An englishman in Paris: Thank you

If it wasn't for our grand parents you'd all be speaking ...

I read this this today on the beeb site:

The British have never had much of a taste for learning foreign languages and as English becomes Europe's lingua franca, that stubbornness is starting to pay off. But if everyone else can speak English, what does that mean for our sense of identity?

Before i go off on one, let me just explain here : i've been living in France for about eight years, when i came here i didn't speak any french whatsoever.

Zip,Zero french, nada, que dalle.

I would meet people (who are now my friends) and the reaction would be - you speak english, that's cool; i can practice my english.

And so it was that for the first three to four months my everyday life was conducted in a kind of pigeon-franglais - which is fine if you want to live in a kinda limited environment, if you don't want to try and learn about the culture, if you want to create your very own little britain (no pun intended).

You miss out on every day things, the general chit chat, even in basic simple interactions if you're unable to communicate in your host countrys language.

Learning french is probably my second best life experience - sorry to all you anti-frenchies (not sorry at all - why are you still here in any case, hein ?).

So, articles like this annoy me profoundly because it reinforces the notion that it's o.k (que ça ne fait rien) to not make an effort (de n'avoir rien à foutre) to speak anything other than your mother tongue.

Thats's crap.

Let's get this straight - the richness and diversity of (european) spoken languages will one day be diluted and eventually disappear by assholes who can't simply be bothered... because the anglo saxons are so dammned lazy/stubborn/disinterested ... pfft ... whatever ...

Common languages are the cement that binds people together, the birth and nurturing of ideas ... identities and a sense of unity are forged by it - ask the Welsh.

It get's my goat to hear from people: i don't have time, i was always useless at school at things like that, i'm not bright enough, it's too expensive, i'll never use it ... besides i don't go near the country any way .. when 'they' come here 'they' speak english.

Of course 'they' speak english - there's no choice if 'they' want to do business with 'us', if 'we' want to do business with 'them': c'est pareil.

But think of what you miss ... every day exchanges are reduced to their most simplest form .. and to the frustration being seen as loud mouthed, aggressive and misunderstood (sniff sniff) ..the subtleties of the why and wherefore of doing things will all be lost in translation.

I don't want to live in a Mac World.

Do you ?

Only dunderheads say foreign languages are difficult to learn.

On that note, and with no real sense of link or transition, another few pictures from my saucy cow, sexy cow, cow pornography collection ... (in big charachters to help google pervies looking for 'nudiste beaches', 'porn' and 'sex star' etc - you know who you are)

Toot-toot