OT. The futures Bright, the Futures Brexit!!!

[ramAnag]

Its not really current generation arrogance it's because (a) English is the most widely spoke language (albeit not the language spoken by the most people) (b) English is the persistent language of international business (c) the Americans speak it and its as much their arrogance / introvert nature that means they will always use their own *******isation of the language (d) the English are lazy ****ers and dont feel the need to learn other languages - myself included!

Also we invented speaking and so we is right, yeah?

Is English (American) actually the most widely spoken language Rog?
I have a feeling it may be Spanish and in many U.S. States now there is a legal requirement for all signs to be translated into Spanish.

[roger_ramjet]

This is why I said English may not be the language spoken by most people as I suspect that Hindi and "Chinese" (in the broad sense of the word) as well as Spanish may be spoken by more people. However, outside Spain, Spanish speakers are predominantly found in South/Central America and the Philippines whereas English is more widely (in a geographic sense) spoken across the globe - US Canada Australia /New Zealand, much of South and West Africa and a lot of india/Pakistan/Bangle/SL.

In other words our old colonies were more broadly distributed than their's

[ramAnag]

This is why I said English may not be the language spoken by most people as I suspect that Hindi and "Chinese" (in the broad sense of the word) as well as Spanish may be spoken by more people. However, outside Spain, Spanish speakers are predominantly found in South/Central America and the Philippines whereas English is more widely (in a geographic sense) spoken across the globe - US Canada Australia /New Zealand, much of South and West Africa and a lot of india/Pakistan/Bangle/SL.

In other words our old colonies were more broadly distributed than their's

Yep, I got that and I believe Mandarin Chinese lays claim to be the language spoken by the most people though obviously it isn’t particularly ‘widely’ spoken.
Guess the rest comes down to semantics and the difference between ‘widely’ and ‘commonly’ but I take your point...just always been puzzled by our education system’s obsession with teaching French - certainly until comparatively recently - when Spanish would always have been far more relevant to most.

[MadAmster]

Yep, I got that and I believe Mandarin Chinese lays claim to be the language spoken by the most people though obviously it isn’t particularly ‘widely’ spoken.
Guess the rest comes down to semantics and the difference between ‘widely’ and ‘commonly’ but I take your point...just always been puzzled by our education system’s obsession with teaching French - certainly until comparatively recently - when Spanish would always have been far more relevant to most.

There was a reason for teaching French in the past as it was the "official" language used in diplomatic circles around the world. Political officials and French nationalists have fought to keep French as the international language of diplomacy, but many argue that English has taken over that role. Despite the popularity of English, the French language still continues to play an integral part in international relations.

J'espère que ça t'aide, RA

[roger_ramjet]

More puzzling yet is the teaching of German as a second choice rather than Spanish. Apart from the Germans and the Austrians (which is really just another part of Germany) who speaks it?

[swaledale]

More puzzling yet is the teaching of German as a second choice rather than Spanish. Apart from the Germans and the Austrians (which is really just another part of Germany) who speaks it?

Some Poles, Swiss, parts of South Africa namibia - I expect it was chosen just in case they won best out of three and you had to converse with your rules, also its perhaps useful for conversing with some members of the "British" royal family!

[ramAnag]

There was a reason for teaching French in the past as it was the "official" language used in diplomatic circles around the world. Political officials and French nationalists have fought to keep French as the international language of diplomacy, but many argue that English has taken over that role. Despite the popularity of English, the French language still continues to play an integral part in international relations.

J'espère que ça t'aide, RA

Pas vraiment Monsieur Belierjet.

I suspect it had more to do with being the ‘language’ of middle class teachers in the sixties.

[roger_ramjet]

Some Poles, Swiss, parts of South Africa namibia - I expect it was chosen just in case they won best out of three and you had to converse with your rules, also its perhaps useful for conversing with some members of the "British" royal family!

They were already 2-0 down when I went to school though, so best of 5 maybe

[AdiSalisbury]

I was taught Spanish at school, found it harder than French though. Probably because we didn't have a Spanish kid in the class, but that French kid we had helped me get a..... D grade GSCE French! Less focus on grammar and more focus on holding conversations might have made the learning more engaging.

If I had time, I'd revisit Spanish, purely because for selfish holidaying reasons. A friend tried and failed to teach me Bulgarian, but those words are hard to pronounce, so that didn't work, and another tried Greek, but it was hard enough just saying their names.

But who cares? "Brexiteer" and "Remoaner" are words I never imagined were possible until recently!

[MadAmster]

I learnt French and Spanish at Grammar School as well as a spattering of Latin.