[OT] command of English by non-native speakers

[Amedee Van Gasse (ub)]

On Mon, December 7, 2009 15:06, Chris Rees wrote:

> Added to the fact that most Dutch people seem to acquire a genetic
> talent in language acquisition from their family.

Wrong country, I'm not Dutch! I only speak the language.

> How many languages do your schools teach???

French in primary school at age 10;
English in secondary school at age 13.
Some get German at age 15.
And then of course some schools teach the classics: Latin&Greek, but I
think that doesn't count. :)

> Your point about thinking about words with different origin shows that
> you're aware of homophones in grammatical structure, and learning
> another language clarifies rules that are almost innate in most
> people, but sometimes blurred. I really think that learning another
> language improves your mastery of your native tongue too.

Human languages have rules, just like programming languages have rules. It
makes me a better geek.
Does it surprise you that I can write my own name in Tolkien's tengwar,
*and* that I know the difference between the Quenyan and the Sindarin
form? ;-)