The problem that's often cited is that for "everybody else," the obvious second language is English...but if your first language is already English, there's no consensus about what the second language ought to be.
I think I get your meaning. It's pretty hard for me to imagine growing up surrounded by only one language in daily life, media, education, etc. I've never spent long periods of time in the UK -are languages other than English actually used in the mainstream media so people have some exposure to them? Or is the foreign language education discussion more about the job market, where mainlanders who know more languages may (in theory) pose a threat?
Actually, schools in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium start teaching French and sometimes German before they teach English, but right now French and German are to me what Spanish is to you. The only languages I'm still more or less fluent in are the ones I started to learn for fun, because I wanted to read comics and manga in their original languages.
I was warned back home, in not so many words, that while a year of two of experience abroad is viewed as a plus, actually getting your PhD abroad is just too damn much experience abroad from the American academy's perspective!
That's quite... wow. What exactly would be problematic about getting a PhD abroad?
Nope, I just started the PhD program in Cambridge this past October.
Oops, yes, I did take mentions of starting writing to mean you were nearing the end of a program. Probably because I'm too disorganized myself to start writing anything at its proper beginning right from the start. Ganbare!
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 09:13 pm (UTC)I think I get your meaning. It's pretty hard for me to imagine growing up surrounded by only one language in daily life, media, education, etc. I've never spent long periods of time in the UK -are languages other than English actually used in the mainstream media so people have some exposure to them? Or is the foreign language education discussion more about the job market, where mainlanders who know more languages may (in theory) pose a threat?
Actually, schools in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium start teaching French and sometimes German before they teach English, but right now French and German are to me what Spanish is to you. The only languages I'm still more or less fluent in are the ones I started to learn for fun, because I wanted to read comics and manga in their original languages.
I was warned back home, in not so many words, that while a year of two of experience abroad is viewed as a plus, actually getting your PhD abroad is just too damn much experience abroad from the American academy's perspective!
That's quite... wow. What exactly would be problematic about getting a PhD abroad?
Nope, I just started the PhD program in Cambridge this past October.
Oops, yes, I did take mentions of starting writing to mean you were nearing the end of a program. Probably because I'm too disorganized myself to start writing anything at its proper beginning right from the start. Ganbare!