James wrote on Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:59:57 GMT:
JS> "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
JS> wrote in message news:fsm2p602b4f@news3.newsguy.com...
??>>
??>> Mike...... wrote:
??>>> Following up to "William Black"
??>>> wrote:
??>>>
??>>>> For example, try asking directions in German when lost
??>>>> in Holland or Belgium...
??>>>
??>>> lets face it, when you meet the taxi driver, policeman,
??>>> passer by and
??>>> need to say something, most of the time people speak one
??>>> language.
??>>
??>> True, but tourist areas in most countries have a fair
??>> share of "natives" who speak other languages than their
??>> own. In Brussels I encountered quite a few who WANTED to
??>> speak English with me, (Including the woman at the next
??>> table in a restaurant one noon - we chatted happily away
??>> in English, all through our meal, after I had admired the
??>> "petit chien" she had with her in a carrier, and she
??>> detected my American accent.)
JS> It's an interesting topic: countries whose citizens make
English
JS> monoglots ashamed! My vote for the most likely place to
JS> find English speakers is Holland.
Before someone takes me up on it, I would like to say that
places like the UK, US, Ireland etc. are hors de concourse, tho'
Holland might beat some of them on percentages :-)
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not
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