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From: essachs@ihuxe.UUCP (Ed Sachs)
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Re: Americans and Foreign Languages
Message-ID: <1388@ihuxe.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Nov-86 09:13:53 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxe.1388
Posted: Thu Nov 13 09:13:53 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Nov-86 23:46:38 EST
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Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
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> ...  In addition, in America it is viewed as less important to learn
> a foreign language, since everybody for hundreds and hundreds of miles in
> almost every direction speaks English too (or at least is expected to!).
> In Europe, the countries are much smaller, and it is much easier to leave
> yours.  

(This comes from the series on the English Language currently
airing on PBS.)
Another reason (perhaps) that Americans don't learn a second language
is the question of what language to learn.  The number one second
language in the world is English!  We already speak everyone else's
second language!
-- 
				Ed Sachs
				AT&T Bell Laboratories
				Naperville, IL
				ihnp4!ihuxe!essachs