..Why should English be used extensively in other countries? and why is it considered a "superior language"? Why shouldn't it be something like French?

I think it's due to big historical reasons dating back to the British Empire and all that... but I'm not a historian, so I wouldn't like to expand on that.

Because no-one like the french.
English are lazy with languages and as such, foreign countries have had to learn because we wont.

The computing industry is dominated by the USA, and MicroSoft, and they speak a form of English so it's de facto become the language of technology and therefore taught as a second language in most countries.

DB and maxt... I agree with you both - but I think people started speaking English a long time before package holidays and Microsoft Windows came to light.

Now there's really no turning back! :D

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I think that the school curriculum in this country should encourage or make it compulsory to study a European language as it is extremely beneficial when looking for jobs. I would love to work abroad and speak the lingo.

Isn't French just great? the sound of the language makes me feel all warm inside:D

French is simple to learn, and incredibly sexy. One of the great romance languages, it really does the job. Italian, post-renaissance? No thank you. I'd rather read Dante in the translation.

All this talk of learning a foreign language to be made compulsory is all well and good, but i've met a few natives of this country who can't even speak english properly :?

Originally posted by Abby
All this talk of learning a foreign language to be made compulsory is all well and good, but i've met a few natives of this country who can't even speak english properly :?


ha ha ha that tickled me :) yeh your right about that!!!

You wha? Wha tha on abaht ya daft numskull.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Just out of interest Da Bouncer ...do you have it in for Abby as you always have a dig at him

Me...? Did you take that last comment as a dig?

Abby did you?

In response to your question, no. i have no problem with Abby at all. Please link me the posts I have made where i am 'always' having a dig at him XADRIAN.

Nah, Miss X

DaBouncer and I have been winding each other up for a couple of weeks now. Nowt to worry about ;)

thats alright then:D

It has to be the fact that the dominant power in the world is the USA and most of the early colonists of that country were from England (one of the Pilgrim Fathers was from near Sheffield - a village called Scrooby in Notts). The French and the Spanish both had territory in America for a while but I think Napoleon took over the Spanish bit and then sold the lot to pay for a war. Also the Dutch sold New York (then New Amsterdam) to the English in return for some two bit island in the Pacific - aahh, I'm waffling now!

The Dutch exchanged Manhattan for the Moluccas, also known as the spice islands. These were not 'two bit', but some of the most valuable territory on the planet at that time. The money that was made from the export of cloves, cardamon and pepper, etc, was phemonenal, and basically paid for most of the Dutch colonoal expansion and building a lot of fancy stuff in Amsterdam. Don't quite know why the Brits gave it up. The Dutch got a double bargain when you consider that they only 'swapped' Manhattan for a few glass beads to begin with.

Incidentally, the US speaking English was a bit close. It only won over German by three votes (out of 25), with Hebrew a close third. What a crazy, right to left dominated world that would be:o

Just think how lucky we are. There are only 9 million swedish people, and hardly a soul outside of Sweden speaks the language, so they have to learn english, or some other language(s) if they want to take part in any international activity.
You dont seem to be able to study swedish even if you are desperate to, in the UK. But swedish kids are taught English from about 5 years old.

Useless information from LB
x

Originally posted by oxbeast
Don't quite know why the Brits gave it up.

Read Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton. It gives a fascinating insight into the trade wars of the time and explains how we ended up with Manhattan. PM me if you want to read it and can't get a copy.

English is incredibly easy to learn, and you can express yourself pretty much completely with as few as 450 words in your vocabulary. Also fast and loose rules of spoken grammar mean that word order is less crucial, and much meaning is derived from context.
Add to these factors things like the largely anglophone internet, hollywood producing worldwide anglophone output, pop music, and western global brands make it easy to learn and spoken in many places.
Many languages have a beauty of their own, russian, for me is the most expressive, although I cannnot speak a word of it (well, Dosvidanya and Rouble maybe).
But English is the most versatile and malleable, giving rise to all sorts of variations and dialects worldwide.

cheers, maxt, may well take you up on that when I get up to Sheffield.
Other good points about English;
*Huge vocab, 2-3 times the other European languages, even the wordy ones like German. Means more potential for expression, and some good poetry. I don't really think that you can express yourself in 450 words. FOreigners who have about this vocabulary are really frustrating to talk to.
* No funny signs, like circumflexes and umlauts cluttering the page up. You should see Polish written. Rather than have a sign for every different vowel sound, we just pronounce the letter differently. Much more efficient.
* No

Originally posted by oxbeast
These were not 'two bit', but some of the most valuable territory on the planet at that time.Ok, not two bit at the time, but if you read Nathaniels Nutmeg it says that the main island 'Run' doesn't even appear on most world atlases today. So, I think with a view to the long term - and where are the Dutch classed in the superpower league nowadays - then it wasn't a good swap!

[Edited by Tony Ruscoe - fixed formatting]

Sorry, I've never read anything about this, I'm just answering off the top of my head. The other thing I heard was that the Brits took some spice plants with them on the way off the island, and then went to find somewhere else that they would grow, Ceylon, or Malaya or somewhere. So the Dutch lost their monopoly, and were jsut left with some obscure islands...