Esl

[eulesseagle]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../nschool117.xml

you think we have it bad in US schools.

[UNTflyer]

The Balkanization of the West continues unabated.

Edited December 17, 2007 by UNTflyer

[UNTflyer]

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Belgium's political tensions entered the glamour stakes after it was revealed that the new Miss Belgium does not speak Dutch.

Alizee Poulicek, who comes from the country's French-speaking region, was booed by some of the 4,000 audience when she admitted that she could not understand a question put to her in Dutch at the contest on Saturday night in the main Flemish city of Antwerp

[JesseMartin]

Yep, Belgium, Luxembourg, and some other country in the region have THREE official languages.

I don't know about mandating it, but I think multilinguism is a good idea. We're raising our baby in 4 languages (I speak 2 well and 1 poorly, she speaks an additional one well). They learn languages best before age 7.

[UNTflyer]

If you speak three languages you are trilingual.

If you speak two languages you are bilingual.

If you speak one language you are American.

Europeans laugh at us for only speaking English, but then I say Hey, we don't NEED to learn a second language. English is the international language of aviation and commerce. When most Euroweenies learn a second language, it is usually English.

Which reminds me of an aviation joke:

At the international airport in Berlin the following conversation was heard on approach frequency:

German pilot: <speaking German to tower>

German ATC: Please speak English if you wish to land.

German pilot: (in English) I'm a German pilot, flying a German airliner, landing at a German airport... why the hell do I need to speak English?

Unidentified British Pilot: Because you lost the bloody war.

[eulesseagle]

JM-

The conflict in Belgium goes a little deeper. The northern Dutch want to keep their language while the southern Dutch want a separate country that speaks French. It is kinda like Canada and Quebec.

[Censored by Laurie]

If you speak three languages you are trilingual.

If you speak two languages you are bilingual.

If you speak one language you are American.

Europeans laugh at us for only speaking English, but then I say Hey, we don't NEED to learn a second language. English is the international language of aviation and commerce. When most Euroweenies learn a second language, it is usually English.

So essentially what you're saying is that knowledge and culture is un-American?

[UNT_92_Fan]

Como?

[JayDub]

Como?

Romo?

I'm giving up on my old New Year's resolutions of losing weight & exercising...and having a new one this year. Learn another language.

Edited December 18, 2007 by JayDub

[UNTflyer]

So essentially what you're saying is that knowledge and culture is un-American?

No, I'm saying that the reason Americans don't learn foreign languages as much as, let's say the Germans, is because we already speak English which is the dominant language of business, science, diplomacy, and aviation.

And to a extent, the theory holds true for the Brits and Australians, but we Americans seem to be the butt of the unilingual jokes.