Re: English Centricity (or is it USA Centricity)

danek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

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>Harvey wrote:
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>>"danek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>>news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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>>>I don't think you can blame it totally on us Brits.  French and latin
>>>used to be (don't know if they still are) compulsory school subjects in
>>>England.
>>>    
>>>
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>>French still, just about, is as far as I know. Latin went years ago.
>>I have a feeling there were proposals to drop compulsory foreign languages
>>recently. :-(
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>>> It is lucky if you get a second language in school over here.
>>>The majority of Americans I have met that are bilingual are people that
>>>moved here from another country or have non native parents.  In Europe
>>>most people speak at least one other language.
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>>>
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>>Not in the UK. Few adults could order a cup of coffee in French. Most school
>>leavers might just about do that or buy a train ticket, but not hold a
>>conversation; I would say they 'spek' it, they have some minimal get-by
>>knowledge of it.
>>In Europe in my experience it varies greatly. Just about *all* the Dutch
>>seem to speak English, but far less in France say.
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>>>even
>>>though German has rules that make much more sense than English.
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>>But far too many of them!
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>>> I would
>>>hate to be learning English as my second language.
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>>Ah, but you *did*  :-)
>>(I shall now duck down into an electronic
>>bunker............................)
>>
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>Actualy, American is my second language and I cringe every time I hear 
>the word "veggie".  Ugh!  What have they done to the King's english???

We kicked him in the butt about 200 years ago and then took his
English impressionistic. :-)
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>>
>>Harvey
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