Britain is a small island within which is a small country called England. Much of the world speaks English and, despite having Welsh spoken in the bordering country to the west and French spoken to the east and south of us, we make little effort to learn their languages.
I touched on learning languages in my Doctor/Dentist post. Or not learning them, as is more usual.
Although I may be a few years out of date, I doubt much has improved in the past 10 or so years, as it certainly didn't in the preceding decades (centuries, even). Having lived in Europe with a young child, I can compare the results but I'll focus on the methods used. Bear in mind that, if you are taught something for the first time, it's equally easy to learn the best way or another way.
ENGLISH
First of all, in Britain, some teachers cannot master English grammar themselves* and there is virtually no attempt to correct pupils' enunciation. I appreciate that local dialects should be allowed (even though some make me cringe) but if a child talking to an adult about Harry Potter refers, instead, to "arry po'a" it takes only a few seconds to calmly speak the words correctly. Most children will comply and some may even learn! Of course, this brings us to another problem - many adults were never taught properly, either.
*in their defence, they might be, say, Geography teachers, but you would still expect a certain level of competence in English. I've often come across Europeans who speak better English than native Brits.
FRENCH
So, we can't always master English but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try other languages. French is usually the first language to be taught in generic British schools - and the earliest that pupils are exposed to this is around age ten. Often, the 'French' teacher is not French, which is fine if they can do the job properly but that's not always the case. For example, having returned to the UK with a smattering of French, my young child proceeded to question the teacher's pronunciation.
A major failing in these lessons is that there are more words spoken in English than in French in a French lesson. In some countries, second languages are taught from age seven by immersing pupils from the moment they walk into the room; French (or German or whatever) is the primary language spoken throughout the lesson. In other countries, languages are included in all lessons.
But attitude also plays a large part. Driven by the demand for schools to illustrate 'good' results, teachers and pupils are always under pressure. Learning is a chore rather than a pleasure, which encourages a negative attitude to learning.
WELSH
The possible exception is Wales. There were very few native Welsh speakers among the townsfolk born between the wars and the baby boomers (in my family, anyway) but their children/grandchildren can converse in their native language. Once you master how to pronounce the letters in written words, you will be able to speak the language - even if you can't understand what it means! Here are some examples:
- LL as in Llan is pronounced Hlan
- DD as in Heddlu is a hard th (as in leather)
- FF as in Ffrog is pronounced frog, whereas...
- F is pronounced as V therefore Fron is Vron
Vowels are weird, too, e.g. Cymru is pronounced as Cumri
Here are some Welsh place names:
- Llandudno... "Hlandidno"
- Llangollen... "Hlan-goh-hlun"
- Froncysyllte... "Vron-cu-su-hli" (yes, really!)
- Betws-y-Coed... "Bettus-i-Coid"
- Rhos... similar to 'roast' without the 't'
- Afon is "Aavon" which means River (hence, the River Avon is the River River)
A, B, C, Ch, D, Dd, E, Ff, G, Ng, H, I, J, L, Ll, M, N, O, P, Ph, R, Rh, S, T, Th, U, W, Y
The English alphabet is 26 letters but arguably longer as it doesn't include sounds like ch, sh, th, etc.
