I've lived in China. Very few people speak English away from the commercial hotspots. Try going to Chongqing, a city of 30 million inhabitants, and finding people who speak English.
Can't be true. Bob spoke to Chinese people who spoke English, so they all do. The lad I referred to who teaches English lives in a city, which .I had never heard of, with a population if million. He said, to give an idea of how crowded and noisy it is, those 6 million are in a city whose area is about the size of Hull.
English is the international language of business and tourism, so companies who operate in those sectors employ English-speakers.
Considering most of the people I went to see were in businesses that were supplying footwear to England, you'd expect they would. The French often don't speak English out of principal. Italy used to be my main market outside the UK and most of the people I came across spoke English, same in Portugal. In the Netherlands and Scandinavia, you'll be hard pushed to find anyone who doesn't speak English (maybe some oldies).
Precisely and therefore one does not need to learn Chinese. I refer back to my comment "most of the world that matters does (speak English)"
I don't think it is true that the English are ignorant of foreign language, an awful lot do know the basics of French, Spanish and Italian and make an effort when in those countries. Mark Hughes's Taff lot though, how many actually speak their own language?
Look you linguaphiles, I've come on here to read about the truly shocking news of Mark Hughes' departure and have had to wade through page after page of acrimonious bibble which stretches around the whole ****ing globe. Just get yourself a Babel Fish, available at all good Intergalactic mega-hyper-stores, galaxy wide and you're sorted. You'll never be pissed off by a shoulder shrugging Gallic galoot again. Or confused by a curious Chinaman. Or dissed by a doughty Dane. Ignored by an idiotic Italian. Life's blissful in a land where a tiny piscis is excreting a telepathic matrix in your ear. Problem solved.
Would they be fluent enough in English to know the difference between principle and principal? Don't have much experience of Scandinavia bit in the Netherlands English was a compulsory foreign language, they had to do two, even back in the 60s and 70s when I first went so even oldies would know some English.
How the **** has a thread about Hughes doing one turned into a thread of international languages in business? Anyway, I work for a Spanish company and they all speak excellent English. Feliz Navidad.
I've met a few foreigners over the years, and some of the cocky ones like to show their prowess in our language. I've had to point out their errors and make them say it correctly on on more than one occasion.
