In addition to proximity and the lack of these ocean massive body of water things I keep hearing about, the numbers themselves have an effect. European nations by themselves don't have the populations or economic incentives to produce as many and varied media productions as English-speaking America does. An English-only speaking American can enjoy many more films than someone who only speaks Suomi, for instance. The same applies for all print/audio/televised media. English-speakers have more available to them in English than is available in most other languages by themselves, incentivizing English speakers less to learn additional languages than those who speak languages common to less people.

I do see additional value in learning more than one language, in addition to the media garbage (and absolutely beautiful art) one can consume. For instance, learning another language even moderately well helps one understand his/her own language considerably better and is supposedly great for intellectual capacity and growth.

> V.Kemp wrote:

> In addition to proximity and the lack of these ocean massive body of water things I keep hearing about, the numbers themselves have an effect. European nations by themselves don't have the populations or economic incentives to produce as many and varied media productions as English-speaking America does. An English-only speaking American can enjoy many more films than someone who only speaks Suomi, for instance. The same applies for all print/audio/televised media. English-speakers have more available to them in English than is available in most other languages by themselves, incentivizing English speakers less to learn additional languages than those who speak languages common to less people.

I do see additional value in learning more than one language, in addition to the media garbage (and absolutely beautiful art) one can consume. For instance, learning another language even moderately well helps one understand his/her own language considerably better and is supposedly great for intellectual capacity and growth.

i will say that 90% of my desire to learn another language (which hasn't been enough to get me to learn another language yet) is the arts. I much rather read a famous poet or author's works without translations.

Bragging.

the point was to see how many europeans spoke non-european languages.

all languages are used outside their native area... defining european languages is unnecessary, its obvious the meaning. English, Spanish, French, Estonian, Russian, Finish, Italian, ect are european languages.  Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Zulu, Navajo, ect are non-european languages.  I am not going to bother trying to create a definition for european language that is bullshit proof; everyone should know what is meant.

i was not trying to make a point with the original post, i was genuinely interested in how common it is for europeans to know non-european languages.

this being the politics forum, a simple poll wouldn't have been appropriate, so i had to use a european/american rivalry in the thread to make it political and to motivate people to post in it.

my point exactly wfs

@avo:
the point was to see how many europeans spoke non-European languages.
how can forum posters of politics in IC be representative? Most -I am an exception- know very good English to start with. The group is narrow and there are only a few people inside it.

"I am not going to bother trying to create a definition for European language that is bullshit proof; everyone should know what is meant."
But his argument still stands, some European languages are widespread. So maybe clarify what it is you want to prove or investigate?

I know you mean this literally

If we are not counting European languages (since they are in close proximity) then Americans cannot count Spanish and French since they are in close proximity to Mexico and Quebec.

Outside of Spanish, French and English the only useful languages to learn would be Chinese Mandarin and Japanese and I doubt many Europeans speak this, same as I doubt many Americans do.

Seems like Mexico extends beyond its borders these days... I probably could get far knowing Spanish but it pisses me off that it is so.  I took a couple semesters of Korean and that would really help me at church as well as spanish.

Don't knock the American-European rivalry! It powers this site!

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q76/TheYell/A-ERivalry.jpg

WAIT! HOLD THE THREAD!

@Avogadro:
Does "Klingon" count?
Or Elvish?

No you might not. Sorry. Edit the text.