English as the official language?

Some bonehead gets on the Marley and Lucifern show this morning and quips that in Germany and France you have to learn their local languages or else you will be in a world of hurt.

Let's clarify something, the majority of Europeans are BI-LINGUAL. There are some generational differences but most west Europeans speak english. Not only that, there is a pretty good chance they are tri or quad lingual. When it comes to government, most european countries have documents and paperwork available in other languages, per EU guidelines. English is the most common.

In Germany, learning English begins in the 1st grade. They are expected to be capable of holding a basic conversation by 8th grade. By the end of high school they are required to know an additional language as well. France is similar. In Belgium, they must learn 4 languages (French, Dutch, English and Flemish). In Switzerland it is 4 too (French, German, Italian, and English). Britain tries to get two languages into it's students but like the U.S. has a hard time doin so.

Now you will find that most Europeans prefer to work in their 'native' language. They would even prefer visitors and migrants to work in the host's native language. But they can do well in English or some other language. You don't 'need' to speak the local tongue to visit, work or live there !. An increasing number of European businesses have english as their primary working language, nevermind the local tongue.

It really doesn't hurt the U.S. to be bi-lingual..... Until World War I, many parts of the U.S. were bi-lingual. Do you know which other language was most likely to be found spoken? German. In many cities German was the language of government. Of course documents were done in English too.

So to all you English must be triumphant types, get over yourselves.