Chinese (and other) pilots unable to speak English pose danger for air travel (CNN)

"Miguel Cruz" wrote

On the other hand, they are much more interested in the language and its
eccentricities than the Germans, who seem to just regard English as a
basic skill to be mastered and then taken for granted.

Today, most Germans learn English in school from an early age, and speak very
good "British" English.
--
Jim in NC

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

It's a skewed perspective with no basis in the reality of the world
today.

You're entitled to your opinion.

There are cases where non-German native executives would rather you
speak to them in German than English too.

For these executives, French was not their native language.

Extremely popular is meaningless. In the US, for example, which is the
most populous English speaking country in the world, high school
students are now learning Spanish at a rate almost 4 times that of
French.

Spanish has more practical value than French in the U.S., and it's easier to
learn, at least at lower levels and in terms of pronunciation.

In the UK too, learning French as a second language is seen as
less important than it used to be.

But they are still learning mostly French, aren't they?

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

What is the evidence for this?

The statistics I've seen in the past. My own experience mirrors the
statistics.

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

Mxsmanic wrote:

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

Fair enough- but India still has over 3 times as many people speaking
Hindi as a native language than the number speaking English as a
secondary one.

Not so. There are far more than one billion speakers of English in the world.

I didn't claim otherwise. Re-read the above.

I did. "Speaking English as a secondary one" means all speakers of English,
not just native speakers, and there are far more than one billion such people
in the world. This greatly outnumbers the number of native speakers of Hindi.
Thus, claiming the opposite--to say nothing of claiming that there are three
times as many native Hindi speakers as English speakers--is clearly incorrect.

Mxsmanic wrote:

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

It's a skewed perspective with no basis in the reality of the world
today.

You're entitled to your opinion.

There are cases where non-German native executives would rather you
speak to them in German than English too.

For these executives, French was not their native language.

Same with the non-German native executives.


Extremely popular is meaningless. In the US, for example, which is the
most populous English speaking country in the world, high school
students are now learning Spanish at a rate almost 4 times that of
French.

Spanish has more practical value than French in the U.S., and it's easier to
learn, at least at lower levels and in terms of pronunciation.

In the UK too, learning French as a second language is seen as
less important than it used to be.

But they are still learning mostly French, aren't they?

Less than before, which reflects a European wide trend, where French at
higher level is 28% compared to German at 20%. That's the point. In any
case, you suggested that native english speakers learned French- the US
alone blows that 'statistic' out of the water. In Australia too,
Japanese has surpassed French as the most widely studied language.


--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

Mxsmanic wrote:

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

What is the evidence for this?

The statistics I've seen in the past.

So, none then.

My own experience mirrors the
statistics.

I don't think reasonable people would consider you to have much
experience.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

On Jul 9, 8:19 am, Mxsmanic wrote:
David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

Mxsmanic wrote:

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) writes:

Fair enough- but India still has over 3 times as many people speaking
Hindi as a native language than the number speaking English as a
secondary one.

Not so. There are far more than one billion speakers of English in the world.

I didn't claim otherwise. Re-read the above.

I did. "Speaking English as a secondary one" means all speakers of English,
not just native speakers, and there are far more than one billion such people
in the world. This greatly outnumbers the number of native speakers of Hindi.
Thus, claiming the opposite--to say nothing of claiming that there are three
times as many native Hindi speakers as English speakers--is clearly incorrect.

Oh the irony of it all (obviously Engrish isn't your first language.
Must be French...). Don't read context into the sentence where there
is none:

India still has over 3 times as many people speaking Hindi as a native
language than the number [of Indians] speaking English as a
secondary [language].

I don't know why you think 1 billion people speaking english as a
second language has anything to do with the sentence.

Sheesh. Glad you weren't *my* language teacher.

(As an aside: What about Russian as a second language? It's an (iirc)
ICAO language; in terms of area Russia is the largest country on the
planet, and it has a nice big population. Plus it's pretty damned
easy to read. Although, on the other hand, 10 syllable words are
tough on the radio

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

Read this again, carefully.


You have never given me cause to follow your instructions.

You have always given me cause be highly skeptical of any of your 'advice'.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Miguel Cruz writes:

Only if you're in France, or have little interest in establishing
communication.

No, I was talking about interactions worldwide.

You despise leaving your apartment, why would anyone think you know anything
about 'interactions worldwide"?

The only experience you have worldwide is the worldwide web. That's not
reality.

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...

Fair enough- but India still has over 3 times as many people speaking
Hindi as a native language than the number speaking English as a
secondary one.

Nope.

About 300 million Indians speak some Hindi.

About 700 million speak some English

Mind you, in a lot of cases for both languages it's the taxi driver's
'where to?'

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.