¿qué opináis de este articulo?

http://elmundo.es/elmundo/2003/07/11/sociedad/1057920937.html

¡Es buena cosa que no hicieron la misma pregunta a los ciudadanos americanos!

hey everybody

ummm...english please

hey everybody

booklady
hehe

if it werent for these perky gremlins
i would have seemedto be like one of those racist gringos down in california.

Viajo con un grupo de estudiantes cada verano. Los directores de los viajes nos dijeron que en los paises donde se habla un idioma derivido del alemán, a lo mejor vamos a encontrar a gente que tambien hable inglés. En Italia, Francia y España, nos avisaron que era menos probable poder sobrevivir usando sólo inglés. Francamente, en mi experiencia, encontré a más gente capaz de hablar el inglés en Holanda que en cualquier otro país.

Please, Spanish language in the Spanish language foras and English language here in the English language foras. Thanks!

Sincerely, MadridMan

Sorry...thought since this started in Spanish the author had meant for it to go into the Spanish language discussion section!
I pretty much agree with the article. I don't think that Spaniards in general speak other languages as much as people in other countries do. I have to say the same for France and Italy as well. Yes, certainly folks who work in the tourist industry speak English, but I can't say that the average guy on the street is likely to speak English. I can't say whether or not they are likely to be fluent in other languages, though. Maybe they all speak French!
I think it is a blessing that they didn't take the same survey in the US! I am not even sure that folks in the tourist industry here speak anything but Spanish and English. I don't know what someone from another country would do if s/he didn't speak English!

You're so right, la Maestra. It seems to me that being multilingual is seen with suspicion in many areas of the country. There does not seem to be any groundswell of interest to learn a foreign language. If it were not for H.S. and College graduation requirements, there may even be less of an interest in languages in the U.S.

No wonder Spanglish persists!

hey everybody

to be honest
in my opinion theres nothing wrong that a person is not bilingual.
im tri-lingual by chance,and thats good.i think we shouldnt critize a person based on being a good monoglot or not.
if spaniards are not bilingual in general that dont mean ****.
anyway my relatives in ortigueira and alcala de henares know 5 languages.english,galego,espanol,francais and theyre now very fluent in portuguesh

Sorry guys, it just goes to prove that you shouldn't post messages on an empty stomach they could end up where you did not intend for them to be. Thanks for posting responses anyway.

Having lived in the Canary Islands for some time, I met many people that spoke another language other than Spanish. Most people learned English, French, or German. Most of the tourist that come to the Canary Islands come from UK, France, or Germany. Thus, learning these languages is not only useful, but a good idea. Here in California, it wouldn't make sense to learn a language other than Spanish or Chinese. Hispanics are the largest minority in the US now.

I don't think there was any value judgment placed on a person because s/he isn't bilingual. The issue, I think, is how many folks are? Speaking only one language doesn't make you any less wonderful as a human being, but it sure is an advantage when you can let folks all over the world know how wonderful you are by speaking in another language

I think the US has had problems with bilingualism because we started out as a multilingual nation with English being the only commonality that would hold us together. My grandparents, like other, I'm sure, spoke their native languages at home, but wanted their children to speak English. I know there were areas of the country where folks went off the deep end trying to get everyone to speak English. You hear most horror stories from Spanish speakers, and I'm not sure why. Surely immigrants who spoke Chinese or Polish would speak their languages to others who spoke the same thing. I suspect it had to do with the numbers of people who were involved.

Since the Lau Decision, however, bilingual classes are the law (except in those special states where folks have voted them out...and I'm not sure how they can get away with going against a Supreme Court decision, but hey, what do I know!)

I don't think Spanglish is a result of anything more than the intellectual laziness that has gripped our country. It is easier to do a half...how shall I put this so as not to offend?...half DONKEY job of learning a language (native or otherwise) than to take the time to do it right! I have horror stories to tell on this issue...in another life I taught bilingual and ESL classes. Don't get me started!

As was pointed out earlier by La Maestra, we here in the U.S. are not that better off than other nations when it comes to its citizenry knowing a foreign language, whatever it may be: Polish, Spanish, Italian, etc. First generation children of recent immigrant families may know their parent's language, but after the first generation, it becomes less prevalent.

Our culture does not value multilingual ability, as it does other abilities. I don't know if this is a cultural reason, or an economic reason. We have such a great market here that we do not need to learn a language out of economic necesity, as do say the countries of the European Union.

Nevertheless, as has been pointed out being multilingual is without doubt of benefit when one travels and does business outside of the U.S.

I can't help but wonder if multilingual abilities will be valued more now that we are both traveling to other countries more than our parents did and are more "involved" in other countries...no matter what your personal political bent is on that situation! When I was growing up and wanted to learn Spanish, my family and friends used to say "When would you ever use it?" It isn't just that the US has a huge Spanish speaking population...people travel a lot more now! Europeans, by virtue of the fact that the countries are smaller and travel between countries where other languages were spoken was more likely, have always valued multilingualism. We used to be so isolated that many folks couldn't see a need for it!

And for the EU as a whole, 56% are not competent in at least one additional language. That 56% is probably skewed because Spain is included. So maybe if Spain were not included it would be more like 52 or 53 percent.

Spain was isolated from most of Europe many years (1936 to the mid 1960's). Spain had little commercial contact with the 'outside world' other than Latin America and Portugal during most of the Franco years. Tourism was Spain's major industry: In the 1960's many young Spanish people began studying English or German in order to be ready when windows were opened and the fresh air was allowed to come in. I don't think it's unreasonable that it takes 25-years for a culture to do a turnaround. I think the El Mundo person who wrote that article is trying to sensationalize something that is in the process of evolving.

Keep in mind that Castellano is the Official language of Countries with populations totalling more than 200-million (when we include Latin America).

I don't know that Spain is any worse off in terms of bilingualism than Italy. France seems to have come a long way...perhaps attitudinally more than linguistically! These days the French seem much more willing and able to speak English and/or to tolerate those of us who don't do a stellar job of speaking French!

It cracks me up when I hear folks say "Everyone in (country of your choice) speaks English." That attitude seems to take all pressure off Americans...why should we bother to learn another language if EVERYONE in Spain (for ex.) speaks English. As a rule of thumb,if I'm in a conversation of any sort with someone who speaks another language, I go with the language one of us speaks best. You'd be amazed at how often that winds up being me with my fractured, level one Italian, French, Ship or Greek! I suspect the high scores come from Holland and the Scandinavian countries.

hey everybody

dont forget the icelandics
who usually are very good with languages.
i would say in europe the worse are the people in the balkans.the leaders in languages are the northernwestern euro folk.

What makes you say that the folks in the Balkans are the worst in terms of bilingualism? For one thing, both the aggressors and the ones attacked had to know each other's languages! I didn't have much trouble speaking English to folks in Kosovo. Didn't have any trouble in Croatia either.

It certainly comes as a surprise to me. I always thought that Spaniards either learned English or French in school as a second language. My aunt who is from Austurias speaks fluent French. Myself, I rely on my limited Spanish, Italian to get by. I also know ASL...American Sign Language, which Im more proficient at than the spoken languages, (I used to be an interpreter).

California has become unoffically a bilingual state, mostly by necessity. I am a bus driver and the transit agency I work for has all public information in English and Spanish, that includes all our forms, signs and billboards.

Remember, Oso, that in the US two years of a foreign language is required for entrance into most colleges. That doesn't mean that all the students who took a language can speak it fluently!

Not suprising, although among the young and educated the % seems much higher. BTW, I think the pendulum is swinging the other way in the U.S., too, with plenty of jobs in places like Miami requiring Spanish and people in general more aware of the need for languages in a globablized world.

Being a high-powered international businessman (or at least at the beck and call of said high-powered international businessmen), of course, being bilingual has allowed me to travel to Spain and plenty of Latin America on the company's dime, which is no bad thing. Currently working on Portuguese to expand travel horizons.