Response to foreign language in States

[aumm aumm]

Maura



Speaking as someone who lives in London, which has a similarly mixed population to New York (30% come from ethnic minorities), I can't understand why you feel that this should making learning another language so difficult.  It doesn't mean that you have to learn every language spoken, but it does give you a perfect opportunity to practice the language you choose to learn.



You are quite right in saying that, in general, the British are not very good at learning foreign languages and rely on the fact that "English is an international language" to get by. (I disagree that the Italians are worse: as you said in your message – your children felt there was no point in learning Italian as everyone there wanted to practice English with them). But, if one of the main goals of travel is to broaden one's cultural horizons then the experience is significantly impoverished if one sets off with this attitude.



I have looked back at Pieter’s message and I am afraid that I can’t find what previous comment he was referring to, but to return the discussion to the theme of the Camino, I do think that if people can learn even a little Spanish before going, they will find that this greatly enhances their experience on the road.  Not least because, although you may find that people are able to communicate with you to a greater or lesser extent in English, if you go to their country having made no attempt to be able to use their language, you may well also discover that some people regard this as an arrogant attitude and refuse to communicate with you at all.



Gareth

Maura Santangelo <maurasantangeloaSTNY.RR.COM> wrote:On Wednesday, July 23, 2003, at 03:09 PM, Caldwell, Emily wrote:

> 23% speak French. And "Statistics Canada says that while most people
> in Canada speak English or French at home, one out of every six
> reported having a mother tongue other than English or French."

30% of people living in New York city were born elsewhere, I presume
that they also speak another language, it is this that makes learning
another language so difficult. To communicate with my patients in
Broome County New York, I would need to know Laotian, Chinese,Cambodian,
Kurdish, Russian, Slovak, Polish, Spanish ( a very small number compared
to the others), Italian ( and several dialects of italian), Arabic,
Hindi/Urdu... which one would you suggest we teach in school in this
community of about 200,000 people???

Maura



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