A question for native English speakers!LEARN a 2nd LANGUAGE

"I don’t see too many topics on antimoon, opened by a native English speaker asking about a foreign language. That shows a huge disinterest in learning languages, confirmed by official statistics: only 3 % Americans (native English) speakers learned a foreign language at a fluent level."

No, moron, what this shows is that the forum is about learning English.

"I don’t understand what native English speakers are doing in this English learning forum,"

There seem to be a good number of things you don't understand but you won't come to understand them with that attitude ... either this or you're just playing the arsehole.

There are more native speakers of English here who learn/know/use foreign languages than you know.

ok, "guest" can you say the same thing in other language ? I bet not ! ha ha ha !

I thought the whole point of this forum was having English learners interact with native speakers so they could learn. Sorry, my bad.

English speakers wishing to learn other languages are probably on OTHER forums designed for THAT purpose.

And then there are the discussions between native English speakers who wish to compare different dialects within the language -- maybe it sounds silly to you, but it's interesting for us.

But by all means, carry on complaining.

And it's "give me a break", not "give me a brake".

Oh, I'm sorry -- helping out a non-native speaker -- I'll try not to do it again.

What about you Uriel, do you speak any foreign languages besides "teaching" us the only language your mates speak ?

I bet you don't ! shame on you !

To be honest I don't think anglos are capable of learning other languages...

"To be honest I don't think anglos are capable of learning other languages... "

at least they can help us learn another, LOL

Uriel is American, though, not anglo.

Guesto ... actually ... yeah, I could, pretty much but before we get carried away let's have someone explain what's so wrong with knowing only one language and explain what's so wrong with coming here and writing about that language? If, for example, the person who explains to you, Guesto Polyglot, that you shouldn't leave a space before a question mark, full stop, exclamation mark, etc. spoke only English would it be less helpful? If you don't like it here, please feel free to piss off.

<<What about you Uriel, do you speak any foreign languages besides "teaching" us the only language your mates speak ?

I bet you don't ! shame on you ! >>

Yeah! Shame on Uriel, for being so willing to help the people who post questions here! Shame on her for being so helpful and informative!

BTW, I think Uriel speaks Spanish. And I'm a native English speaker too, but I have a good knowledge of German and some French.

<<To be honest I don't think anglos are capable of learning other languages... >>

Did you mean Anglos or Anglophones? Theres a difference.

to Polyglot and his/her ilk:

I agree that the majority of Americans don't speak a foreign language.

But this is completely understandable from geographical and historical points of view: they just DON'T NEED a second language! They don't need it to do business, to travel, to communicate with other nations - first, America is so big, you can live here your whole life without going abroad; and second - their native language just happens to be the most widespread in the modern world, and so does for the UK people.

Anyway, a single person always can do whatever he/she wants and speak two, three, four languages; and believe me, many Americans and British do speak several languages, especially the good educated ones.

But as a nation Americans don't need to have a good command of a foreign language - at least they don't need it so badly as Europeans do (non- English speakers). Knowing English and often German and French are the vital needs for European citizens (actually not only for them).
You just can't succeed without it.

So, can you see a great difference between "you want" and "you have to"? Between "you prefer to do this" and "you're forced to do this"?

And coming back to our subject:
1.The number of English speakers who know more than one language is definitely bigger in this forum, comparing with a general population, simply because they LIKE it.
2.and would it be less helpful if anybody who's explaining and helping you here knows only English? I don't think so.

So, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEMS, guys?
I think the diagnosis is clear: syndrome of envy. Very simple. And bad education: nobody taught you to appreciate unselfish help and at least to say 'thank you' to people who helps you.

<<What about you Uriel, do you speak any foreign languages besides "teaching" us the only language your mates speak ?

I bet you don't ! shame on you !>>

I see you are not really looking for answers - you asume whatever you want instead. And then reply to this assumption.

Having a conversation with yourself must be very entertaining. No arguments, since you only agree with yourself...

<<I think the diagnosis is clear: syndrome of envy. Very simple. And bad education: nobody taught you to appreciate unselfish help and at least to say 'thank you' to people who helps you.>>

I don't know what the problem is, but it won't stop me from helping others or coming to this board. It also won't stop me in my pursuit to learn other languages (a favorite pastime of many here), nor make me suddenly think that they are right.

People who use this approach to try to get a point across (which is somewhat vague at the moment) succeed in doing only one thing: pissing off others.

So I must assume this is a flame war and these are trolls.

>just DON'T NEED a second language! They don't need it to do business, to travel, to communicate with other nations - first, America is so big, you can live here your whole life without going abroad<

1. You sound like a redneck
2. Don't you people have any intellectual challenge, an invitation to engage in a learning contest? Are you so dumb and boring? Learning a language is not always a necessity! It’s a PASSION, HOBBY, Intellectual inclination, Linguistic passion, but most of all is EDUCATION. Don’t you have any of this?

YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE ! (unless you're a working class sub mediocre with an IQ of 96 )

Actually, an IQ of 96 is within acceptable limits for a mediocre, 85 would be the case here !

polyglot--

Have you studied Mathematics? Music? Chemistry? Kinesiology? Engineering? Have you ever run a marathon? Played baseball at a professional level? Written a novel?

If you have done all of these things, you are an amazing person. If not don't lecture people that don't share all of your interests.