Americans tend to be studiously mono-lingual. We are aggressively so. If someone comes to this country they damn well better speak English. That's the way it was when our founding fathers established this nation in Pennsylvania (German), New York (Dutch), Florida (Spanish), Louisiana (French)...er, never mind.
If you travel to Europe, you won't find such rampant nationalistic jingoism (if that isn't redundant). You will, however, benefit from a well-written phrasebook:
2 comments:
They may not be so nationalistic about their language but are european nations that are very protective of their heritage, at least when it came to their National currency for example. I remember some bitter fights over adopting the Euro and it was only through totalitarian tactics that they managed to get that through.
The Euro hasn't worked out so well has it? A huge chunk of national sovereignty gets bartered away when you create a multi-national currency. When you can't control debt and money supply you lose control of many things.
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