some things wrong, but I didn't mean that the Americans are dumber! And we (Dutch) or not smarter than Americans, but i do think it's the educational system, that's better.
Toasté   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 21:02 GMT
Apparently the French ARE the worst English speakers in Europe according to a European Study.

Of the eight European countries studied, France has the lowest English knowledge level (and has gotten worse since 1996).

This was mentioned in an interesting Forbes Article (which has a lot of other interesting facts).

Here is the article:

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/1129/039_print.html
american nic   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 22:22 GMT
I am currently in a American public high school, so I know what it's like. I take 'smart' classes, and in half of my classes, no learning occurs. The system is set up to waste money, it seems, so little schooling has educational value. It's very sad.
Bob   Thursday, January 13, 2005, 00:05 GMT
Blaming the system is an easy scapegoat for those who don't want to learn because anyone can learn without the system. Complacent people who think a system is purposely set up to waste money can't come to terms with their self-inadequacy. This is why education for many, takes place well after leaving school.
american nic   Thursday, January 13, 2005, 00:43 GMT
No, you aren't getting what I'm saying. The system sucks. The people who are smart (I would include myself there) read a lot, and teach themselves a lot. If someone just went by the system, they may be smart, but still be really dumb.
Canadian Adam   Thursday, January 13, 2005, 00:57 GMT
Here is a link to the 2003 PISA(Program for International Student Assessment) Survey results. Look at the graph on page 91 of the survey, it shows that the United States in near the bottom of the rankings for math proficiency.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/41/33917867.pdf
Bob   Thursday, January 13, 2005, 00:59 GMT
Smart or dumb, or both(?), which is it? The smart don't need the excuse of placing full confidence in the system or any excuse. Beating the system is smarter than just going by it.
Adam   Thursday, January 13, 2005, 01:02 GMT
Here is a PISA reading performance comparison chart. The US dosn't do too badly here, near the middle. Most western countries do better, but not all. Page 281(11 of 33).

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/58/33918060.pdf
Someone   Thursday, January 13, 2005, 01:07 GMT
"I hate modern English, it has lost it's cultural value ."

Oh really? What cultural value? Do you think that American culture is like the culture the British had over a thousand years ago? Anyway, I don't think that culture reflects language; I think language reflects culture.
Adam L.   Thursday, January 13, 2005, 01:07 GMT
English should not be given a formiddable regard at all. In the European continent, there are more speakers of Russian, German, and French than English ones. There are an equal number of Italian speakers to English speakers as well. Due to higher birthrates among Spanish-speakers, Spanish, only trailing Mandarin Chinese, is slated to exceed English as the language with the highest native speakers. Within the next forty years, Spanish will undoubtedly consolidate America.