[ExI] How PISA surveys systematically overestimate Finland

[Dan]

On Saturday, November 10, 2012 11:28 AM wrote:

> What do you call someone who can speak 2 languages?
> Bilingual.
>
> What do you call someone who can speak 3 languages?
> Trilingual.
>
> What do you call someone who can speak 1 language?
> English.


I thought the correct answer was "American." :)

But, more seriously, one reason I've heard offered up for this is that English, because of its peculiar history, is vastly different from its closet relatives in a way that, say, most other European languages aren't. (Yeah, there are exceptions, such as Suomi.) So, native English speakers already start out with a huge handicap compared with, say, native Dutch or native Italian speakers.

And then, I guess, there's also the economic and political supremacy of English-speaking peoples for the last two hundred years or so. That doesn't seem to have encourage Brits or Americans to learn other languages. (Full disclosure: English is my first language, though I try to mangle German, Norwegian (well, my grandparents spoke it), and French. And I'm perhaps as good at mangling Ancient Greek and Classical Latin. I was kind of hoping the Singularity would've gotten here by now so that I can be cured of my disabilities.:)


Regards,

Dan