English spoken EVERYWHERE

Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:39 am GMT
Repressed-bigot-wannabe filthy carpet ENGLISHIT BEETLE mental, you are the only troll on this forum!! A very insane one! And even not original!
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:09 pm GMT
<< If French was the most studied language in US, Colette and the rest of francophile trolls would be spitting their propaganda about how much studied French is in US all the time, but since it's much less studied than Spanish you only reach to say that they study Spanish only for two or three years. What do you think the French students do in the European countries for example? Do you believe that they learn much more than the Spanish students in US? The French government includes in their stupid francophonie every person who studied how to say a few phrases in French as "partially francophone", so it's worthy enough those US students for the Spanish language. If you don't like that the US citizens prefer Spanish over French, fuck off hard. >>

Fuck off! No matter what you say French remains popular in the US. How many Americans who are fluent in French? Here are a list of them:

Ally Sheedy (American actress)
Andie MacDowell (American actress)
Angelina Jolie (American actress)
Angie Everhart (American model)
Anthony Bourdain (American chef)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Austrian actor, governor of California)
Ashley Judd (American actress)
Brendan Fraser (American actor)
Brooke Shields (American actress)
Candice Bergen (American actress)
Carol Fredericks (American singer)
Chloë Sevigny (American actress)
Christie Brinkley (American model)
Christopher Lambert (American actor)
Danica McKellar (American actress)
Danny Roberts (American actor)
David Sedaris (American essayist, radio personality)
Elizabeth Montgomery (American actress)
Emma Thompson (British actress)
Gwyneth Paltrow (American actress)
Holly Robinson Peete (American actress)
Jacqueline Bisset (British actress)
James Lipton (American actor)
Jane Fonda (American actress)
Jean Seberg (American actress)
Jerry Hall (American actress)
Jim Courier (American tennis player)
Jodie Foster (American actress)
John Kerry (American senator)
John Malkovich (American actor)
John Travolta (American actor)
Johnny Depp (American actor)
Julia Child (American chef)
Julio Iglesias (Spanish singer)
Kevin Kline (American actor)
Kirk Douglas (American actor)
Kristin Scott-Thomas (British actress)
Lance Armstrong (American cyclist)
Lauren Bacall (American actress)
Leelee Sobieski (American actress)
Lisa Kudrow (American actress)
Liza Minelli (American actress, singer)
Lorraine Bracco (American actress)
Madeleine Albright (Czech; former US Secretary of State)
Madonna (American singer, actress)
Marlon Brando (American actor)
Matthew Perry (American actor)
Melanie Blatt (British singer)
Meryl Streep (American actress)
Mira Sorvino (American actress)
Molly Ringwald (American actress)
Morgan Freeman (American actor)
Natalie Portman (Israeli actress)
Norman Spinrad (American writer)
Oliver Stone (American filmmaker)
Richard Jordan (American actor)
Robert De Niro (American actor)
Robert Stack (American actor)
Robin Williams (American actor)
Roscoe Lee Browne (American actor)
Sam Waterston (American actor)
Shannen Doherty (American actress)
Sigourney Weaver (American actress)
Theo Agelopoulos (Greek filmmaker)
Tina Turner (American singer)
Tommy Lee Jones (American actor)
Tonya Kinzinger (American actress)
Uma Thurman (American actress)
William Hurt (American actor)
Woody Allen (American actor)
Yasmine Bleeth (American actress)

http://french.about.com/od/teachingresources/a/celebrities.htm
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:13 pm GMT
Repressed-bigot-wannabe filthy carpet STINKING AND ROTTING HISPANIC DUNG BEETLE mental, you are the only troll on this forum!! A very insane one! And even a clone!!
Colette   Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:38 pm GMT
<<I really hate it when people use this argument, because it is not true. In the US as a whole Spanish is the most popular foreign language, so obviously it isn't only 2nd gen hispanics because they are a minority population. Most of the Spanish students I know are white. And even if these hispanics learn it, what's the problem? That just means that they live in the US, speak English, but also want to speak Spanish.>>

El Cid is right...it's true that more Americans (including European-Americans, not just Hispanics) choose to study Spanish before French and German. To the French guy: no one is saying this is the way it should be, but this is, in fact, the reality. It didn't used to be this way, but there are two reasons American kids are choosing Spanish over French & German:


1. They are told that they should learn Spanish because it would be useful because of the influx of Hispanic immigrants into the United States and because a few of our states border Mexico

2. They are told over & over again that "Spanish is the easiest language of those three to learn" (and much easier than Latin, in the rare schools that still teach this language)


I feel sad to have to admit that I see French becoming at some point like Latin -- only studied by highly educated people as a linguistic classic of sorts. I am not saying that French is a dead language like Latin, by any means, but with the American mentality the way it is today, especially with the PC-types in control of everything (particularly the publik skool realm), French doesn't seem to stand a chance. I am surprised that German is catching on more. That may be because science and engineering students are encouraged to take it, but I don't know of any others... Again, look at the Modern Language Association website for more details.
El Cid   Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:53 pm GMT
<< This is mostly true. Spanish is the most widely-studied foreign language in the United States. The problem is that most students only study it for two or three years in high school. By the time these kids reach adulthood, they forget most of what they've learned. I wouldn't expect to get more than a few sentence fragments, at most, out of Americans who have learned Spanish in school. Forget about fluency. Foreign language education in the United States is a joke because it's not emphasized as being important, and really, can you blame us? >>

John Adams is right. The study of Spanish is useless. So instead of taking time studying the basics of it, Americans should study French initially in secondary school then take it again in college and enroll in a French language school for intermediate level.

<< You're right, it depends on the situation. English doesn't always beat out French. But in practical situations, English usually rules the day against all other languages. >>

I agree and this statement does not apply to the Spanish language since it doean't have a chance to stand out with English.
Colette   Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:59 pm GMT
To the French guy: however, when it comes to university education in the United States, French has nothing to worry about -- the two languages recommended (and even required, in many cases) for Ph.D. students in the United States are French and German -- there is no contest there. It seems to be the case over many disciplines. It's very simple: just go to any American university website, click on graduate programs, and find out the language requirements. They almost all require either French and German, and Spanish usually isn't a choice in Ph.D. programs (unless the Ph.D. is going to be in Spanish or Portuguese, of course).


P.S. One more thing about the sad state of foreign language education in the United States: they cut funding for it so much that often Spanish is not the ONLY choice in small, rural schools. Once in a while you will see French as the sole language offered, but not very often these days. And this was in a region about 30 minutes from Canada (Ontario) and 250 km from Montreal. Very sad for French...
Colette   Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:04 pm GMT
I meant that "Spanish is now the only language" offered due to school funding problems, not "Spanish is not the only..."
El Cid   Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:04 pm GMT
I'm so glad that there are more American fluent in French than in Spanish. This proves that no one is serious or interested in becoming proficient in Spanish.

With the rising number of Russian speaking immigrants more people will turn to the Russian language at the expense of Spanish.
Guest69   Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:26 pm GMT
Vamos a ver, hay varias cosas que me sorprenden:

1. Mucha gente, entre la que me incluyo, habla algo de inglés y francés. En definitiva, se pueden hablar perfectamente los 3. Probablemente en la lista de arriba, hay varios actores americanos que saben algo de español.

2. Esta supuesta guerra entre español y francés no tiene sentido. El francés tiene su zona de influencia (basicamente Canada, Francia y Africa) y el español la suya (Estados Unidos, España, Mexico y Latinoamerica).

3. La unica razon, teóricamente, de esta pelea es saber cual tiene la medalla de plata, y cual la de bronce a nivel mundial. Eso es muy dificil de saber. Es más fácil esperar y ver la tendencia.

4. Las estadísticas son muy confusas. El Gobierno español y el francés aseguran que el español y el francés, respectivamente, son el más estudiado como lengua extranjera. Obviamente, no puede ser verdad. Probablemente, ambos Gobiernos juegan con las estadísticas de forma diferente.

Evidentemente, una de las claves esta en Africa. Es muy dificil saber cuanta gente estudia/habla francés alli. Muchos africanos apenas hablan frances, y los que lo hablan es dudoso que se deban considerar como hablantes de francés como lengua extranjera, ya que es oficial alli. Otra clave esta en las Americas. Hay muchos millones de personas en Estados Unidos y en Brasil que saben varias frases de español. ¿Los incluimos a todos o no?

5. En definitiva, cualquier cosa que digamos no cambiará la tendencia final.
Es mejor esperar y ver cual acaba siendo el segundo idioma más importante.
Diablo Blanco   Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:36 pm GMT
<<With the rising number of Russian speaking immigrants more people will turn to the Russian language at the expense of Spanish.>>

No, no -- the Russians can't dream of competing with the Mexicans in reproductive finesse...
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:21 pm GMT
"...wannabe filthy carpet STINKING..."
LOL! Why carpet? Or is it "filthy carpet"? But then again, why? Please do explain.
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:56 pm GMT
If French is so popular in US why none of you speak in French? Even trollete never uses French appart from a few words or two phrases at most. I want to see those Americans fluent in French in action. Come on , post in French from now on . I only see Greg doing that, and he is French (I guess...)
Amante Hispano   Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:05 pm GMT
If French is so nice, why is it that the song elected to represent France at the Eurovision is sung in English? Are French tired of their ugly language? While French is dimishing in strength, Spanish is making big inroads in many parts of the U.S. Go to LA and find it out. SoCal is always the epicentre of what's going to happen in the U.S. Que viva el castellano.
Conchita Garcia-Lopesssss   Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:00 pm GMT
<<Are French tired of their ugly language?>>

That's hilarious -- a Spanish-speaker calling French "ugly." What happened to the Latin Family?
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:28 pm GMT
Compared to the Germanic languages , all the Romance languages are extremely elegant and beautiful.