Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
I was in Mexico, for a college summer study in another country thing... we had to give our final engineering report out to the upper management of the companies we were working for... in Spanish.
My co-student was struggling, even after full emergence in Spanish.
He stated... during the report out... "what kind of country speaks a language that is from another country?"
Oh boy.
Steve_Jones said:
To wal mart and park with 1 wheel on the krub.
In reply to NickD :
Just came here to post that GR86 one.
In reply to SaltyDog :
Appleseed said:
I'm 52. I guess not. No clue what that is.
wvumtnbkr said:
Had this conversation with a Belgian friend when I lived in Germany. How I felt a bit ashamed for being a dumb American and only functionally speaking one language.
Her response was, "Of course you don't speak other languages. When would you need them? How far would you have to travel?"
Realizing, holy crap, the USA is MASSIVE. If they spoke a different language every time you crossed state lines, of *course* I'd learn more than one. But they don't. The USA is bigger than continental Europe and shares a single language. She's from Belgium. Her country is half the size of West Virginia. I was coming from California, which is bigger than Germany. I had weird moments when I was at international swing dancing festivals and couldn't believe that people had flown from way out in Ireland all the way to Berlin. Then I realized I'd traveled farther for that for dance exchanges and STILL BEEN IN CALIFORNIA.
There are lots of Europeans who only speak one language, and they lost the bloody war.
Beer Baron said:wvumtnbkr said:
Had this conversation with a Belgian friend when I lived in Germany. How I felt a bit ashamed for being a dumb American and only functionally speaking one language.
Her response was, "Of course you don't speak other languages. When would you need them? How far would you have to travel?"
Realizing, holy crap, the USA is MASSIVE. If they spoke a different language every time you crossed state lines, of *course* I'd learn more than one. But they don't. The USA is bigger than continental Europe and shares a single language. She's from Belgium. Her country is half the size of West Virginia. I was coming from California, which is bigger than Germany. I had weird moments when I was at international swing dancing festivals and couldn't believe that people had flown from way out in Ireland all the way to Berlin. Then I realized I'd traveled farther for that for dance exchanges and STILL BEEN IN CALIFORNIA.
Which is exactly why I say that programs that work great in Europe won't play well here.
Even if we all share a (somewhat) common language, that's about the extent of it. Culturally, each state might as well be its own European-sized country.
Duke said:[political stuff]
Thanks for making this political.
Duke said:Beer Baron said:wvumtnbkr said:
Had this conversation with a Belgian friend when I lived in Germany. How I felt a bit ashamed for being a dumb American and only functionally speaking one language.
Her response was, "Of course you don't speak other languages. When would you need them? How far would you have to travel?"
Realizing, holy crap, the USA is MASSIVE. If they spoke a different language every time you crossed state lines, of *course* I'd learn more than one. But they don't. The USA is bigger than continental Europe and shares a single language. She's from Belgium. Her country is half the size of West Virginia. I was coming from California, which is bigger than Germany. I had weird moments when I was at international swing dancing festivals and couldn't believe that people had flown from way out in Ireland all the way to Berlin. Then I realized I'd traveled farther for that for dance exchanges and STILL BEEN IN CALIFORNIA.
Which is exactly why I say that social programs that work great in Europe won't play well here.
Even if we all share a (somewhat) common language, that's about the extent of it. Culturally, each state might as well be its own European-sized country.
Even within some states you have people that are pretty culturally disparate. New York is the prime example: there's a pretty huge gulf between the needs and wants of a Central New Yorker and those of people from New York City.
In reply to NickD :
Dude. Stop. Not here.
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