This is a very interesting video on learning German. Listening to Benjamin speaking about his experiences takes me back many years to when I learnt my German in Switzerland.
I concur with most of Benjamin’s analysis, but I would like to point out that he is speaking from the point of view of an Englishman. As a Welshman, I should like to add something important. And it is this: Children brought up in Wales differ from their English compatriots in that, from the start, children are ‘confronted’ with two languages: English and Welsh. Further, although most people in Wales have English as their mother tongue — although this can vary according to the area — even monolingual English speakers still have to deal with Welsh place names and so on and so forth. Even monolingual English speakers in Wales must deal with at least some Welsh, as they have to be able to pronounce the names of places and many Welsh street names. So, because of this, they do have a slight advantage over their monolingual, English counterparts, people for whom anything other than English is both generally undesirable and/or unlearnable! 😊 If an Englishman is abroad and cannot be understood, it is said that he just talks a bit louder in the hope that his interlocutor will ‘get it’. 😊
This is why I would encourage my fellow countrymen and countrywomen never to give up on learning European languages. Being able to speak, read, write, and understand a foreign language is enriching beyond belief and/or description. It also makes it possible to understand what is going on in the world from a totally different perspective. – © Mark Alexander
