Steve019

I didn't mean to imply that you were European. I just thought it was ironic that Americans are always criticized for not being bilingual, yet an MBA wielding American VP didn't even understand the definition of the word. I was born in the US but I've spent a great deal of time overseas. Some years ago I knew a young women from Sweden who made it a point to correct my grammar whenever my sentence structure fell outside the rules. That can be humbling (and annoying). But the unfortunate fact was, her grasp of English (as a second language) was fundamentally better than my own. I've heard jokes for years, from Europeans, about the unwillingness of Americans to learn other languages. Even though I didn't assume you were from Europe, the fact that somebody speaks three languages makes the odds that they are from somewhere other than the U.S. much higher than I'd like to admit. On the other hand, how many Europeans can name every cast member of the last two seasons of Survivor? Something that most Americans can do off the top of their head. I'm eternally proud to be a product of American public education.

The famous joke:
What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual
What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual
What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? an American


[Edited by TradeGeek on 07-23-2001 at 04:18 AM]