Eurosceptic Brits

[Job]

Yes we still see the continent of Europe as a far off foreign land and you'll never see a German on British TV.

But what really gets my goat up is when they call us lazy because we don't bother learning the languages.
Which language exactly would you like us to learn?
Spanish, German, Dutch, French, Latvian, Austrian, Hungarian.etc..etc.

If you don't speak English as your first language then common sense tells you to learn it first., because it is the defacto world language.
What is the point in Brits picking any other language to learn apart from being being able to order the food in a back country restaraunt?
We do the foreigners a favour by speaking English to them, it might help improve their technique.

 

[old.Tohtori]

apart from being being able to order the food in a back country restaraunt?.

Highlighted your problem.

Yes, english is the wordly language, but we learn it so that you don't have to.

Be glad we do you a favor and shut the f*ck up

A comic said it vey well; dutch speak four languages and they get high 24/7.

Us "foreigners" do know english is a world language, but it's people who EXPECT us to speak english at the drop of a hat that gets under our nerves.

So in short; no minding of learning your language, much minding of expecting it by default.

FYI; no one is expecting you to learn our language, it's like asking kids to know nuclear physics.

 

[Bahumat]

iirc Spanish or varients of Spanish is the most widely spoken language so if that's correct, we (english) should learn that as our second language in schools.

 

[old.Tohtori]

iirc Spanish or varients of Spanish is the most widely spoken language so if that's correct, we (english) should learn that as our second language in schools.

Not to mention, i think hindi is the #1 in language spoken.

Followed by chinese, but yiu can correct me on that.

 

[Job]

Maybe a graph of British perceived foreign-nest.
From most foreign to least.
1:Arabs
2:Chinese
3:French
4:Indians
5:Germans
6:Spanish
7: Dutch
8:Scandinavians
9:Americans
10:Scottish

And no, we shouldn't be arsed with Spanish or Chinese as they want to speak English because it opens every door for them .

 

[old.Tohtori]

Are you talking about british learning the language of other countries(like holidays etc), or british learning the language of people IN your country?

Because if someone is expecting you to learn their langugage because they live in YOUR country, it's wrong. It's polite, but it's not at all, not at ALL, expected.

You want to live somewhere? You make your damn best effort to blend in.

 

[Overdriven]

I speak English.
I know VERY little: French and Italian (I intend to become fluent in both)
I want to learn: German, Spanish and Mandarin.

 

[Golena]

English is the world language, not because it's the most spoken language but because it's the most spoken second language.

We definately shouldn't learn a second language just because it's the second most spoken language i.e. Spanish. It's why I objected so much to being taught German and French as default in schools. Every French or German person that i'd want to speak to will speak far far better English than I ever will speak French or German. Any comunication we did in French or German would purely be me being polite.. Any actual discusion after that point would almost certainly be in English. It would be FAR more useful to learn a language where lots of it's speakers don't speak English perfectly as standard, such as Chinese, but that just doesn't happen. Which is probably why there's so much resentment from the British to learning other languages.

It's spend months trying to learn something that really has no benefit, since you get to the conversation and both sides decide after 5 minutes not to bother and just use English. I could have a far more meaningful conversation with a deaf person using sign language (that's just pointing at stuff, not actual proper sign language) than I could armed with a GSCE in French. Knowing how to ask for an Apple is all well and good... I could achieve the same in any country however without speaking, so why bother...

 

[Tuthmes]

Yes we still see the continent of Europe as a far off foreign land and you'll never see a German on British TV.

But what really gets my goat up is when they call us lazy because we don't bother learning the languages.
Which language exactly would you like us to learn?
Spanish, German, Dutch, French, Latvian, Austrian, Hungarian.etc..etc.

If you don't speak English as your first language then common sense tells you to learn it first., because it is the defacto world language.
What is the point in Brits picking any other language to learn apart from being being able to order the food in a back country restaraunt?
We do the foreigners a favour by speaking English to them, it might help improve their technique.

Learn either French, Spanish or Italian. Infact learning Latin would help a lot. Anyways if you go to a foreign country, don't expect people to speak your language even if it is English. Try to atleast speak a few words of theirs.

Don't be a lazy fag just because your native language is English. Learning another language can be fun and it will teach you a lot about the culture.

 

[Job]

Don't call the British lazy, we started the industrial revolution and discovered/ invented more than half of the most important cornerstones of the modern world AND we spread our language over 2/3rds of the planet.

Not learning other languages is our birthright

 

[kiliarien]

Yes we still see the continent of Europe as a far off foreign land and you'll never see a German on British TV.

What is the point in Brits picking any other language to learn apart from being being able to order the food in a back country restaraunt? We do the foreigners a favour by speaking English to them, it might help improve their technique.

On quote 1: I'm not sure if that's true anymore - I live in Kent so maybe my perspective is a little different being geographically so close, but 'far off foreign land' seems a bit extremist.

Quote 2: There is something to be said that British people have the ability to be lazy because many european people speak it as a universal medium of language. The rest where you go on about 'the foreigners' I hope is a joke. Or you must love Mr Griffin.

Us "foreigners" do know english is a world language, but it's people who EXPECT us to speak english at the drop of a hat that gets under our nerves.

So in short; no minding of learning your language, much minding of expecting it by default.

FYI; no one is expecting you to learn our language, it's like asking kids to know nuclear physics.

I agree with Toht. To expect people to speak English when it isn't their native tongue is offensive - I am very grateful in nations that don't speak English as the national language when they can converse with me in English, although I do try and make the effort in theirs (though I have a massive hangup about sounding/looking like a complete berk getting things wrong.) And I'm moving to Wales to learn Welsh.....

English is the world language, not because it's the most spoken language but because it's the most spoken second language.

We definately shouldn't learn a second language just because it's the second most spoken language i.e. Spanish. It's why I objected so much to being taught German and French as default in schools. Every French or German person that i'd want to speak to will speak far far better English than I ever will speak French or German. Any comunication we did in French or German would purely be me being polite.. Any actual discusion after that point would almost certainly be in English. It would be FAR more useful to learn a language where lots of it's speakers don't speak English perfectly as standard, such as Chinese, but that just doesn't happen. Which is probably why there's so much resentment from the British to learning other languages.

It's spend months trying to learn something that really has no benefit, since you get to the conversation and both sides decide after 5 minutes not to bother and just use English. I could have a far more meaningful conversation with a deaf person using sign language (that's just pointing at stuff, not actual proper sign language) than I could armed with a GSCE in French. Knowing how to ask for an Apple is all well and good... I could achieve the same in any country however without speaking, so why bother...

That was definitely BS education political/education contriteness. I had to learn both too, took French to GCSE and got a C but it wouldn't let me hold a decent conversation. EU funding to schools most likely made them do it to be more 'euro'.

Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language, and then Spanish ofc (Imagine if Brazil was colonized by Spain, would have changed the figures somewhat!) but English is the accepted international language, I think based on trade centres and the increasing importance of globalised economy. Oh, and because before then Britain as an empire walked into countries, stole the resources and shot everyone in the face who got in the way during the colonial era and installed a British overseer, so English was the language to speak to get anywhere.

It's interesting to note than many Chinese cities have social areas where people go to practice their English, with TEFL people there to help. Gearing up for language meltdown, the English figures should soar!

 

[megadave]

The language teachers at my school were absolutely dire

Also i dont expect most people in the UK encounter many times where they need to speak another language.

 

[mooSe_]

The modern foreign language department at my school tried to trick us into taking french/german gcse, saying that without it we had 0% chance of getting into any unis. Luckily I saw through their lies and spent 2 years failing art instead. But I'm still at uni!

 

[pikeh]

lets replace all languages with a simple numerical system.

 

[Wonk]

The language teachers at my school were absolutely dire

I learned more english from eurosport, than my primary school

 

[old.Tohtori]

lets replace all languages with a simple numerical system.

That's actually a f*cking graet idea.

Problem is; how?

 

[pikeh]

3, 6, 4, 1, 6

Thats my suggestion anywho.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Yeah, but that'll only leave us with the question; Why?

 

[Lamp]

telepathy > all languages

 

[Aiteal]

Don't call the British lazy, we started the industrial revolution and discovered/ invented more than half of the most important cornerstones of the modern world AND we spread our language over 2/3rds of the planet.

Not learning other languages is our birthright

YOU didn't do any of those things
You just happened to be born in the same landmass as others that did, you did provide a good example of how fucking needy/dumb nationalism is however

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

FYI; no one is expecting you to learn our language, it's like asking kids to know nuclear physics.

Ok, we are taught the following;

Treat everyone equal.

Good lesson eh? I think so.

I treat everyone equal, no question, but i get a lot of slack for doing so when there's people around with problem xyz.

Whoops?

 

[old.Tohtori]

You could've found a lot better example then that.

That doesn't even make sense.

 

[DocWolfe]

don't call the british lazy, we started the industrial revolution and discovered/ invented more than half of the most important cornerstones of the modern world and we spread our language over 2/3rds of the planet.

Not learning other languages is our birthright

HERE HERE, God save the Queen.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

You could've found a lot better example then that.

That doesn't even make sense.

Contradictory statements regarding your own behaviour Toh.

From your statements: In one thread you agree equality is a good thing. You say you treat everyone equally. And then in another thread you slag off the language capabilities of the British with a sweeping statement that infers inferiority.

The contradiction of your own behaviour just seemed quite amusing to me, especially as timewise the posts were reasonably close together

The only thing that surprises me is that you didn't join the dots since despite indulging in a lot of social experimentation on these forums, you usually seem quite sharp.

 

[old.Tohtori]

From your statements: In one thread you agree equality is a good thing. You say you treat everyone equally. And then in another thread you slag off the language capabilities of the British with a sweeping statement that infers inferiority.

Treating everyone equal doesn't mean i can't fire back at people making claims that suggest superiority of the british. Balancing really, not suggesting inferiority.

The statement is also factual,since the english language is nowhere near scandinavian/nordic. So it would be as hard as teaching a kid nuclear physisc, not impossible, but the end result wiuld be somewhat disappointing.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Treating everyone equal doesn't mean i can't fire back at people making claims that suggest superiority of the british. Balancing really, not suggesting inferiority.

The statement is also factual,since the english language is nowhere near scandinavian/nordic. So it would be as hard as teaching a kid nuclear physisc, not impossible, but the end result wiuld be somewhat disappointing.

Yes, the implication of inferiority is pretty direct in the choice of wording.

I'm not saying what you can or can't say. Just pointing out a slightly amusing contradiction in what you do say.

 

[Embattle]

I'm always impressed by the euros I play with when it comes to their English speaking abilities.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Yes, the implication of inferiority is pretty direct in the choice of wording.

I'm not saying what you can or can't say. Just pointing out a slightly amusing contradiction in what you do say.

Ignoring what i say and repeating your claim doesn't make it any more true.

Even if i treat everyone equally, it doesn't remove facts like fat people being fat, or ugly people being ugly. If i hated the english for not learning a language, THEN there would be a contradiction.

 

[Downanael]

Brits got it easy,only have to learn 1 language when pretty much rest of the europe has to learn native and english.

 

[Tasslehoff]

Learning a language is not a chore, but evolves your understanding and ability to learn. That's why Brits are so fucking stupid and lazy.