Do you find English easy?
I'm an English Native from an English-speaking Country and I find English easy
22.6%
12
I'm an English Native from an English-speaking Country and I find English difficult
1.9%
1
I'm an English Native from an English-speaking Country and I find English neither difficult, nor easy
7.5%
4
I'm a Native from or have grown up in an English-speaking Country with Parents, Grandparents or Great-Grandparents, who emigrated from an non-English-speaking Country and I find English easy
5.7%
3
I'm a Native from or have grown up in an English-speaking Country with Parents, Grandparents or Great-Grandparents, who emigrated from an non-English-speaking Country and I find English difficult
0.0%
0
I'm a Native from or have grown up in an English-speaking Country with Parents, Grandparents or Great-Grandparents, who emigrated from an non-English-speaking Country and I find English neither easy, nor difficult
1.9%
1
I'm not English and not from an English-speaking Country and I find English easy
34.0%
18
I'm not English and not from an English-speaking Country and I find English difficult
5.7%
3
I'm not English and not from an English-speaking Country and I find English neither difficult, nor easy
17.0%
9
other (please state below)
3.8%
2
53 votes
Complaining that your final school exams are too tough is a rite of passage — almost a tradition. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/world/europe/germany-english-test-abitur.htmlBut German students in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg who hunkered down in April to take pivotal final secondary-school exams have gone a step further in their protests about the English-language portion of the test, which they said was absurd, with obscure and outdated references. Nearly 36,000 people — over 2,000 more than the number of students who took the exam, called the Abitur — have signed an online petition demanding that officials adapt the scoring system in light of what they describe as “unfair” questions, even before the results have been released. [...] One focus of their objections was a reading comprehension section that used text from “Call It Sleep,” a critically acclaimed 1934 novel by the American writer Henry Roth, which the students said was rife with archaic vocabulary. Their petition highlighted this passage as difficult to comprehend: “Against the luminous sky the rays of her halo were spikes of darkness roweling the air; shadow flattened the torch she bore to a black cross against flawless light — the blackened hilt of a broken sword. Liberty.” So is the Level of English too hard to comprehend for those learning English as a Foreign Language? Should this Part be left out like with the "mumbling" Speech by Prince Harry? |
Noboru said: Complaining that your final school exams are too tough is a rite of passage — almost a tradition. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/world/europe/germany-english-test-abitur.htmlBut German students in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg who hunkered down in April to take pivotal final secondary-school exams have gone a step further in their protests about the English-language portion of the test, which they said was absurd, with obscure and outdated references. Nearly 36,000 people — over 2,000 more than the number of students who took the exam, called the Abitur — have signed an online petition demanding that officials adapt the scoring system in light of what they describe as “unfair” questions, even before the results have been released. [...] One focus of their objections was a reading comprehension section that used text from “Call It Sleep,” a critically acclaimed 1934 novel by the American writer Henry Roth, which the students said was rife with archaic vocabulary. Their petition highlighted this passage as difficult to comprehend: “Against the luminous sky the rays of her halo were spikes of darkness roweling the air; shadow flattened the torch she bore to a black cross against flawless light — the blackened hilt of a broken sword. Liberty.” So is the Level of English too hard to comprehend for those learning English as a Foreign Language? Should this Part be left out like with the "mumbling" Speech by Prince Harry? Those prince harry videos are perfectly coherent. Do not understand the mumbling accusations. |
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| I recognized all of these words. Germans would be better at English if they didn't watch everything dubbed in German |
 Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| Lmao if I had to read a Spanish novel of that calibre in high school I'd be pissed too. The accusations are perfectly understandable. Comic_Sans said: I recognized all of these words. Germans would be better at English if they didn't watch everything dubbed in German TBF, English might as well be your second official language. Every Swede I've met were fluent in English. |
NudeBear said: Yeah but that wouldn't have been the case if we had dubbed everything like they do in Germany. Back when I was still living abroad and went to an international school the majority of Germans in my English class were among the worst students despite the fact that both English and German are West Germanic languages (Swedish is "only" a North Germanic language). Meanwhile the Finns and the Estonians were generally pretty good at English and Finnish and Estonian belong to a completely different language family. Why is that? Because they subtitle foreign movies. The Germans don'tTBF, English might as well be your second official language. Every Swede I've met were fluent in English. |
Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| I guess that's another advantage of living in a small-ass country where no foreign media is dubbed, learning English just becomes second nature. Never really got why people have it so hard with learning a second language though, third and fourth are hard, second should be basically fluent when you are 12 or 13 at hte latest. |
Dildry said: Are you an English Native from an English-speaking Country?Those prince harry videos are perfectly coherent. Do not understand the mumbling accusations. I'm neither and I do find that Prince Harry seems to slur a little. But it's easy to follow his Speech when you can see him speak and concentrate on it. With poorer CD-Audio Quality and other Background Noises, I can see why People would complain about it. Comic_Sans said: That would be certainly true, but as a Child, I've found Subs inconvenientI recognized all of these words. Germans would be better at English if they didn't watch everything dubbed in German NudeBear said: But shouldn't the Level be rather as high as possible to prepare the Students as good as possible for University/College? Lmao if I had to read a Spanish novel of that calibre in high school I'd be pissed too. The accusations are perfectly understandable. Fijure said: lol, at the Age of 12 or 13, we just had a few Years of real formal English Classes (not playing-around Classes in Grade School). I guess that's another advantage of living in a small-ass country where no foreign media is dubbed, learning English just becomes second nature. Never really got why people have it so hard with learning a second language though, third and fourth are hard, second should be basically fluent when you are 12 or 13 at hte latest. The Possibilities are certainly there for Children to having learnt English that early, plus few others, but formal Language Education is way too slow-paced and Children that little might not have an Incentive to learn English when there's still enough dubbed Media and they aren't active in an international Community. I myself stayed mostly in German-speaking Communities until around 19 or something. It's all a Question of whether or not you see a Need for English and/or any other Foreign Language. |
| I'm English and I totally get that our language can be shitty and hard to learn. Like "I before E except after C, but here's a list of like 400 exceptions for the fun of it lmao". I also feel sorry for people learning the differences between British English and American English. The sentence "hey, you fancy a fag?" would earn you extremely different reactions in Britain and America :^) PS - I have no idea what "roweling" means |
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| @Noboru Sitting in a class learning English for ten years will make you good at sitting in a class learning English for ten years. Me, and everybody I know, learned it form playing video games an watching Anglophone television from the age of 7 or 8, that exposure truly does wonders. Given exposure you'll learn it fine, I speak it as well as I speak Danish today. Now learning German on the other hand, that was a bitch because I started too late and had too little exposure/interest to really do it properly. |
| Speaking english is easy writing English is a pain. Even for a native speaker we have words that sound exactly the same and function so similar they might as well be the same word. |
| "among monsters and humans, there are only two types. Those who undergo suffering and spread it to others. And those who undergo suffering and avoid giving it to others." -Alice “Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.” David Hume “Evil is created when someone gives up on someone else. It appears when everyone gives up on someone as a lost cause and removes their path to salvation. Once they are cut off from everyone else, they become evil.” -Othinus  |
| Using poetry type shit is totally outdated. No one does poetry anymore. |
Fijure said: That Wisdom, lolSitting in a class learning English for ten years will make you good at sitting in a class learning English for ten years. We didn't have that Kind of Exposure. Younger Children, who have grown even earlier accustomed to the Internet and English-speaking Media are less likely to get Trouble. It's definitively easier to learn a Foreign Language when you're exposed to it a Lot and especially in your younger Years. Btw.: How much Speaking Practice do you actually have? Net Communication and Media trains mostly your Reading/Writing Skills + Listening Comprehension. Unless you're using Voice Chats, stumble across a Lot of Tourists, travel a Lot abroad or have to use English in your Profession, there aren't many Options that would actually motivate someone to speak the Language. edit: hazarddex said: Which ones f.i.?Speaking english is easy writing English is a pain. Even for a native speaker we have words that sound exactly the same and function so similar they might as well be the same word. PsychoticDave said: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/01/22/is-poetry-dead/?noredirect=onUsing poetry type shit is totally outdated. No one does poetry anymore. http://www.thegryphon.co.uk/2017/02/17/poetry-outdated-or-in-disguise/ https://www.quora.com/Is-traditional-poetry-outdated I wouldn't say that no one does that any longer, but you raise a good Point. Maybe rather than with Poems, we should be skilled in interpreting Tweets and Online Comments. 2nd edit: Kuromii said: You just learn those "Exceptions" by Heart. Though I do have some Problems with the Combination "ei" in "receive" and "mischievous" is one of the Words I cannot spell without a Spell-Checker.I'm English and I totally get that our language can be shitty and hard to learn. Like "I before E except after C, but here's a list of like 400 exceptions for the fun of it lmao". Kuromii said: American Slang is much wider spread than British one, so I hadn't known what it was you had meant before I looked it up.I also feel sorry for people learning the differences between British English and American English. The sentence "hey, you fancy a fag?" would earn you extremely different reactions in Britain and America :^) PS - I have no idea what "roweling" means Can you make some Sense out of based on the Context? Or maybe @Comic_Sans can answer that Question, since she seems to have recognized all of the Words. |
NoboruMay 6, 2018 1:16 PM
| Another German chiming in. I also didn't know the same word you referred to, OP. I did Higher Level language and literature in English for International Bacclaureate when I was in school. To me, an important marker of satisfactory language comprehension is the ability to grasp rhythmic, emotive and elevated thought - like poetry. The passage of the Statue of Liberty was therefore, in my opinion, suitable. Assessors could readily see the level of English one is at by seeing how they approach it. |
 Bölvat es okkr, bróðir, bani em ek þinn orðinn; þat mun æ uppi; illr er dómr norna. -Hlöðskviða (The Battle of the Goths and Huns) |
Noboru said: Fijure said: That Wisdom, lolSitting in a class learning English for ten years will make you good at sitting in a class learning English for ten years. We didn't have that Kind of Exposure. Younger Children, who have grown even earlier accustomed to the Internet and English-speaking Media are less likely to get Trouble. It's definitively easier to learn a Foreign Language when you're exposed to it a Lot and especially in your younger Years. Btw.: How much Speaking Practice do you actually have? Net Communication and Media trains mostly your Reading/Writing Skills + Listening Comprehension. Unless you're using Voice Chats, stumble across a Lot of Tourists, travel a Lot abroad or have to use English in your Profession, there aren't many Options that would actually motivate someone to speak the Language. edit: hazarddex said: Which ones f.i.?Speaking english is easy writing English is a pain. Even for a native speaker we have words that sound exactly the same and function so similar they might as well be the same word. PsychoticDave said: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/01/22/is-poetry-dead/?noredirect=onUsing poetry type shit is totally outdated. No one does poetry anymore. http://www.thegryphon.co.uk/2017/02/17/poetry-outdated-or-in-disguise/ https://www.quora.com/Is-traditional-poetry-outdated I wouldn't say that no one does that any longer, but you raise a good Point. Maybe rather than with Poems, we should be skilled in interpreting Tweets and Online Comments. 2nd edit: Kuromii said: You just learn those "Exceptions" by Heart. Though I do have some Problems with the Combination "ei" in "receive" and "mischievous" is one of the Words I cannot spell without a Spell-Checker.I'm English and I totally get that our language can be shitty and hard to learn. Like "I before E except after C, but here's a list of like 400 exceptions for the fun of it lmao". Kuromii said: American Slang is much wider spread than British one, so I hadn't known what it was you had meant before I looked it up.I also feel sorry for people learning the differences between British English and American English. The sentence "hey, you fancy a fag?" would earn you extremely different reactions in Britain and America :^) PS - I have no idea what "roweling" means Can you make some Sense out of based on the Context? Or maybe @Comic_Sans can answer that Question, since she seems to have recognized all of the Words.Poetry is also a very pointless thing to learn. Less pointless than cursive writing, but still pretty pointless. I learned all about poetry in school and if someone put a gun to my head and told me to write a decent poem, I'd be dead. Understanding poetry also requires insight on the writer's life sometimes too, which makes it more confusing for out of context (and heavily outdated) poems. |
Noboru said: The Swedish translation of the word is "egga", which I believes translates to something like goad or provoke. When I read the sentence I basically get an image in my head of the rays/spikes poking into the air as if they were trying to provoke it. I hope my explanation makes senseCan you make some Sense out of based on the Context? Or maybe @Comic_Sans can answer that Question, since she seems to have recognized all of the Words. |
Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| @Noboru That's the thing, there aren't many exclusive Danish language sites on the internet, so I started with English early on, and it definitely did help me. As for speaking, most Danes speak gramatically flawless but with a horrible accent. I've mostly managed to get rid of the accent and speak neutral, close to flawless English because I encounter foreigners often, half of university courses are in English, I've travelled a lot, and I've been on mic with foreigners many times. Most Danes travel much more abroad than people from other countries, that certainly helps too. |
| The protest is but a rowel in the side of the German education system. |
LoneWolf said: @Josh makes me sad to call myself Canadian. |
Comic_Sans said: This is a rowel Noboru said: The Swedish translation of the word is "egga", which I believes translates to something like goad or provoke. When I read the sentence I basically get an image in my head of the rays/spikes poking into the air as if they were trying to provoke it. I hope my explanation makes senseCan you make some Sense out of based on the Context? Or maybe @Comic_Sans can answer that Question, since she seems to have recognized all of the Words.  Roth is using the imagery of America an immigrant would be familiar with through dime novels, the spurs of a cowboy boot, to describe the crown of the statue of liberty. It's significant in the context of this is how a child immigrant characterizes his first experience of America, employing all he knows of the country. Henry Roth was a child immigrant. PsychoticDave said: Is it the descriptiveness of the imagery he's using that you dislike? Henry Roth wasn't a poet nor is he outdated.Noboru said: That Wisdom, lol We didn't have that Kind of Exposure. Younger Children, who have grown even earlier accustomed to the Internet and English-speaking Media are less likely to get Trouble. It's definitively easier to learn a Foreign Language when you're exposed to it a Lot and especially in your younger Years. Btw.: How much Speaking Practice do you actually have? Net Communication and Media trains mostly your Reading/Writing Skills + Listening Comprehension. Unless you're using Voice Chats, stumble across a Lot of Tourists, travel a Lot abroad or have to use English in your Profession, there aren't many Options that would actually motivate someone to speak the Language. edit: Which ones f.i.? https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/01/22/is-poetry-dead/?noredirect=on http://www.thegryphon.co.uk/2017/02/17/poetry-outdated-or-in-disguise/ https://www.quora.com/Is-traditional-poetry-outdated I wouldn't say that no one does that any longer, but you raise a good Point. Maybe rather than with Poems, we should be skilled in interpreting Tweets and Online Comments. 2nd edit: You just learn those "Exceptions" by Heart. Though I do have some Problems with the Combination "ei" in "receive" and "mischievous" is one of the Words I cannot spell without a Spell-Checker. American Slang is much wider spread than British one, so I hadn't known what it was you had meant before I looked it up. Can you make some Sense out of based on the Context? Or maybe @Comic_Sans can answer that Question, since she seems to have recognized all of the Words. Poetry is also a very pointless thing to learn. Less pointless than cursive writing, but still pretty pointless. I learned all about poetry in school and if someone put a gun to my head and told me to write a decent poem, I'd be dead. Understanding poetry also requires insight on the writer's life sometimes too, which makes it more confusing for out of context (and heavily outdated) poems. |
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Noboru said: Dildry said: Are you an English Native from an English-speaking Country?Those prince harry videos are perfectly coherent. Do not understand the mumbling accusations. I'm neither and I do find that Prince Harry seems to slur a little. But it's easy to follow his Speech when you can see him speak and concentrate on it. With poorer CD-Audio Quality and other Background Noises, I can see why People would complain about it. Comic_Sans said: That would be certainly true, but as a Child, I've found Subs inconvenientI recognized all of these words. Germans would be better at English if they didn't watch everything dubbed in German NudeBear said: But shouldn't the Level be rather as high as possible to prepare the Students as good as possible for University/College? Lmao if I had to read a Spanish novel of that calibre in high school I'd be pissed too. The accusations are perfectly understandable. Fijure said: lol, at the Age of 12 or 13, we just had a few Years of real formal English Classes (not playing-around Classes in Grade School). I guess that's another advantage of living in a small-ass country where no foreign media is dubbed, learning English just becomes second nature. Never really got why people have it so hard with learning a second language though, third and fourth are hard, second should be basically fluent when you are 12 or 13 at hte latest. The Possibilities are certainly there for Children to having learnt English that early, plus few others, but formal Language Education is way too slow-paced and Children that little might not have an Incentive to learn English when there's still enough dubbed Media and they aren't active in an international Community. I myself stayed mostly in German-speaking Communities until around 19 or something. It's all a Question of whether or not you see a Need for English and/or any other Foreign Language. Im iraqi lol didnt you know that already. |
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Yorozuman said: Okay, so my explanation wasn't completely out there then. Thanks for providing further context, I actually didn't know that rowel was also a noun or that the little wheel that cowboy boots have was called a rowel in EnglishThis is a rowel [im*g]https://www.nrsworld.com/prodimages/2185-DEFAULT-l.jpg[/img] Roth is using the imagery of America an immigrant would be familiar with through dime novels, the spurs of a cowboy boot, to describe the crown of the statue of liberty. It's significant in the context of this is how a child immigrant characterizes his first experience of America, employing all he knows of the country. Henry Roth was a child immigrant. |
Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| @Noboru for example there their the're only changes is context otherwise the words are exactly the same and only spelled differently due to context same with Your and you're |
| "among monsters and humans, there are only two types. Those who undergo suffering and spread it to others. And those who undergo suffering and avoid giving it to others." -Alice “Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.” David Hume “Evil is created when someone gives up on someone else. It appears when everyone gives up on someone as a lost cause and removes their path to salvation. Once they are cut off from everyone else, they become evil.” -Othinus |
| it's more complex for my country... our national language is taken from minority language already... so i had to learn my native language and my national language since young times.... english is already my 3rd language which also has complitely different nature from 2 previous language i had to learn.... sure it's hard in the beginning, but after getting used to it, i don't have that much problem to at least understand it... however, it's hard to become fluent because how different it is structurally.... for the news it self, honestly i found it very hard exam... not even collague in my country that advanced... |
 "If taking responsibility for a mistake that cannot be undone means death, it's not that hard to die. At least, not as hard as to live on." |
Noboru said: Dildry said: Are you an English Native from an English-speaking Country?Those prince harry videos are perfectly coherent. Do not understand the mumbling accusations. I'm neither and I do find that Prince Harry seems to slur a little. But it's easy to follow his Speech when you can see him speak and concentrate on it. With poorer CD-Audio Quality and other Background Noises, I can see why People would complain about it. Comic_Sans said: That would be certainly true, but as a Child, I've found Subs inconvenientI recognized all of these words. Germans would be better at English if they didn't watch everything dubbed in German NudeBear said: But shouldn't the Level be rather as high as possible to prepare the Students as good as possible for University/College? Lmao if I had to read a Spanish novel of that calibre in high school I'd be pissed too. The accusations are perfectly understandable. Fijure said: lol, at the Age of 12 or 13, we just had a few Years of real formal English Classes (not playing-around Classes in Grade School). I guess that's another advantage of living in a small-ass country where no foreign media is dubbed, learning English just becomes second nature. Never really got why people have it so hard with learning a second language though, third and fourth are hard, second should be basically fluent when you are 12 or 13 at hte latest. The Possibilities are certainly there for Children to having learnt English that early, plus few others, but formal Language Education is way too slow-paced and Children that little might not have an Incentive to learn English when there's still enough dubbed Media and they aren't active in an international Community. I myself stayed mostly in German-speaking Communities until around 19 or something. It's all a Question of whether or not you see a Need for English and/or any other Foreign Language. Why would a second language matter at all for a University? |
| English exam here sounds fine, but ohh well, I couldn't really give a fuck even if it isn't. |
The Abitur exams ... the final hurdle for students leaving secondary school for university, a series of written and oral tests worth roughly one-third of their school-leaving grade. The resulting grades are used for a system known as “numerus clausus” that rations admission to popular university programs. Those who wish to study a high-demand subject like medicine but fail to meet a required minimum score may be required to wait up to seven years for a place. “The Abitur grades are the single most important selecting factor for getting into university,” said Rainer Bölling, an education expert who wrote a book on the history of the Abitur. no wonder they're protesting. a low score in English could drag down their overall Abitur grade and hinder their chances of being accepted into universities, which would in turn ruin their prospects of landing a good paying job. all because of an "unfair" (to them) English portion of the exam. |
| You can buy lossless digital music from your favorite Japanese artists on https://ototoy.jp/. The songs are all DRM-free and you can re-download your purchased albums as you wish. Show your support to your favorite artist if you can! ps. if you are looking for Japanese albums, you have to search it in Japanese (not romaji). Just copy and paste the name. For those who want to learn Japanese through anime Resources for learning the language |
vulturs said: I can understand that Line of Thought and I agree with it, but I can also relate a bit to @PsychoticDave 's Point. There should have been an Option to choose between Poetry and a contemporary Twitter/Social Media Post from someone, who might not speak English perfectly.Assessors could readily see the level of English one is at by seeing how they approach it. I'd argue that being able to comprehend Engrish is more useful than being able to understand more "decorated" Language. @Dildry: Sorry Fam, I can't recall it. But now I know @NudeBear: DreamingBeats has answered it. It's because it counts for the overall A-Levels-Score and a Foreign Language is always required. Besides, it helps when the Standards are higher. Moreover, if you know English, you can much easier study in a foreign Country. @HaanFrost: Oh yeah, I've read about the Language Dispute between German and Sanskrit as the third Language. It seems like they've already settled it, though: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Language-a-barrier-no-more-Sanskrit-German-both-to-gain/articleshow/49235679.cms @hazarddex: Those are completely different Words. "your" and "their" are used to describe that something belongs to something or someone, "you're" (you are) and "they're" (they are) are used to describe the State of the Subject. Like what they're doing or how big they are, etc. @Kuma: Does your regional Language differ that much from your national one that it goes further than just a Dialect? @Comic_Sans + @Yorozuman: When I translated the Word in my trusted Online Dictionary and translated it back, it seems like it is only used as a Verb and from it derived Words: https://www.dict.cc/?s=Sporen What's making it confusing is that 1) it's a completely different Word just for the Sake of the Verb. Although, I've looked up the Oxford Dictionary Entry and it seems to be a Noun, too 2) the actual, Germanic Counterpart in English is "spur" and not "spore" in this Context 3) the Gerund (-ing Form) is used. This one makes it particularly hard to comprehend what exactly is meant by that and how to translate it. Is it like an Adjective, is it describing that something is doing something at the very Moment or something completely different? How would you rephrase the "roweling" in the Sentence: "Against the luminous sky the rays of her halo were spikes of darkness roweling the air[...]" What makes me also ponder is whether "Spurs" or "Rowels" are used in a figurative Sense as well in English to motivate/spur on someone or something. What makes the whole Story even stranger is that normally, you're allowed to use at least an English-English Dictionary for those Tests. So even if you can't get the Meaning of a Word from its Context, you can look it up. It's even written in the official Guidelines (in German, Page 5). Curiously, they've added a German-English/English-German Dictionary in the Guidelines for next Year. |
NoboruMay 7, 2018 10:32 AM
| Oh, I understand them perfectly. Tests can be designed atrociously, and yet they will decide your future. My grade has been used as test subjects for a new English exam in the uni, and the exam was nuts. 1 hour of listening, then 3,5 hours of reading and wiritng, two writing exercises (an essay and a letter) and then speaking. And that 1 hour of listening is already tiring to the point of half-death. Like - I dont have a problem with the language, but it's a difficult activity in itself. Why design a test in such an excessive manner, that it's an endurance torture? Plus the texts they used were highly specialized too (one was about reconstructing the throat of a mammoth to learn about the sounds they made and there was a text about genetically modifying mosquitos). Oh, and here they usually changed the layout of finals two or three times per year, so stress never ceased. I'd be pissed if I had to comment on politics as well. I don't have to have an opinion on the politics of another country to enter an uni. I hope the students will get a better exam. Those who make tests should be also held accountable for their shit. |
If I was German I would upset that they were mandating that school kids be required to learn a language that is not their country's language regardless of the difficulty of that language. It would be no different if France mandated that kids learn Russian or if Russians mandated that kids learn Arabic. |
| In my experience, German students have a tendency to whine in order to secure any advantage they can possibly get. Down half a point til the better grade? Whine to the teacher. Failed your exam? Unfair exam! We didn't even have any of the questions in class! All of this pointless drivel can be easily ignore if we instead just look at the grade distribution of the test, see if it's much different from the distribution of the previous year. Why waste time wondering if we can just look all the grades? They're what matters, after all. If the average grade is significantly lower, maybe they'd have a leg to stand on. I'm pretty sure that won't be the case. |
| "my life at this state could be transposed into a pretty massive biography" - Cneq, "the guy who was literally using BTC in 2012 to make deals in the first main instance of a digital itemized economy forming naturally in all human history (also the precursor of NFTs) and who had 20k+ total trades.", 23 years old MAL's most prolific antivaxxer, Noboru. |
| If English was not my first language I would be pissed at how pretentious that is. |
  Crying doesn't mean you're weak. Enduring doesn't mean you're strong. |
| The Abitur here in Germany is fucking difficult. At least for me it was - not because I was too dumb, but rather because I am too silent and shy. It was the reason why I failed to get a "general" Abitur and only have a Fachabitur now. I hate the education system here.. Anyway, I personally wouldn't have a problem with that novel but you have to keep in mind that I'm someone who has always been praised for my english skills (let's be honest, it is only thanks to me loving to read that I'm decent at it..). If I'd complain about anything, it would be that German is a very difficult language even as a native german... =_= |
| Reversed this option to fit. I'm an English Native from or have grown up in an non-English-speaking Country with Parents, Grandparents or Great-Grandparents, who emigrated from an English-speaking Country and I find English easy . |
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deadoptimist said: I'm fine with it, since it requires Students to think about how Things are run in the Country and how the political System works in different Countries.I'd be pissed if I had to comment on politics as well. I don't have to have an opinion on the politics of another country to enter an uni. Though your Situation seems quite extreme. Can't recall my A-Levels Finals in English having been that hard, plus, I didn't have to do the oral Test. ezikialrage said: But knowing a Foreign Language and especially English can be very useful for the further Career. What matters is that you can learn how to learn a Language so much that you can comprehend and use it to a certain Level in Order to deal with the Language.If I was German I would upset that they were mandating that school kids be required to learn a language that is not their country's language regardless of the difficulty of that language. Railey2 said: The Question is: why did it even go to a Petition? And they've even made the next Finals easier, since you will be allowed to also use German-English/English-German Dictionaries from next Year on.In my experience, German students have a tendency to whine in order to secure any advantage they can possibly get. @Vanessa: I neither found the Abitur particularly difficult, nor particularity easy. Sure, with more Diligence on my Part, I could have gotten better Marks. I agree with you that German can be a difficult Language, especially since the Grammar gets often done wrong even by Natives and especially when you speak/write and don't think about it too much. Also, the official re-reformed Spelling Rules are sometimes quite inconsistent and vague, especially with Regards to writing Words as one or separate and the Capitalization and Non-Capitalization of Words. Like why can "recht haben" be written small, despite "Recht" being a Noun, but "Ausschau halten" has to be written with a Capital Letter and "teilnehmen" has to be written in one Word and with a small Letter. I can relate to "leidtun" ("es tut mir leid" = "I'm sorry") being written small, since it makes it like an Adjective, but what the Difference between "Recht/recht haben" (be in the right/be right), "Ausschau halten" (look out)and "teilnehmen" (partake/take part) is that one of those has to be spelled like that and the other like that is something I cannot understand. It's where I have to learn those Exceptions by Heart, but it's pretty much the same Story with every Language. |
| @Noboru well, our national language taken from malayu language, an ethnic that places in western part of the country.... they are famous for trade since ancient times, so their language can be found as lingua franca on the archipilago tho never actually influencing the native language... even most of them still one familiy language (polynesian language), the vocabulary are very different at times, or resemble which can be confusing at times.. language strucure also complitely different.... malayu has simplier structure unlike my native who has lot of class depend on social condition... |
"If taking responsibility for a mistake that cannot be undone means death, it's not that hard to die. At least, not as hard as to live on." |
| @Noboru I am not sure how the school subjects are organized in BW, so this distinction may not even apply there, but do you know if the exam was for the basic "Grundkurs" or if it was for the advanced "Leistungskurs" or both? As for me myself, I had written my Abitur about 5 years ago and I had the advanced "Englisch Leistungskurs" and I didn't feel any problem with the content, but I can't quite remember the content anymore, but I think it was a non-fictional text about modern issues. It's not hard at all. The only reason I didn't ace it was my personal issue of being rather bad in explaining things in easy-to-understand terms in written form under a time limit, as well as being too much of a "perfectionist". Strangely enough I feel like being better at understanding English poetry than German poetry, although I feel rather unskilled in "interpreting" poetry in general. On that note I am glad there is no need to "interpret" the "intentions" of people for computer programming code. That would be a disaster. Well, perhaps also being able to speak and read (but not write) in Polish helps, i.e. being trilingual in general probably helps. As does playing various (imported or... "otherwise obtained", *cough,cough*) computer games in English and reading stuff on English-language websites from an early age on. vulturs said: Another German chiming in. I also didn't know the same word you referred to, OP. I did Higher Level language and literature in English for International Bacclaureate when I was in school. To me, an important marker of satisfactory language comprehension is the ability to grasp rhythmic, emotive and elevated thought - like poetry. The passage of the Statue of Liberty was therefore, in my opinion, suitable. Assessors could readily see the level of English one is at by seeing how they approach it. The problem with that view is that the "assessors" didn't have much freedom to decide. Some of the teachers once explained to me that in German "Zentralabitur", not only are the people who "write" the nation-wide centralized exam questions different from the people who "assess" them in the end, but the ones who make the questions also decide how much points per question the students receive per answer and also what the correct answers are, while the ones who actually assess them get no freedom to decide whatsoever and have to strictly adhere to the "answers sheet" they were handed for the exams with no rights to grant any kind of "extra points" for giving a correct answer that was not considered an available option on the answers sheet. (Although I vaguely remember there being like a single point in total per question block containing 3-4 questions that can be given for "other" things not included in the answers sheet, it's really just a drop in the ocean). So the irony is that even IF it's like you say, i.e. a good measure to assess someone's general understanding of the English language, the teacher cannot make use of it because the teacher is only allowed to make a comparison between the students' written content and the answer sheet. This only applies for this single final exam, so it would have probably been better to use that particular poetry in a different exam before the Abitur. |
Grey-ZoneMay 7, 2018 8:44 PM
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| I'm not English and not from an English-speaking Country and I find English neither difficult, nor easy (your vote) i never bothered with proper grammar even in my native language and i got bad low IQ due to my illness as for the protest its understandable since they should make a practical test that is current or modern use of the english language anyway |
| @Noboru no i am not compairing your and thier. im comparing thier to there and there that sound exactly the same, but only change in context much LIKE Your and you're which again both sound the same but change in context. |
| "among monsters and humans, there are only two types. Those who undergo suffering and spread it to others. And those who undergo suffering and avoid giving it to others." -Alice “Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.” David Hume “Evil is created when someone gives up on someone else. It appears when everyone gives up on someone as a lost cause and removes their path to salvation. Once they are cut off from everyone else, they become evil.” -Othinus |
| If it was anything other than English it'd be one thing, but as a second language I don't think that was particularly difficult to read.. |
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| English as a language is fairly easy, I know as a native that might not mean much but I will explain. English uses the Alphabet which was purposely designed to be easy to use, it also only has 26 characters (with z and x hardly even ever been used in British English), compared that to say Chinese its no competition. If you already know a Western European language, English obviously shares a lot of similarities with its mixture of German/French and Latin. Also most words in English are phonetic and don't require you Fleming your throat or rolling your r's or any of the multiple difficult throat and tongue positions you need to make a sound in some languages. There are no mutations and and words are gender neutral, none of that stupid female and male words. Our numbers are also pretty easy as well. Probably the most difficult thing about English is spelling, since not all words are phonetic, we have some silent letters and we have a couple Heteronyms. But none of that matters in speech and the context of the word is usually enough for any native speaker to understand what your saying. Oh yeah one more thing I guess, English describes an object by Adjective then Noun while a lot of other languages do it the other way round. |
ElPysCongrooMay 8, 2018 8:11 AM
| The basics of English are fairly easy but for me everything beyond that was rather hard to learn and there are still things I don't fully understand or know. Speaking in English is a no no either way because they pronounce so many things differently than how they're written. |
 I'm watching anime since 2012. I also play games, sometimes. Don't bother me if you want to 'become friends' or things like that. It's tiresome. I know you just want to collect some meaningless numbers. Thought: How many people sparked H. Charlotta just for blue pot? |
iLolicon said: ah lol; that Option is missing...I'm an English Native from or have grown up in an non-English-speaking Country with Parents, Grandparents or Great-Grandparents, who emigrated from an English-speaking Country and I find English easy . Don't want to reset the Poll now, but it's something that is fairly interesting to know for Analyses. So you mainly speak English with your Family, but use your Country's Language otherwise when you speak? Phendrus said: That's the Question. If you regularly read Stuff in English, like Books and (Fantasy) translated Subs/Visual Novels in English, then you're more likely to have a broader Vocabulary. The only Problem is, if you don't do anything for English in your private Time and if you don't even read the Books you were tasked to read."Rife with archaic vocabulary?" Hardly. Apart from "roweling" (a word I actually had to look up - it's the rotating part of a cowboy's spurs,) I encounter all of the words in that passage frequently enough. As for the Level, that's about the expected Level (B2). See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages ElPysCongroo said: I thought that was the Standard Thing to do, lol.Oh yeah one more thing I guess, English describes an object by Adjective then Noun while a lot of other languages do it the other way round. Well, I know that Romance Languages tend to put the Adjectives behind the Substantives, but they also place some of them before the Noun, which changes the Function of the Word slightly. @Kuma: Ah I see, so your lingua franca has developed from the Language of one particular People. @dehuman: I don't think that Language Skills have much to do with IQ. They naturally get better the more you practice them and yours are already pretty good from what I can see, since your Style is fairly fluent. Well, they usually include multiple Options, so I wonder whether or not there was a modern English Article as an Alternative to that Text Passage. @hazarddex: What is "thier"? So are you comparing "they're" with "their" and "there", as well as "you're" with "your"? @Grey-Zone: Unless they've changed the Regulations or have others that I used to have, there isn't any Distinction for basic or advanced Courses for any Foreign Language, Mathematics and German. All of those Subjects have 4 School Hours (= 4x45 Minutes) a Week. Yeah, I've had some Practice in English with written Communications and started to read English Subs + Visual Novels around that Time, so I managed to do much better in my Finals than in the Tests before. |
| I mean, considering around 70% of all I learned about english I did without even trying... Then again, portuguese seems way closer to english than german is, both grammatically and structurally. |
HyperLMay 8, 2018 4:02 PM
| You are not your body, you are your brain, the "self" that emerges from within it. |
| I seemed to have missed the portion of the article where people in my home state burgled the math portion of the Arbitur. How silly. Grey-Zone said: vulturs said: Another German chiming in. I also didn't know the same word you referred to, OP. I did Higher Level language and literature in English for International Bacclaureate when I was in school. To me, an important marker of satisfactory language comprehension is the ability to grasp rhythmic, emotive and elevated thought - like poetry. The passage of the Statue of Liberty was therefore, in my opinion, suitable. Assessors could readily see the level of English one is at by seeing how they approach it. The problem with that view is that the "assessors" didn't have much freedom to decide. Some of the teachers once explained to me that in German "Zentralabitur", not only are the people who "write" the nation-wide centralized exam questions different from the people who "assess" them in the end, but the ones who make the questions also decide how much points per question the students receive per answer and also what the correct answers are, while the ones who actually assess them get no freedom to decide whatsoever and have to strictly adhere to the "answers sheet" they were handed for the exams with no rights to grant any kind of "extra points" for giving a correct answer that was not considered an available option on the answers sheet. (Although I vaguely remember there being like a single point in total per question block containing 3-4 questions that can be given for "other" things not included in the answers sheet, it's really just a drop in the ocean). So the irony is that even IF it's like you say, i.e. a good measure to assess someone's general understanding of the English language, the teacher cannot make use of it because the teacher is only allowed to make a comparison between the students' written content and the answer sheet. This only applies for this single final exam, so it would have probably been better to use that particular poetry in a different exam before the Abitur. Then I will have to change my view on the account of the way in which the final exam is marked. I suppose the problem then with the passage is not so much that it is difficult, but that in using such a flowery text, the potential answers allow for far too much nuance to have a trustworthy single correct answer. If I was a student and knew that this was how it was going to be marked, I'd have seen my life flash before my eyes in horror upon reading that text. What a mess. |
Bölvat es okkr, bróðir, bani em ek þinn orðinn; þat mun æ uppi; illr er dómr norna. -Hlöðskviða (The Battle of the Goths and Huns) |
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