Re: [langue-fr] L'anglais est-il une langue universelle ?

[Elaine Keown]

Hello, 

I'm an American with a Gaelic surname, part Cherokee, from Anglophone Texas, east of 
Austin. 

The horror of dealing with many native English speakers is their worship of English 
and their intolerance towards other languages.  Linguistic intolerance also affects 
American Protestants---there's a weird obsession with the 1611 English Bible 
translation.  I'm Protestant, but I read Hebrew, a little Aramaic, French, a little 
Latin, etc......

Learning other languages is NOT a value in Anglophone culture, and we export that 
value when we export our culture.  In northern France, a Dutchman said to me "you 
speak good French, for an American."  I told a Singaporean what else I speak, and he 
asked, "Are you American?"

A new book:  Vanishing_voices:__the_extinction_of_the_world's_languages  (Nettle & 
Romaine) discusses the effects of Europeanization in much of the world (Africa and 
Asia get less attention), language death, and language rebirth (Hawaiian, Fijian, 
Hebrew, Gaelic, Welsh........). Worth reading, although very sad----------Elaine Keown

Find the best deals on the web at AltaVista Shopping!
http://www.shopping.altavista.com