[MarMema]

I spent a week in Tbilisi and many of the people there, a poor country, spoke English.

I spent a few months in Russia 20 years ago and ten yr olds there spoke perfect English and were choosing a third language to learn.

On a Lufthansa flight a German next to me told me, in perfect English, that Americans are too lazy to learn a second language, and that most of Europe speaks many languages - including English.

Acosta really made an idiot of himself on this one.

[Steve_Seattle]

"On a Lufthansa flight a German next to me told me, in perfect English, that Americans are too lazy to learn a second language, and that most of Europe speaks many languages - including English."

Americans tend to think of bi-lingualism as a sign of high intelligence, since it is typically a requirement for higher education, whereas - as you point out - proficiency in two or more languages is a basic requirement for EVERYONE in many countries. For example, my girlfriend is from The Philippines, and English is taught right from the start alongside Tagalog and the local dialect.

[Gay State Conservative]

"On a Lufthansa flight a German next to me told me, in perfect English, that Americans are too lazy to learn a second language, and that most of Europe speaks many languages - including English."

That German was partially correct and partially wrong.He/she was wrong in that Americans aren't too lazy to learn a second language...it's that we don't *need* to.English is,today,the most important language on earth...BY FAR.

OTOH,he/she was correct to suggest that Europeans tend to learn more than one (one almost always being English) because it's a small continent featuring a number of fairly important languages...*including English*.

A hundred years from now Chinese may well be the world's most important language...but today it's ENGLISH!

[Oatka]

On a Lufthansa flight a German next to me told me, in perfect English, that Americans are too lazy to learn a second language, and that most of Europe speaks many languages - including English.

My response to that, and I have used it, is that Europe is so fragmented, they HAVE to learn another language. I tell 'em that I can go 3,000 miles coast to coast or 1,500 miles north and south and still be within one country, thus no need for another language. Try that in Europe.

And, English is the new Lingua Franca today and any foreigner would be foolish not to learn it.