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

Mxsmanic wrote:
El Maximo writes:

Not obvious to me. Every german I know speaks perfect english, although
with
an accent.

I hardly know any Germans who speak perfect English.

You live in France.

I live in a third country, neither Germany nor France, but with a large
number of expats from both.

Most of the Germans I know arrived here with decent or fluent English
and within a few years were perfectly fluent.

Most of the French I know arrived here with almost no usable English and
had to spend evenings doing tuition in order to catch up. All but one
have thick accents and use very strange constructions on a very regular
basis.

On the other hand, they are much more interested in the language and its
eccentricities than the Germans, who seem to just regard English as a
basic skill to be mastered and then taken for granted.

miguel
--
Hit the road! Photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Detailed airport information: http://airport.u.nu

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
El Maximo writes:

Not obvious to me. Every german I know speaks perfect english, although
with
an accent.

I hardly know any Germans who speak perfect English.

The fact that you hardly know them not surprising. The Germans I know are
also pretty bright, therefore they would steer clear of the likes of you.

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).

There are many people who study only French (particularly if their first
language is already English), or both English and French. French has long
been extremely popular as a foreign language.

El Maximo writes:

That probably works in France.....

Oddly enough, it works throughout a large part of the world.

Miguel Cruz writes:

Only if you're in France, or have little interest in establishing
communication.

No, I was talking about interactions worldwide. French is the most popular
second language after English, so most people with an education have studied
one or the other (or both).

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.

El Maximo writes:

Your past history lead me to ignore anything you might 'recommend'. I
suspect any intelligent person would do the same.

Read this again, carefully.

With english teachers like you in the system, I'm suprised ANY french people
can speak English.

The English teachers they have in public school are not like me, and as a
result they cannot speak English after leaving school. They then come to
people like me to actually learn the language. It's unfortunate for the
country but it does keep hundreds of private language schools in business.

Mxsmanic wrote:

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.

It's a skewed perspective with no basis in the reality of the world
today.

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).

There are cases where non-German native executives would rather you
speak to them in German than English too. So what? It's the numbers that
matter.

There are many people who study only French (particularly if their first
language is already English),

See below!

or both English and French. French has long
been extremely popular as a foreign language.

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.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

Mxsmanic wrote:

Miguel Cruz writes:

Only if you're in France, or have little interest in establishing
communication.

No, I was talking about interactions worldwide. French is the most popular
second language after English,

What is the evidence for this?

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

Mxsmanic wrote:

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.

I didn't claim otherwise. Re-read the above.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007