(BUFDRVR) wrote in
:

I have
traveled to over 60 countries, and I was never is a position
where English could not be used.

snip

Watch you cutting and editing, I *did not* write that!

Point is, unless you've lived and spoken another language and
experienced another culture from the inside, you are in a very
weak position to claim anything much that goes beyond yourself.

Hogwash! I live in a neighborhood with Vietnamese, Chinese, Latino and other
immigrants as do most Americans living on either coast. I live and talk with
these people on a daily basis. I attend our childrens sporting events, school
meetings and other such functions. While I may not get the "immersion" you feel
is required, I know these people much better than you will any Dutchman you
meet by visting the Netherlands.

Well most americans I speak to are embarrased on behalf of their
own nation for speaking just one language and lack of cultural insight.

You must be speaking to a lot of uneducated Americans. Many Americans learn, to
a certain degree, another language, but lose that ability due to lack of use.
If I'm typical of many Americans, you can feel comforted that if I spent a
month or two in Germany, I think I could get my skills back up to at least the
second grade level. Bottom line, we (evil Americans) have no need to use any
other language so over time we easily lose what we've been taught.

As far as your percieved cultural insight, Europe (despite the increased
immigration) is still a monoethnic society, the same cannot be said for the US
where we have more Jews in New York City than in Isreal, more Iraqis outside of
Detroit than in Baghdad, more Mexicans in California than in Mexico City and
nearly twice as many African descendants as Europe combined.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"