[52798] in Cypherpunks
Re: Why Americans feel no compulsion to learn foreign languages
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Frantz)
Wed Mar 27 20:57:21 1996
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 12:48:53 -0800
To: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May), cypherpunks@toad.com
From: frantz@netcom.com (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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting
(408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave.
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