Most travellers from mainland china and japan hardly speak english

I can say their english knowledge is miserable.
I never been to mainland china before...and Iam a chinese oversea guy

Is english not seen as important language in mainland China? because of the patriotism reason in their school system?

The same shit I read about Japan too...a very rich and a well industrialized country but many older tourists have a problem with english as well..
Exceptionaly some japanese who study in Australia or USA...they do speak.english fluently.

English speakers might try to learn other languages too ....
It's funny when you go to to an english country and they say " You are in my country, you should speak english!" but when they go to other non english country expect people talk to them in their language....

Just saying...

How many americans and british you have ever met...? I never met any of em who speak fluently other foreign languages

But they have spanish course in the most american.schools because of large hispanic population who lives there

I think the person who is traveling to a country thats not their own, should attempt to learn at least a little bit of that language...Not just hi and bye..I know German and English..Used to know Spanish,sign language, a decent amount of Chinese but lost them when i no longer had contact with people who spoke the language..it sucks after so much hard work to lose the languages but it happens.I just keep trying..Some are just not that motivated or interested..

Huangfemu wrote: How many americans and british you have ever met...? I never met any of em who speak fluently other foreign languages

But they have spanish course in the most american.schools because of large hispanic population who lives there

I can say i met a "few ones" and yes, they learn spanish in their schools ... but not too much.

Btw... a bit of History:



All these states were spanish.... on February 22, 1821 (Adams-Onís Treaty) Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million dollars that were not paid, but with a condition of the Spanish government that it would cede its domain for 300 years and according to the treaty possession Florida by 2055 should pass to its legitimate owner Spain according to this treaty, which will undoubtedly generate problems in the future.

So maybe they should learn a better spanish... at least in Florida

Ansuca wrote:

Huangfemu wrote: How many americans and british you have ever met...? I never met any of em who speak fluently other foreign languages

But they have spanish course in the most american.schools because of large hispanic population who lives there

I can say i met a "few ones" and yes, they learn spanish in their schools ... but not too much.

Btw... a bit of History:

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All these states were spanish.... on February 22, 1821 (Adams-Onís Treaty) Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million dollars that were not paid, but with a condition of the Spanish government that it would cede its domain for 300 years and according to the treaty possession Florida by 2055 should pass to its legitimate owner Spain according to this treaty, which will undoubtedly generate problems in the future.

So maybe they should learn a better spanish... at least in Florida

Wow! That's really interesting. I am surprised there isn't more coverage on this considering 2055 isn't even that far away. Does that mean by 2055, Florida is obliged to be an overseas Spanish territory?

Ansuca wrote:

Huangfemu wrote: How many americans and british you have ever met...? I never met any of em who speak fluently other foreign languages

But they have spanish course in the most american.schools because of large hispanic population who lives there

I can say i met a "few ones" and yes, they learn spanish in their schools ... but not too much.

Btw... a bit of History:

This image is hidden for guests.
Please log in or register to see it.

All these states were spanish.... on February 22, 1821 (Adams-Onís Treaty) Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million dollars that were not paid, but with a condition of the Spanish government that it would cede its domain for 300 years and according to the treaty possession Florida by 2055 should pass to its legitimate owner Spain according to this treaty, which will undoubtedly generate problems in the future.

So maybe they should learn a better spanish... at least in Florida

Lol Florida will be underwater by 2055. And 20% of Floridians speak Spanish as their first language. That's not counting people who speak/are learning Spanish as a second language. Latino and Spanish-speaking populations will continue to increase, in fact, it's been said that white people won't be the majority in the US by 2050.

English is the lingua franca of the world right now but that doesn't mean every single man, woman and child is required to learn it. If they're just visiting, I don't really care. A lot of people from anywhere, not just China or Japan or the US, won't learn a whole language just because they're visiting a different country. Learning 'hi' and 'bye' and 'please' and 'thank you' and 'where is ---'? Sure. The whole language? Unnecessary, I think.

I think it's good to learn languages to expand your mind and to be a more knowledgeable citizen of the world but I don't think shaming people for not knowing a certain language is helpful, nor forcing them to learn a language that they might never use. If you're planning on emigrating or your job is involved in international business or something then yeah, it's helpful to learn English. But someone who's going to be living in China for their whole life, who's visiting an English speaking country for a week? Why does that matter? They have literally a billion people they can still talk to. Hundreds of millions in Japan, and yes, there's a history of both cultures shunning the outside world. Who cares? Do I have to be in French class for 3 years just to see the Eiffel Tower?

I'm surprised myself that I'm taking this position because I love languages and cultures and learning about the world, and plan on learning many languages myself. But the tone of this topic/question just rubs me the wrong way. Just the idea that 'travellers' need to be fluent...it's not necessary. Learn enough to be able to find your way around the country and do basic things. Would I like it if a Chinese person shit on my Chinese if I was just visiting China, and never planned on living there? What's the point in that?

just think about how fun it would be to understand meme from other cultures lol But seriously people have different priorities you just can’t force people to think or prioritize like you.

koja wrote:
And 20% of Floridians speak Spanish as their first language. That's not counting people who speak/are learning Spanish as a second language. Latino and Spanish-speaking populations will continue to increase, in fact, it's been said that white people won't be the majority in the US by 2050.

But spanish people is white.....

Ansuca wrote:

koja wrote:
And 20% of Floridians speak Spanish as their first language. That's not counting people who speak/are learning Spanish as a second language. Latino and Spanish-speaking populations will continue to increase, in fact, it's been said that white people won't be the majority in the US by 2050.

But spanish people is white.....

And? We're not talking about Spain. We're talking about the Americas. People from Spain aren't the only people who speak Spanish. Because Spain colonized the vast majority of the Americas. There's hundreds of millions more Latin American Spanish speakers than Spanish Spanish speakers lol. Probably 99% of the Spanish speakers in the US are Latin American, not Spanish. There are white people from Latin American countries but the majority of the Latino immigrants to the US are mestizo, which means they have Indigenous ancestry. Hispanic and Latino are not 'races' per se, they're cultures. But many, many Latinos are indigenous or mixed with indigenous. I guess this is confusing to someone that's not from any American country; in fact it's confusing to most white Americans.

tl;dr -
race ≠ language
nationality ≠ race

The Spanish language isn't exclusive to one race.