Nations Reluctantly speak English

I agree with Uriel

<<It is equally important to be mathematically literate. How about being multilinggual in computer languages as well?>>
Ben, what does this have to do with anything? I ask as a programmer! Or does it have to do with people being snobbish about being polyglots? Seriously, I don't see why English-speakers get slammed for being functionally monolingual when the majority of rest of the world is too.

I think I am misunderstood. Firstly, I am a first language English speaker. Secondly, I feel that the importance of foreign languages should also be balanced by the need for a person to be adept in mathematics. I am saying it as an accountancy student.

Math is important. So are history, literature, critical thinking, and science. If you're well-rounded in all those subjects, I don't see how being monolingual makes you a hopeless idiot, arrogant, or anything else bad.

Realistically, as others have pointed out both on this thread and in others, the average French person probably isn't much more competent in foreign languages than the average British person, if at all. The difference is that British people tend to go abroad a lot on holiday, and usually go to non-English-speaking places, whilst French people tend to stay in France.

The problem is then augmented by the fact that other Northern Europeans (e.g. Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians etc.) tend to travel abroad a lot as well, but often speak *English* to people in non-English-speaking places, even though it is not their native language -- some people might mistakenly believe that these people are British or American (etc.) for that reason.

True. People can't always tell one English-speaker from another.

When my mother lived in Germany, she spoke German fluently, but with a recognizably foreign accent. When Germans would ask her where she was from, she would say she was American, which they never believed, because it was "common knowledge" that Americans "never learn other people's languages" (despite the fact that she was living, breathing evidence to the contrary....).

She got so tired of having to argue this point that she eventually gave up and just started telling people she was English.

Nobody ever knew the difference, because they couldn't tell American-accented German from British-accented German.

That's a bit like when I went on a guided tour in Speyer in Germany last month. She did the tour in German, but if she hadn't told me that she was actually from Hungary, I would have assumed that she was German because my German isn't good enough to distinguish immediately between native German and Hungarian-accented German. I'd probably hear a difference if I heard them side-by-side, but I didn't recognise it straight away.

By the way, Uriel... have you found us at our new place yet? We're missing you!

>>the average French person probably isn't much more competent in foreign languages than the average British person, if at all. The difference is that British people tend to go abroad a lot on holiday, and usually go to non-English-speaking places, whilst French people tend to stay in France.<<

It could be how people within a country develop interest toward things that makes the general trend between publics for certain aspects of that particular country. As a result, we see a country has made it ahead in certain things while being slow in others. I remember when the mobiles started to be popular between people, they used to say Italy has the highest rate of individuals using cellulars. Now sure there are things where we can say Italy is slow compared to other countries. Japan is ahead in the IT thing, but they are slow in languages. France is slow in the IT and Languages, but a head maybe in other things. Netherlands sure enough has made in the top when it comes to Languages… and so on.

<<Seriously, I don't see why English-speakers get slammed for being functionally monolingual when the majority of rest of the world is too.>>

Tifanny I question your assertion that 'the majority of the rest of the world' is 'functionally monolingual.' Can you back this up?

« Tifanny I question your assertion that 'the majority of the rest of the world' is 'functionally monolingual.' Can you back this up? »

I agree that Tiffany's statement was perhaps a bit Eurocentric. Of course, about half the world lives in China, India and Africa — it's often difficult for Westerners to imagine how these people might live their lives.

I don't see much media from China, India or Africa making up stories that English-speakers, especially Americans, can't learn other languages. In this case, my comment was mostly directed to those whose make up these ridiculous stories. Eurocentric? Perhaps. But who do you think the runs the media for most of the world anyway?

I think you misunderstand me. What I meant was that the perception that the majority of the world is functionally monolingual might possibly be Eurocentric because we in the West tend not to be so aware of what happens in China, India and Africa, which is where almost half the world lives. It wasn't a criticism directed at you specifically.

Ah, I see. Ignore my previous comment then.

Many Kurdish people also speak Arabic or Turkish; many Africans and speak English, French or Portuguese in addition to an African language; in the Maghreb many Arabic speakers also speak Frnch or Spanish; most Catalans speak Spanish; many Albanians speak Italian, English or Serbo-Croat; I would imagine that many ethnic Chinese in Malaysia speak Malaysian; many speakers of Monglolian and Turkic languages in Asia also speak Russian; in the Baltic many people also speak Russian; not only are English, Spanish and French transnational lingua francas, but also Swahili, Arabic, Hindi and Russian.

Yes, but how *well* can most of them speak it? Probably not very in most cases unless they're well educated, which most people aren't. Anyway, I mentioned that the perception was probably Eurocentric.

It’s amazing how the English language has made to where it is now. Just two weeks ago, we were eight of us setting around the table in a Chinese restaurant in China. It was a mixture of different nationalities: one Swiss, one Turkish, two Germans, two French, one Chinese and me. It took us some time to agree on what to order from the menu (you know, a traditional Chinese dinner takes sharing the dishes as its style, with traffic jam and crossings of the chop sticks over the table). Anyhow, that is not the point; the point is that we talked for more than three hours during which I did not hear a one single “non-English” word spoken, even between the couples who speak same language. And not even Chinese, given that we are in China – off course only when we order the food. The funny thing is, we did not have a native-English speaker among us. It’s almost unquestionable whether a foreigner in china can speak English or not, or what language we should speak when there is a big gathering. Because if you don’t speak English, then better to pack up your things and go home.

I have a Chinese friend working in a multination company. There was an exhibition to take place in Germany, and my friend was among the nominees to attend because he was the one, besides, he can speak a little German and a little English. However, at the end of day, the company did not choose him because his “English” was not good enough. To my friend that was unfair, but to me, it was quite logic. Well, the company should have considered all possibilities when my friend might had to encounter non-German firms. Now I was thinking, even if a company from Europe wants to participate in that same exhibition, they would question the English ability of the nominees, rather than questioning their German language… am I correct or not??

End of it, as long as you are behind the screen, you can claim your loyalty to your language, but sometimes, in the real word, you might be in situations where you will have to raise you hand with loud voice and a smile on your face saying: “I can Speak English”

Either I like it or not, but once I am abroad, English language makes my life easier.