Mandarin and poetry from age 9

[VectraMan]

There are more general cognitive benefits to bilingualism as well. It actually makes you smarter.

It also makes you think about your own language. I now know far more about English grammar, thanks to learning German, than I ever learned in school (although I am completely confused about what to capitalise ).

Nobody's mentioned the obvious point about French and German, which is that they're the easiest for English speakers to learn. If it's about encouraging kids to think, rather than just teaching what's perceived as the most useful skill, then starting with something that's relatively easy and close to English has got to be better. And then Mandarin can come later.

I wish I'd stuck with French after O-level. It took me until I was 36 to think about learning another language.

[norrahe]

It also makes you think about your own language. I now know far more about English grammar, thanks to learning German, than I ever learned in school (although I am completely confused about what to capitalise ).

Nobody's mentioned the obvious point about French and German, which is that they're the easiest for English speakers to learn. If it's about encouraging kids to think, rather than just teaching what's perceived as the most useful skill, then starting with something that's relatively easy and close to English has got to be better. And then Mandarin can come later.

I wish I'd stuck with French after O-level. It took me until I was 36 to think about learning another language.

It also helps when learning another language to have a good grounding in your own. If I hadn't been taught basic grammar and what nouns, verbs, adverbs, participles etc... were I'd struggle with the language course I'm doing at present.

Best language for any basis in modern romance languages and some mixed anglo-saxon languages is Latin, especially where grammar and declensions are concerned.

[VectraMan]

It also helps when learning another language to have a good grounding in your own. If I hadn't been taught basic grammar and what nouns, verbs, adverbs, participles etc... were I'd struggle with the language course I'm doing at present.

I suppose I must have been taught that stuff once. But when it's your own native language it probably seems a bit pointless and irrelevant to the vast majority, and so doesn't stick. I wonder what proportion of native English speakers could say what an adverb or preposition is? Not many.

Best language for any basis in modern romance languages and some mixed anglo-saxon languages is Latin, especially where grammar and declensions are concerned.

I imagine German cases would be much less of a shock to anyone who'd studied Latin at school.

[AtW]

In my Soviet secondary school we had English lessons by age of 10 and solving differential equations by age of 13.

[TimberWolf]

In my Soviet secondary school we had English lessons by age of 10 and solving differential equations by age of 13.

American English or English English?

[AtW]

American English or English English?

Queen's English - using "will" instead of "shall" in correct places was deemed major mistake.

[TimberWolf]

Queen's English - using "will" instead of "shall" in correct places was deemed major mistake.

What do you consider are the major differences between English and Rusky?

[AtW]

What do you consider are the major differences between English and Rusky?

English don't have sense of humour?

[TimberWolf]

English don't have sense of humour?

That's not funny.

[d000hg]

Agree with Doodab. Foreign languages very important and, quite apart from the arty/feelings/etc side, poetry IMO is a tool in effective use of English language. They should cut crap like RE.

So teach people how to talk with those in other cultures, but not teach them how to understand those other cultures in the first place? Communication is about more than knowing the language... history, culture and religion are pretty important factors.

Though German is little use if you want to work in Spain. Or Argentina, Chile, Uraguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and of course that most Spanish speaking of countries: The United States.

Speaking Spanish is no help getting a job in the US unless you want to earn minimum wage. Why anyone in the UK would want to work in any of those other countries is a mystery.