They say Americans don't travel and speak languages but....

[nimchimpsky]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Since when is ok cupid a representation of the average person?

[nimchimpsky]

Originally Posted by kevxu

What seems to have silently slipped between the boards is that this survey measures ENGLISH ONLY. I live in Portugal, and I think 30 percent of the population having a knowledge of English is very high.

The survey totally ignores all other languages.

I understood the topic to be about the knowledge of another language, not just English. So, I think that if the survey were not English biased the results would be far, far higher for all countries.

I lived in the U.S. for sixty-two years, I knew only a handful of native born Americans who had a working knowledge of any foreign language, and that was true both in NYC as well as less urban areas.

Maybe I just happen to know a linguistic bunch, but most of the people I know know at least one other language fluently in addition to English. Even when I lived in the Middle of Nowhere, NC, I knew a good number of people that were fluent in at least a second language (though, admittedly, it wasn't as high a percentage as here in DC).

[PGKangrui]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Consider your own circle of friends and co-workers. How many people do you know who were born in the USA with English-speaking parents, who can speak a second language? I'm going to bet zero---that you can't name a single American that you know, who has learned to speak another language outside his home.

Actually, in my small neighborhood, I know people who speak Portugeuse, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, French, Czech, Russian, etc. because they served LDS missions in other countries. Strange that Utahns would be so much more cosmopolitan than those from other states.

This doesn't only hold for those who are old enough to serve missions. I remember at my junior high school, 75% of students were studying a foreign language. People from where I live will become very passionate about foreign languages, and my love for Chinese is not considered too unusual where I live, even though I'm not ethnically Chinese.

So, back to the original question, maybe people in other parts of the United States fit the stereotype, but I don't think Utahns do.