English Is the Lingua Franca of the World

Common Sense   Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:01 am GMT
There's no doubt about it. There's little reason to learn another language when traveling unless one has a huge desire to do so. Otherwise, English will get anyone by in nearly all countries.
Shuimo   Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:10 am GMT
Common Sense Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:01 am GMT
There's no doubt about it. There's little reason to learn another language when traveling unless one has a huge desire to do so. Otherwise, English will get anyone by in nearly all countries.
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Utter Sh*T!
Disgustingly barbarian tunnel vision!
CANadian   Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:11 am GMT
English imperialism and arrogance at its best...

Monolingual English speakers will forever remain cultural tourists outside the Anglosphere.

They will never experience the true flavour and atmosphere of the cultures of the world outside their own little linguistic bubble.

They will always be limited to their own opinions and will never hear what the rest of the world has to say.

They will always be disadvantaged because the world will always understand them but they will never understand the rest of the world.
Common Sense   Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:50 am GMT
Who says I'm monolingual? I speak a couple of foreign languages besides English, but I still stand by the fact that English will suffice when traveling around the world. The American and British presence on the world stage for the past couple of centuries have assured this.
Shuimo   Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:55 am GMT
Common Sense Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:50 am GMT
Who says I'm monolingual? I speak a couple of foreign languages besides English, but I still stand by the fact that English will suffice when traveling around the world. The American and British presence on the world stage for the past couple of centuries have assured this.
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You idiot!
fraz   Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:48 am GMT
Well I'm just back from rural east Germany where almost nobody spoke English. There are plenty places in Europe where English isn't widely known, never mind further afield.

You can certainly get by with English in airports, major hotels and the tourist areas of most cities. But it's not true to say that it's the only language you would ever need for travelling.

Of course, English is rapidly developing as an international language and has ousted other lingua francas like German in Eastern Europe, but there is still some way to go.
horrid monster   Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:53 am GMT
<<Who says I'm monolingual? I speak a couple of foreign languages besides English, but I still stand by the fact that English will suffice when traveling around the world. The American and British presence on the world stage for the past couple of centuries have assured this.>>


It will suffice to get from A to B, yes, but not a lot more than that. What is your goal when travelling around the world? Not knowing the language is to knowing the language what looking at a street map is to standing on the street in person.
Léa   Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:27 pm GMT
Pleins de gens ne parlent pas anglais, c'est des foutaises!
L'espagnol, l'arabe, le chinois voir le russes sont de nos jours indispensables.
Vous êtes bien naïf de croire que juste l'anglais suffit, c'est un rêve et un jour ou l'autre faudra vous réveiller et regarder la réalité en face.

Une fille qui voyage beaucoup et qui certifie que l'anglais seul ne sert à rien.
sammito   Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:40 pm GMT
Une chose est certaine! L'anglais sert beaucoup plus que le français de nos jours, un peu partout dans le monde il y a quelqu'un qui le parle un petit peu.
bella ingrata   Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:56 pm GMT
Yo no veo otra lengua que le haga la competencia al inglés.
monolinguan   Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:40 pm GMT
<<They will always be disadvantaged because the world will always understand them but they will never understand the rest of the world. >>

If you want to understand the rest of the world, you'd need to learn dozens or maybe 100's of foreign languages. Suppose you learned only German or French. These won't help a whole lot in most of the Americas, Asia, etc. In fact, German is probably not all that useful anywhere outside of Europe (is there some small place where German is still spoken outside Europe?).

Also: People need to curtail their international travel, as much as possible, especially vacations/holidays -- global warming, carbon footprints, and all that :)
Ace   Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:15 pm GMT
<<English Is the Lingua Franca of the World>>

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Go English! Down with ugly Mandarin Chinese!
K. T.   Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:37 pm GMT
Yes, you can get around to many places in the world with just English, but it will be more interesting if you can speak some other languages. The problem is this: Who has time to learn so many and time to travel?
You have to use the bits of time in the day that people waste in order to learn an extra language or two. People who study multiple languages know this well (even if they never read Barry Farber's book).

I don't think many people here are truly monolingual. It's not expected that everyone studied linguistics in school either. This forum is getting to be a little unbalanced.
--   Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:03 am GMT
How many people in europe or ASIA speak ENglish?

Go to SE (Italy, SPain,etc..) or China, Vietnam,...
--   Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:03 am GMT
How many people in europe or ASIA speak ENglish?

Go to SE (Italy, SPain,etc..) or China, Vietnam,...