From: "David K. Merriman" <merriman@arn.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 19:30:48 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Why Americans feel no compulsion to learn foreign languages
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960328110922.00689c18@arn.net>
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At 11:49 AM 03/28/96 -0800, frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz) wrote:
>I, at least, want to know something of the language of the countries I
>travel in.  Being able to get a meal or a room for the night is useful.  As
>a rock bottom minimum, I want to know the phrases: Hello, Good by, Please,
>Thank You, More beer please, and Where's the bathroom.

Indeed, I've found that pretty much covers the essentials :-)
First things I've always tried to learn in a foreign language are "please"
and "thank you".
>
>The look of pleased surprise on the face of the Budapest resident when I
>said "Thank you" to in Hungarian as he gave up his seat to me because I was
>loaded down with caving equipment is something I still treasure.
>

Sounds much similar to the reaction I got in Japan, speaking broken
Japanese. Atrocious accent, of course; abysmal grammar, and a fair share of
mispronunciation tossed in - but I was *trying*, and that counted for a _lot_.

I also have to concur with the point about the language/point-of-view
argument. I never have learned to _think_ in a foreign language (a
prerequisite for fluency, I believe :-), but have gotten sufficiently
skilled to be able to understand some of the subtleties of the languages
I've (kind of) learned.

Regarding the notoriety of British (and, yes, Americans), I met up with a
Brit in Japan who complained about the 'bloody foreigners that don't
understand proper English'. I pointed out to him that *we* were the
foreigners, and that the Japanese had a nicely organized society about the
same time that his ancestors and mine were still smearing themselves with
blue mud. That earned me an Evil Look.

Dave Merriman

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"Giving money and power to government is like giving 
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                    P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist.
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