Date: Sun, 01 Dec 2002 15:41:28 +0000 From: Johannes H Andersen <johsnopsamfitter.com> Subject: Re: tarpaulin
SimonJ wrote: > > > >Agree with you there Simon! The English and Americans are the worst for > > >bothering to learn languages, they always expect foreigners to speak to > them > > >in English, even when abroad. > > > > > > Well, not exactly true. Most Americans take a couple years of a > > foreign language in high school. The trouble is that since we > > interface with so few folks that speak another language, we > > quickly forget whatever we learned. Only a small percentage of > > Americans have ever been outside of North America. OTOH, > > Europeans interface with different peoples and languages > > constantly, so you get to use what you learn. > > > > > Sorry mate, but not true! When Americans come to Britain they cant even be > bothered to speak English, they try to tell us that chips are fries, bonnets > are hoods, and boots are trunks etc. > > And the English tourist is just as bad, they expect everyone in Europe to > speak English. > > Now the Dutch on the other hand, they are the masters of language, most > speak English like they were born here, as well as several other european > languages. But real fluency in a foreign language is a different matter. Hence there is a dialect known as euro-english that is practiced in the European parliament, the English people are not very keen on this. The Danes are also good at languages, out of necessity I suppose. I recently went to have my Danish passport renewed at the Danish embassy in London. The lady there asked me some funny questions in Danish, it all seemed very casual. But afterwards I thought about it; you can spot a non-native Danish speaker in half a second. That may be different with English as it is spoken in so many countries. Johannes http://sizefitter.com
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
