FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS OTHER NATIONS
FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS OTHER NATIONS

Summary/Abstract: In the framework of modern social tendencies, particularly as a result of integration of European nations into the European Union, mastering foreign languages is often emphasized as highly important, with the focus on learning. Thus, there is a broad discussion regarding the age when teaching foreign language should begin, as well as the most appropriate teaching methods. However, the issue of the need for learning foreign language is seemingly not explained to a sufficient degree; it is often reduced to its mere use value, but other educational values are ignored. From this perspective, several developmental segments can be highlighted, such as perceiving, differentiating what is important and what is unimportant, logical thinking, concluding.... The purpose of this paper is to discuss one of the educational reasons for learning foreign language, and answer the question how the attitudes towards other nations are affected by learning foreign languages. In this sense, the results of the research are presented, in which 40 respondents were asked to answer an anonymous questionnaire about their attitudes and knowledge of other nations before beginning to learn a new language, and after one year of learning. The results of this study have clearly shown that respondents have the most positive attitudes towards what they are familiar with, so that the best ranking nations in almost all questions are the British, German, French and Italian, followed by the somewhat lower ranking Greek, with the Finn and Bulgarian being the lowest ranking nations. The survey was repeated after a year of learning a new foreign language (German). Consistent with the expectations, the attitudes towards this language and its speakers, as well as towards the other less familiar languages and nations (Bulgarian and Finnish), were improved. Comparing the results of the two surveys the initial assumption was confirmed, i.e. that learning a language is more than merely adopting a useful skill – it also significantly contributes to our "opening" for what is new, facilitating the skill of accepting what was previously unfamiliar or strange, and being one of the prerequisites for the creation of better and more humane society.

• Details
• Contents