In Defense Of The United States Of America

[Rat Faced]

Uk has 7 "official" languages, and between 20-25% of the population.

In addition, the whole country is about 1/3 the size of Texas...we dont have problems with it.



Official Languages of the UK:

English, Scots Gaelic, Welsh Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Cornish, Manx, French...



There are probably more people speaking Hindi or Mandarin (Chinese) than 6 of these "official" languages lumped together, again not really a problem.

Most speak English as a 2nd language, and then the children end up speaking English as the 1st language, as they are brought up here.


The point im trying to make (and probably failing) is that English will be the predominant language...no matter how many languages are "official" or not. Just relax to it, and look at it as trying to make the people feel better in themselves..= less tension all around.

[j2k4]

Originally posted by Rat Faced@9 July 2003 - 14:43
The point im trying to make (and probably failing) is that English will be the predominant language...no matter how many languages are "official" or not. Just relax to it, and look at it as trying to make the people feel better in themselves..= less tension all around.

Maybe so, Rat.

It's difficult to see such issues clearly when such a thing is done in aid of a horribly ineffective immigration policy.

[ilw]

The comparisons about the uk's other official languages doesn't really hold against the US problem because England isn't being flooded with speakers of another very much alive language. In the UK all the languages mentioned are basically dead except in remote rural villages in north wales, scotland or on little islands.
If a large portion of Britains immigrants came from say France then there might actually be a language problem, but because the large number of immigrants that Britain receives are mostly from a wide variety of countries and speak a wide variety of languages. Basically the rather confused point i am trying to make is that there is no significant second language in Britain and not any large areas where the majority of inhabitants speak a single other language.

[Neil__]

ilw

Immigrants tend to come to the U.K. because they sppek english as a second language and will find it much easier to fit in.
there are many countries in Europe that give them a better chance of success so the non native language speakers usuall go elsewhere

And I can assure you that the french are excellent english speakers with high levels of fluency so apart from the rivalry there wouldn't be a problem.

Neil

[Rat Faced]

Scots Gaelic and especially Welsh are not dead languages.

However I did point out that more people speak Hindi or Mandaran than all the other languages put together.


I think it spices up the language..so many accents in such a small country

[Neil__]

and so much culture.

Neil

[myfiles3000]

1) Go to google
2) Type: weapons of mass destruction
3) Click on the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button (not the search button)
4) Read the whole error message carefully...

[Neil__]

fantastic
havent seen that before

LOL

B)

Neil

[hobbes]

Originally posted by myfiles3000@10 July 2003 - 19:49
1) Go to google
2) Type: weapons of mass destruction
3) Click on the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button (not the search button)
4) Read the whole error message carefully...

Wow, and I was becoming skeptical!

I get a pop-up of a map of Iraq, with many mobile red dots moving about. Very clever, they are in trucks, being driven around the country.

Let me pick up my Bat phone and give GWB a holler.

Thanks Myfiles, who would have picked you to locate those weapons.

[Rat Faced]

I particularly like the "Doctor Strangelove", when you press the "bomb" link.