Why Americans feel no compulsion to learn foreign languages

[Bill Frantz]

At  3:13 AM 3/27/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

>There is not a single foreign language I can think of it that would help me
>in my goals or help anyone I know. This is the reality of a world dominated
>by English-speaking persons and in which all technical people learn
>English.

I would agree with you, except I started International Caving.  When in
Hungery, I heard, "Peter will guide you thru the rest of the cave.  Don't
worry, he speaks good German."  Fortunatly, my German was good enough.

While in China as a normal tourist, a travel agency in Yichang tried to
extort $600 from our group.  My wife's (very poor) knowledge of Manderin
probably scared the preps enough to get them to lay off.

BTW - There are also French speakers on the US border.  They don't want to
speak english either.


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