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Old 02-07-2011, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,777 posts, read 37,732,055 times
Reputation: 11555

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover View Post
In my 37 years in this country I have never encountered one single person who feels the whole world should speak English and nothing else. Where are these throngs of so-called uncultured people that you speak of?
There is a difference between

1 "thinking the whole world speak English and nothing else"

and

2 "thinking everyone in the world should answer in good English to a native English speaker when spoken to in English"

There would be few people in the first group.

As for the second one, well if you have ever travelled or lived abroad you probably have a good idea of how numerous they are...
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Old 02-07-2011, 11:30 AM
 
Location: Both coasts
1,574 posts, read 5,094,626 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover View Post
I can't speak for other English-speaking nations but in North America it's not a matter of laziness so much as pragmatism. We're not like Europe where there are dozens of languages and you can drive through 5 or 6 language zones in a single day. In North America, there are only three principle languages spoken, and of those three, English is the principle language over some 80% of the continent. Of the small chunk that speaks French, about half of them also speak English because their nation (Canada) is primarily English-speaking. If I get up tomorrow morning, point my car in any direction, and drive for 12 hours straight, I'll end up some place where English is either the principle or a common secondary language. If I get up and do the same thing again the day after... same result-- I'd still be somewhere where English is widely or exclusively spoken. So there's never been much need to learn a second language.
Excellent points
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Old 02-07-2011, 12:26 PM
 
506 posts, read 1,397,821 times
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The Dutch and the Scandinavians have a very good knowledge of English.
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Old 02-07-2011, 09:03 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,800,235 times
Reputation: 29967
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bideshi View Post
Languages of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quote: "The principal official language of India is standard Hindi".

English is the second language. My CD handle* should have given you a subtle hint as to my familiarity with the matter.



*bideshi – "[T]o denote foreigners in the (Hindi) dialect of Bengali
Then your familiarity should have informed you that there is not just one official language in India.
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Old 02-07-2011, 11:09 PM
 
Location: Tower of Heaven
4,023 posts, read 7,346,290 times
Reputation: 1450
Don't forget Nigeria and Pakistan, next big english-speaking countries !
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Old 02-07-2011, 11:21 PM
 
25,024 posts, read 27,824,637 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swisswife View Post
surely standard English is still BBC English ??
That's debatable. More people speak American English as opposed to BBC English, and more business is conducted in American English. I think the major country in the world that learns American English in school is China (outside of HK). Even Beijing government's website's English translation is written in American English, plus you have the Hollywood influence. So, I think more people around the world are exposed to American English more than any other accent. That's just my opinion.
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Old 02-08-2011, 02:28 AM
 
Location: western East Roman Empire
9,309 posts, read 14,207,592 times
Reputation: 10017
Again, there is nothing impressive or amazing about Flemish, Dutch, Germans (especially northern Germans), Danish, Norwegians, and Swedish enjoying advantages when it comes to learning English.

The English, Flemish, Dutch, Germans (especially northern Germans), Danish, Norwegians, and Swedish geographically and culturally form a single region (North Sea region) and linguistically they are from the same family.

People, read some basic history and study some basic geography (start by simply looking at a map), please.

It would be impressive and amazing if they did not enjoy such advantages.

And given the world's political economic arrangements (e.g. successor to English-speaking global British Empire, the English-speaking global US Empire), it would be impressive and amazing if a significant number of Flemish, Dutch, Germans (especially northern Germans), Danish, Norwegians, and Swedish did not simply apply such natural advantages when learning English.

Last edited by bale002; 02-08-2011 at 02:38 AM..
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Old 02-08-2011, 09:43 AM
 
Location: San Francisco
1,472 posts, read 3,534,612 times
Reputation: 1583
Quote:
Originally Posted by bale002 View Post
Again, there is nothing impressive or amazing about Flemish, Dutch, Germans (especially northern Germans), Danish, Norwegians, and Swedish enjoying advantages when it comes to learning English.

The English, Flemish, Dutch, Germans (especially northern Germans), Danish, Norwegians, and Swedish geographically and culturally form a single region (North Sea region) and linguistically they are from the same family.

People, read some basic history and study some basic geography (start by simply looking at a map), please.

It would be impressive and amazing if they did not enjoy such advantages.

And given the world's political economic arrangements (e.g. successor to English-speaking global British Empire, the English-speaking global US Empire), it would be impressive and amazing if a significant number of Flemish, Dutch, Germans (especially northern Germans), Danish, Norwegians, and Swedish did not simply apply such natural advantages when learning English.
What an arrogant statement. Geography and being in the same linguistic family has nothing to do with it. The languages are vastly different (English is a convoluted mess of Germanic and Latin structure and vocabulary) - Latin languages are easier to learn for most anyone. A commitment educationally and socially to have as much of the populace fluent in English is to be commended in those countries and their success is impressive.
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Old 02-08-2011, 10:09 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,777 posts, read 37,732,055 times
Reputation: 11555
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffredo View Post
What an arrogant statement. Geography and being in the same linguistic family has nothing to do with it. The languages are vastly different (English is a convoluted mess of Germanic and Latin structure and vocabulary) - Latin languages are easier to learn for most anyone. A commitment educationally and socially to have as much of the populace fluent in English is to be commended in those countries and their success is impressive.
Also, French and English have a lot in common as well and this not led to levels of fluency in the foreign language across the Channel in France and England that are in any way close to what you see with English in NL and Scandinavia...
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Old 02-08-2011, 10:19 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,777 posts, read 37,732,055 times
Reputation: 11555
Another factor in Scandinavia and NL is not so much effective second language education in English but subtitled as opposed to dubbed movies and TV imported from the U.S. Countries with lower levels of bilingualism in English (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc.) tend to be the ones where dubbing is more common than subtitling. Generally owing to the fact that their populations are bigger, which can justify the higher expense of dubbing. Subtitling is cheaper and few people speak Swedish, so there is no incentive to dub in that language. Whereas French dubs can be used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Quebec, francophone Africa and Middle East, etc. Same with Spanish - lots of opportunities outside of Spain. Not so much for Italian and German but their home markets are quite big.
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