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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (590)	1/6/1998 10:09:00 AM
From: Patrick Slevin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4711

With reference to my "for all you know" statement, you said you heard this second hand. Further, broadbrushing the American public by by saying "our expectation that everyone else should understand English" is a form of arrogance in itself....you imply that you speak for the majority. In Europe, I believe that each person learns his or her own language during the educational process as well as 2 others. I find this admirable but created out of necessity due to the close proximity of different countries with differing languages. In the case of the Romance languages, it may be not be difficult for one who is a native French(wo)man to learn Spanish and Italian. Certainly it would be harder for one who is German. However...in the US many do learn other languages but the skill becomes dormant due to lack of practice. I had 2 years of Latin and 2 of German. The only time in my life I found a use for German was on that same trip. Perhaps as one who travels often you find it practical to master more than one language. Personally, if I knew I planned to go to a non-English speaking country I would make an attempt to develop a rudimentary skill in the language. However developing a skill just to allow it to rust is unfortunate, at best.