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Politics : Moderate Forum
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To: Rainy_Day_Woman who wrote (618)4/24/2003 12:00:43 PM
From: Dale Baker  Read Replies (2) of 20773
 
When she said don't be too impressed, she was underestimating their achievement compared to ours. Regardless, it's hard to get a window on other cultures without some sense of languages. If nothing else, the first foreign language you learn and your first time living abroad give you vast new perspectives on your own country and culture.

The American mistake is relying on the power of English and American "culture" to pave the way for Americans to go anywhere and not need to have a clue about the local circumstances. Other colonial and imperialist powers tried that in the past - they are mostly now "ex" powers.

Even in American terms like competing in business, how will our unilingual executives fare compared to a multilingual European, Asian or Latin American exec who can work easily in 2-3 or more languages?

Not to mention the cultural loss. Today I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe outside one of Amsterdam's oldest churches, right by a canal, of course. It was a beautiful scene. And I thought about the drive-thru lane at Starbucks back in Texas where I was visiting just three weeks ago...to be stuck there instead of here, yuck.

Perhaps more Americans should be watching the Spanish-language TV stations in all the major markets. It's not unrealistic for English-speaking Caucasians to become a minority even in our own major cities this century.

Just some idle rambling....
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