Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 14:51:22 +0000 (UTC) From: "SimonJ" <Menopsam.net> Subject: Re: tarpaulin
> >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.