Posted: Jan 11, 2012 8:37 pm
I'm With Stupid wrote:
1. At what age did you start to learn English?
When I was about eight or nine, I think. Back in "Volksschule", the part of our school system everyone has to go through from ages six to ten. (thereabouts) I don't remember a lot, really, but I think it was mainly just basic vocabulary. There wasn't a lot of formalised grammar and stuff in German either, though. Age-appropriate is what it was.
I know they changed it in the meantime, by the way. Kids start earlier now. I know my brothers did. I think they start with at least one living foreign language in the first year now. Mostly English, but sometimes others too. Mostly the languages of other, neighbouring countries.
I'm With Stupid wrote:2. What was the English teaching in your public education system like:
a) In which country?
Austria
I'm With Stupid wrote:b) At what age did you start learning?
As I said, about eight or nine. Probably closer to eight.
I'm With Stupid wrote:c) Did your teacher speak your native language during lessons? If so, what for, and do you think it was beneficial?
They certainly spoke German during Volksschule and in the first two or three years in Gymnasium. Then units were mostly held in English, although for some stuff they would switch back to German, depending on how good the class was, how complicated the matter at hand was, etc. Also, I seem to remember that for organisational matters not directly pertaining to English lessons they would mostly talk German. Hardly ever heard a German word from a teacher in class from about the age of 15 onwards, though.
I'm With Stupid wrote:d) How much spoken communication in English did you do during these lessons?
As above. I don't remember when that started, but in the last couple of years it was expected that we not only understood whatever the teacher had to throw at us, but that we could also formulate everything that was on our minds in English ourselves. There were conversations in German sometimes, but that hardly ever happened.
I'm With Stupid wrote:3. Did you supplement this with private tuition/study in a private language centre? If so, same a) b) c) & d) questions again.
Nope.
I'm With Stupid wrote:4. Did you ever live abroad in a situation that required you to use English regularly?
Nope. I did have an Aussie stay with me for a couple of months when I was 15. Some student exchange programme.
Edit: Or did you include my current circumstances as well? Most of what I read or write these days is English. Talk English a lot too, for work as well as privately.
I'm With Stupid wrote:5. Other than living abroad, how often did you get to communicate in English? And what form did these communications take?
Not counting lessons? Hardly ever. I got into playing games and stuff online when I was about 15 or something, so that helped a little. As you can imagine, however, that communication hardly consisted of the most complicated topics, though and next to never required to actually form more than one half-way coherent sentence at once.
I'm With Stupid wrote:6. How often did you consume English-language media, and did you do so with a conscious effort to study/understand it?
Depends. We had to read English books and watch English movies that weren't specifically tailored to young people just learning the language at a rather young age. About eleven or twelve or so, I think. Still only easy stuff, but there you go. I still remember that the first English book I consciously read in English rather than in German was the first Harry Potter book a mate of mine got me for my birthday on a trip to London when I was twelve. Since then I mostly made a point of reading stuff in the original language, if I could.
To be frank, I don't know why I can speak English the way I do. School sure didn't help me much. I was... not an easy student to teach and my teachers were either inept or assholes who didn't get along with me very well. (Not that I can blame them.) I guess it's mainly down to me reading a lot. Most of the stuff I need to read for University either isn't available in German or just a translation from English anyway, so why bother with the translation? Similarly, most, non-fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, historical novel etc. writers are writing in English as well.
Also, I suspect that my English got a lot better after I joined RDF as well. It was the first forum I really contributed to in a meaningful way, and since it was English...
