A thought on why we speak English...

That's great!

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Think history, Mythus.

That's completly true. I laughed at that.

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My dad said something almost EXACTLY like that to a group of VERY rude French men in Strasbourg... when he was on a trip.

I think his tour group applauded him.

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actually, I'm suprized that that Admiral didn't cause some sort of international incident. I was under the impression that american representatives were supposed to use tact and manners when with people of other cultures

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Updated On: 7/3/05 at 06:26 PM

Heh, I found it amusing. Took me a bit...>__>

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Apocryphal and jingoistic.

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I think that the United States has this far-fetched idea that everyone else in the world should learn the English language, but refuse to try and learn another language. I think it's good to know several different lanaguages, and I think it's sad that so many people agree with the statement the admiral said. [I can only speak for the Americans because I have never been to Britain or Austrailia though I eventually plan to.]

"but the idea that we saved France's butt is absurd...Have you never seen the pictures of Hitler celebrating his taking of Paris? "

Yes and they send chills down my spine sometimes.

But yet, I don't think Hitler would have just up and left Paris on his own. (Maybe he would have gotten bored...I can't really say.)

I think when the dominant countries in the world have been English speaking (First Britain, now U.S.) that English is bound to be the diplomatic language, like it or not.

And I don't think every American thinks everyone else should be forced to learn English. Yes some of us are annoyingly arrogant and ignorant but not all. (I tell myself that and I hope it's true!) Otherwise I don't think high schoolers would be forced to take 2 yrs language, or 3 if they want to go to college. One can't expect every American to want to learn another language. It's almost pointless here when the vast majority of us will see a foreign country once or twice in our lifetime if we are lucky.

The only language I see that would be truly useful to the majority of people in the U.S. would be Spanish. I could get the romantic idea of learning French but who would I speak it to? We don't have many diverse languages (and countries) here on our doorstep like the Europeans do.

The original post is hilarious. True? Eh, but damn funny.

>>It's almost pointless here when the vast majority of us will see a foreign country once or twice in our lifetime if we are lucky.

the vast majority? i don't know anyone who only goes out of the country once or twice... maybe this was true at a time, but with air travel being as convenient as it is, why wouldn't you see the world? nearly every young person i know studies abroad in two or three different countries, goes on trips in the summer, ect. knowing another language is vital not only for those occasions but for business as well.

Typical American hubris. The Soviet Union had a good deal to do with winning WWII.