Educational systems, while basically providing every student with general as well as specific knowledge, are in some ways different from one country to another. I propose to introduce you to Portugal's educational system in the specific field of foreign language learning. It may reflect the systems of most European countries except for English-speaking countries. What made me choose such a specific subject within the wide spectrum of education issues is the importance of language as a mean of communicating with other people (and thus enlarging our horizons) and accessing new sources of information.
We Portuguese easily understand most of our neighbor's Spanish, which is another Latin-based language, as are French, Italian and Romanian. At school, when we're about 10 years old (in our 5th year of the learning process) we start learning a foreign language. Usually English is the preferred one as it is the most widely used on our planet. But language knowledge doesn't stop here. In secondary school, when we're about 12 years old, we're led to choose another language, usually French or German. Up until the end of college, that gives us an 11-year language learning background.
In the world, virtually anyone might speak English, making English-rooted people privileged players in communication between humans. Ironically, that's perhaps one of the advantages of living in a non-English-speaking country. You are forced to learn other languages, English in particular, so you can give yourself the ability to communicate and assimilate more information, thus strongly contributing to your education.
Another useful means of language learning is TV. Although TV has large amounts of trashy programs (soaps, contests, live shows and lots of soccer), every film is transmitted in its original form with subtitles. Since the majority of films come from English-speaking countries (USA playing the big role in this industry) we consciously (or not) learn from it when we hear the actors' voices along with their common language expressions. This is not the case in lots of other countries. France and Spain dub films (substitute the original voices with local actors' voices), to give two examples. This surely has its influence in mastering English. Also widely distributed and technical magazines play their parts in the language learning process.
What I would like to underline is the importance language learning has for us... Common widely spoken languages are needed for us to communicate and English tends to be the chosen one. Language learning, while being an end in itself, is also a key to open other doors to our 'self-education' by providing us more information on lots of subjects written in many languages.
Antonio Ferreira, Libson, Portugal
lc004@alpha.ist.utl.pt