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.

[Ram59]

Spot on, people totally miss the point, the railways are virtually untouched since victorian times, the point of a new high speed link is that long distance passenger traffic will use the new route and free up capacity on the existing routes there is no practical alternative, but as usual people cannot see the long term benefits.

When you think about it, having another track will more than double the existing capacity. Atm, they have to plan for express trains to overtake slow trains where there are multiple tracks, such as major stations. If all of the trains on both the current track and the hs2 tracks are going at the same speed, then far more trains will be able to operate safely, just like the London underground.

[swaledale]

Interesting....I thought the dual nationality thing with EU countries was one of the things that would go with Brexit? Better find me a Romanian girl to secure my EU retiement bolthole in the sun....or maybe Transylvanian twilight

No dual nationality has nothing to do with Brexit, if you qualify for a passport with another country, then you qualify, whether your american, belgian, dutch, Irish it makes no difference.

Brexit just means its worth getting both passports, whereas when we were in the Eu, if you were had dual nationality iwth 2 Eu countries it didn't matter.

[ramAnag]

Pas vraiment Monsieur Belierjet.

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

Oops...sorry, reply intended for MA not RR. Lost in translation...as I frequently am.

[MadAmster]

I had that one sussed RA so the rest must have as well

[swaledale]

Oh the Brexit crap rolls in - Gove saying that in this parliament (before 2022) the money the Uk would otherwise have paid to the EU will go to schools, homes and the NHS, in direct contradiction to the governments own plans (of which he is a member) outlined in the last budget which assumed that when contributions to the EU end, the demand from replacements for Eu programmes such as farm subsidies will swallow up all this cash. Thats not taking into account the costs of new customs procedures, setting up and running new bodies to cover regulations for various sectors, never mind the possibility of billions lost in growth!

An interesting fact £160 million a week Uk pays to Eu now

under the deal struck that will be £170 million per week for at least 4 years after Brexit - think the savings are going to be a long time coming!