Which one?

[Ava]

What language do you wish you had been taught from a very early age? I mean really taught (or even immersed in), not the half-assed introduction students get in public school to Spanish or French.

Mandarin, with the benefit of hindsight.

 

[Unkotare]

What language do you wish you had been taught from a very early age? I mean really taught (or even immersed in), not the half-assed introduction students get in public school to Spanish or French.

Mandarin, with the benefit of hindsight.

Good choice. That might be my choice as well.

 

[Noomi]

"stuck with"?

Yes - learning Indonesian is pretty much compulsory over here - in most schools, at least. You start in about Grade 3, I think, and you have at least three classes on it each week up til Year 8. After that, you get to choose whether you want to continue with it.

 

[Meathead]

Czech. I was "born" to be fluent in English and Greek. In 1996 I moved to the Czech Republic with nary a word of the language. It's been a bitch but I've finally gotten to be conversational. It's a nightmare of inflection, cases and grammar in general.

 

[Unkotare]

"stuck with"?

Yes - learning Indonesian is pretty much compulsory over here - in most schools, at least.

What's wrong with that?

 

[Noomi]

"stuck with"?

Yes - learning Indonesian is pretty much compulsory over here - in most schools, at least.

What's wrong with that?

Most of us have no interest in learning that language. We don't exactly get a choice.

 

[Unkotare]

Yes - learning Indonesian is pretty much compulsory over here - in most schools, at least.

What's wrong with that?

Most of us have no interest in learning that language.

Why not? It is the language of a much larger, stronger, more important country very near your own. Why wouldn't you be interested in learning the language? If you managed to learn it well it might open opportunities beyond fast food services. At the very least it could make travel or vacation there easier.

 

[Noomi]

What's wrong with that?

Most of us have no interest in learning that language.

Why not? It is the language of a much larger, stronger, more important country very near your own. Why wouldn't you be interested in learning the language? If you managed to learn it well it might open opportunities beyond fast food services. At the very least it could make travel or vacation there easier.

True. I know of only a few people who decided to continue with it beyond 8th grade. Its not the easiest language to learn, and we did find that the classes would heap praise on Indonesia, and refuse to discuss any negative things about the country.

I remember years ago, there was the war in East Timor going on - that was never mentioned to us, it would have been a good subject to discuss. We ended up with kids bringing notes from parents, keeping them out of that class until we were permitted to discuss the events.

I would have liked to have learned German. Some schools will teach German and/or Indonesian, but the majority will teach Indonesian. I don't believe learning a second language should be compulsory. If it was, a choice between at least two languages would have been preferable.

 

[Meathead]

What's wrong with that?

Most of us have no interest in learning that language.

Why not? It is the language of a much larger, stronger, more important country very near your own. Why wouldn't you be interested in learning the language? If you managed to learn it well it might open opportunities beyond fast food services. At the very least it could make travel or vacation there easier.

Indonesia is larger in the sense of population only. It is certainly not stronger economically or militarily. Whether it's importance in the world eclipses Australia;s is also questionable, but it is likely to someday.

 

[Unkotare]

[ I don't believe learning a second language should be compulsory.

Why not?

 

[Noomi]

[ I don't believe learning a second language should be compulsory.

Why not?

Because this is Australia, and we speak English. I think learning a second language should be optional.

I am curious as to why you think otherwise?

 

[Unkotare]

It is certainly not stronger economically or militarily.

Really? It's armed forces are 5 times larger than Australia's. It's GDP is 41% more than Australia.

 

[Unkotare]

[ I don't believe learning a second language should be compulsory.

Why not?

Because this is Australia, and we speak English.

You realize that is not an answer at all, right?

 

[Noomi]

Why not?

Because this is Australia, and we speak English.

You realize that is not an answer at all, right?

Well, why else would one need to learn a second language?

 

[Meathead]

It is certainly not stronger economically or militarily.

Really? It's armed forces are 5 times larger than Australia's. It's GDP is 41% more than Australia.

To put it simple terms which you might prefer, the Australian military would easily trounce the Indonesian on air, land or sea. The Australian economy is export-based which yields per capita income of $40K compared to 4,700 in Indonesia and a GDP about 30% higher despite having a population about only 10% of Indonesia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

You are simply and demonstrably wrong.

 

[Unkotare]

I think learning a second language should be optional.

I am curious as to why you think otherwise?

Do you think that learning Geometry should be compulsory? How about reading Shakespeare? Ancient History?

 

[Unkotare]

the Australian military would easily trounce the Indonesian on air, land or sea. .

Indonesia has 19% more Air Force personnel than Australia.

8 times more Army personnel.

Twice as many Naval personnel.

12 times more available manpower.

And I'd wager on Indonesians being more willing to actually fight than Australians.


They needn't be afraid though. As usual, undeserving allies like Australia can rest easy in our shadow.

 

[Unkotare]

Because this is Australia, and we speak English.

You realize that is not an answer at all, right?

Well, why else would one need to learn a second language?

And now we know why you're flipping burgers.

 

[Meathead]

the Australian military would easily trounce the Indonesian on air, land or sea. .

Indonesia has 19% more Air Force personnel than Australia.

8 times more Army personnel.

Twice as many Naval personnel.

12 times more available manpower.

And I'd wager on Indonesians being more willing to actually fight than Australians.


They needn't be afraid though. As usual, undeserving allies like Australia can rest easy in our shadow.

You can have all the manpower in the world, but Cold War weaponry and marginal training cannot compete with a smaller and better trained military equipped with 21 century technology - air. land or sea.

Either you are naive or deliberately obtuse. Yours is a dogmatic response to a situation where a country with a much smaller and mostly white population trumps a larger country with a huge "brown" population in almost every conceivable measure of global importance. Get over it.

 

[Unkotare]

Yours is a dogmatic response to a situation where a country with a much smaller and mostly white population trumps a larger country with a huge "brown" population in almost every conceivable measure of global importance. Get over it.

Are you trying to inject race into this? What is your motivation for doing so?

You can relax, I already said Australia wouldn't have to worry as they rest easy in our shadow.