Chinese (and other) pilots unable to speak English pose danger for air travel (CNN)

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
William Black wrote:

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
William Black wrote:

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

Fair enough- but India still has over 3 times as many people
speaking
Hindi as a native language than the number speaking English as a
secondary one.

Not so. There are far more than one billion speakers of English in
the
world.

And about two thirds of them are in India...

Where are you getting that figure?

It was in the Times of India some time ago.

It sounds like an extraordinary exaggeration to me.

But as I said, the level of English spoken is rather mixed.

However every child who has been to some sort of school in India has
learned
some English.

It's the major official language, and a lot more popular than Hindi in
school for older kids.

I spent a couple of months in Delhi when I was a teenager, and did a lot
of school visits there, as a sort of cultural 'ambassador.' Almost
anyone I had any dealings with in Delhi spoke fluent English- and
certainly the kids in schools did- though it was a potent mix of Hindi
and English on the whole. However, if you're saying that nearly 700
million people in India speak English, then I think that's severely
exaggerated. Unless "hello" and "goodbye" counts as speaking English.
Maybe the situation has changed since I was there, but just in terms of
encountering people in shops (outside tourist areas), servants, scooter
drivers and the like- hardly any spoke any kind of English.

I've spent a lot of time there in the past couple of years.

Just about everyone I met under about thirty in Bombay spoke some English,
including kids working in cheap restaurants, who are, as you're probably
aware, just in from the villages and making their way for the first time.

In Goa everyone I met, without exception, spoke some English.

'Up country' in the villages of Maharashtra just about everyone I spoke to,
except older women, spoke some English.

All the railway servants spoke some English, all our drivers, private hire
and taxi and auto-rickshaw, spoke some and someone in every shop I went
into spoke some English.

Which is a nuisance because everyone wants to practice their English and so
I didn't get much chance at all to practice my Hindi or Marathi.

Good English is seen as a way to a decent job and so prosperity.

The only person who I met who spoke no English at all and had no-one in his
shop who could and was some sort of businessman was my wife's dressmaker.

I don't go to touristy areas, I live in an area of Bombay city that is well
off any tourist track, to the extent that another European is noticeable and
is commented on. When I travel I don't use the terribly touristy means of
getting about and when I go 'up country' it's to places where tourists
certainly don't go, I was the first European seen in one village since the
British went home...

I expected good English to be spoken in Fort and Crawford Market, they're
big international shopping areas full of ex-pats and foreigners, I didn't
expect it to be spoken in rural India by people who work on the land...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
Mxsmanic wrote:

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

Extremely popular is meaningless. In the US, for example, which is the
most populous English speaking country in the world, high school
students are now learning Spanish at a rate almost 4 times that of
French. In the UK too, learning French as a second language is seen as
less important than it used to be.

Actually the most populous English speaking country is India.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

El Maximo writes:

Languages, plural?

Yes. I speak more than one and can teach all the languages I speak.

Which languages - besides English and French - are these?
--
dgs

"William Black" wrote

English in India is usually taught in a way that requires the speaker to have
a slight and distinct pause after each word. many Indians who have been
taught that way have problems understanding people who speak English as their
native tongue

Indians who learn English as their first language (About 10% of the
population) do not speak like this and do not have this problem.


EVERY time I get a customer support call routed to India, I end up unsatisfied,
because of not being able to understand the English that is being spoken. Part
of the problem is the fact that I don't hear well, I think.

I don't know what the problem is, as most of the English is usually fair, but
the accent is so heavy that it makes it difficult. Also, it is like they don't
understand what the problem is that you are trying to explain to them. I think
they only understand enough to deal with the ordinary problems, and don't know
how to deal with an unusual situation.

Now, if I have a problem and get sent off to Tec support in India, I look for a
different solution. I know I will not get the problem solved, there.
--
Jim in NC

On Mon, 9 Jul 2007 19:55:24 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote:

Now, if I have a problem and get sent off to Tec support in India, I look for a
different solution. I know I will not get the problem solved, there.

It took just two calls to support lines for me to realise I was on my own -
and that was over ten years ago.

DaveM

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

El Maximo writes:

Languages, plural?

Yes. I speak more than one and can teach all the languages I speak.


No, you can't, bankruptcy boi


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

NotABushSupporter writes:

Apparently, you speak much better than you write.

It depends on many factors.


Pbviously, they're both crap


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

JohnT writes:

Perfect English is extraordinarily rare among people whose native
language it is.

It is exceptional, but not extraordinarily rare.

I haven't fully mastered my own language and, certainly, you haven't
either.

Actually, I do very well.


No,m you don't bankruptcy,boi

Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

Next to English, Arabic,
Mandarin, Spanish and Hindi are far more important than French.

It's the other way around. If you can't find someone who speaks
English, the next language you try is French.




Nope.


Wrong again, bankruptcy boi


Bertie

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

The next language _you_ try maybe. It's rarely of any use to me when
I travel (outside French speaking countries)- even in Europe. Despite
being an American, you have adopted a very French perspective, but
it's ******** if you travel to most countries outside France.

There's nothing specifically French about the perspective, although
I'm sure it pleases the French. I've still had cases in which I've
been asked to speak to executives from non-French-speaking countries
in French rather than English because they knew French far better
(having studied it in school).


~That's just what they told you bankruptcy boi.
Actuallym, none of those audiences spoke french. It was the best way
they could tink of of not having to listen to you.


Bertei