Over 30 years ago now an article appeared in Quinto Lingo Magazine calling language one of the weakest subjects in our educational system. Here is a similar topic in a letter by a lady to the editor of "The News Tribune" in Tacoma, Washington from February 22, 2005 which I also agree with: :D
There’s an interesting difference in cultures here.
Q: What’s the difference between America and a pot of yogurt?
Ans: After 200 years, the pot of yogurt will grow a culture.
All children in Sweden learn English. Already here, they have one foreign language. I don’t know the extent, but all should be given sufficent training to understand Norwegian and Danish. Then, there are all kinds of possibilities to choose more languages, I don’t know how many. In Chinese class at the university, there were three girls who had taken Chinese in high school.
My niece graduated recently from high school. She took a science-cum-French branch to the extent that she just had to enroll in universty French to automatically get credit points for 1/4 semester. (She of course has had some 8 or more years of English and probably 4 of German.)
In the sixties, I had English, German and French as compulsory subjects. I could have taken Spanish as well, but I prefered a larger course in French. And this was the science branch. My ex-wife chose a humanist branch and took Latin as well. She declined the offered Classical Greek. I don’t know why she didn’t choose Spanish; probably because she spent a couple of summers taking language courses in Italy. She is fluent in Italian (and understands Spanish fairly well).
Q: What’s the difference between America and a pot of yogurt?
Ans: After 200 years, the pot of yogurt will grow a culture.
What happened to respect for all cultures? This is very insensitive. The United States has a culture, and many subcultures. Just because you don’t like the pop culture that you are exposed to and that influences your "high brow" Swedish culture, I don’t really see where you get off with a silly intolerant joke like this!
As for learning foreign languages: Why do Swedes learn English? Because English (although mostly International English, alas!) in the Lingua Franca of this Post-Modern world. And it is advantageous for Swedes to be able to communicate outside their back-water country!
I am all for studying foreign languages just for themselves. I can’t help but feel that ANY foreign language study is an enhancement to a person’s intellect, but there are many smart and able people who don’t speak a foreign language! And they seem rather unimpaired!
When I was in high school, those who were going on the college took foreign languages, because two years were required to get into most colleges. I took considerably more than that, but that’s me!
In conclusion, I, personally, find language learning and study to be of the utmost importance, but while schools are graduating students that can barely read and write, I think the emphasis should be on English first and foremost, right now! Math and Science are a close second. Our schools are in a stranglehold by PC ideologues who are more interested in indocrination than actually teaching the three R’s.
And, anders, many high great cultures were very resistance to learning foreign languages (ie Classical Greece).
Seen from the outside, Scandinavian cultural identity must generally appear as quite uniform. Foreign stereotypes tend to depict Scandinavians as wealthy, enlightened, rational and bored Protestants with strong welfare states, lax rules of sexual morality and an institutionalised yearning for nature and simplicity.
[url=http://folk.uio.no/geirthe/Scandinavian_images.html]Images of the neighbour
Reciprocal national stereotypes in Scandinavia
OK, I was in a hurry. I should have sprinkled the post with Smileys, or like (A quick joke: what’s the difference between Hayes and a pot of yogurt? Left alone the yogurt will develop a culture of its own. It’s OK. I can say these things. I grew up near Hayes.)
And just cutting from Vancouver B.C. doesn’t do justice to the satire-crammed page:
...In that spirit The Telegraph ran a couple of good racist jokes.
Question: What the difference between an Australian and a pot of yogurt?
Answer: A pot of yogurt has a living culture.
How’s this one for a compensation:
A Norwegian met a Swede with a pig on leash. Surprised, he asked: "Where did you get that one?"
"Won him at a country fair", said the pig.
Form Eriksen:
In contrast to both Swedes and Norwegians, then, the Danes tend to depict themselves as an easy-going, tolerant and urbane people, sociable and relaxed, who relish the Danish hygge—an untranslatable word which can be represented roughly as "coziness". Danish cuisine is also represented as more elaborate than that of the barbaric Northeners.
How true! I really should go to Copenhagen. Havnen’t been there for ages.
Funny story, Katy! It seems that my friends and I had a phrase we used for a while "to pull a Steve."
Well, as for your joke about America, I only find those kind of jokes funny when they are told about France, like…...
"How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?"
"No one knows, it’s never been tried!"
But your self-effacing joke about the Swede is more than an apology! But I don’t find it as funny as you must!
Old Technology ... Proof
German scientists dug 50 meters down in the underground and discovered small pieces of copper. After studying these pieces for a long time, Germany announced that the ancient Germans 25,000 years ago had a nation-wide telephone network.
Naturally, the Russian government was not that easily impressed. They ordered their own scientists to dig even deeper. 100 meters down they found small pieces of glass and they soon announced that the ancient Russians 35,000 years ago already had a nation-wide fibre net.
Swedish scientists were outraged. They dug 200 meters down in the underground, but found absolutely nothing. They happily concluded that the ancient Swedes 55,000 years ago had cellular telephones.
The Swedes quickly proved to be adept guerilla fighters. One of their most deadly weapons is the IED - the Inedible Device. Swedish guerillas regularly sneak rutabagas into the Americans’ mess halls and even insert them in MREs, with catastrophic consequences. American soldiers hit with an IED thereafter refuse to eat anything and starve to death. Another Swedish ambush technique is to stop American troops on the street and tell them Swedish jokes. The Americans die of boredom waiting for the punch line, which does not exist. Worst of all, the Swedes have simply gone on being Swedes, paying high taxes and enjoying a wide variety of government services. All American efforts to transform Sweden in to a lassez-faire capitalist paradise simply fall on barren ground.
People joke a lot about American culture, but the fact is that that the US is a tremendous pool of "culture", in all its senses, including the restrictive ones of museum art, symphonic music, opera and the like.
Still the US is 50 very different states and many Americans are quite provincial in their outlook.
Recently, I was on a cruise and my American table companions were very surprised on learning that we actually spoke French at home. They seemed to think that anyone fluent in English would not wish to use any other language in actual life.
The inference seems to be that "furners" actually speak English among themselves but speak other languages in front of Americans just to be difficult.
Recently, I was on a cruise and my American table companions were very surprised on learning that we actually spoke French at home. They seemed to think that anyone fluent in English would not wish to use any other language in actual life.
Isn’t that cute?
Americans are so lovable!
pro·vin·cial
adj.
1. Of or relating to a province.
2. Of or characteristic of people from the provinces; not fashionable or sophisticated: “Well-educated professional women … made me feel uncomfortably provincial” (J.R. Salamanca).
3. Limited in perspective; narrow and self-centered.
I hope by "provincial" you mean more of definition #2, than of #3, but to be fair "many" Americans are very provincial!
Verbum:
The inference seems to be that "furners" actually speak English among themselves but speak other languages in front of Americans just to be difficult.
It’s only logical. Just like speaking English very loudly and very slowly helps a "frnr" understand you better. This is especially helpful in Paris.
Actually, all the people at that table were very well educated and altogether very nice people. Contempt would have been a difficult emotion to develop. Amusement a little mixed with disappointment would be more like it. Would you interpret that as contempt?
So, it may appear with our diverse cultures we haven’t settled upon just one
Agree.
Last I heard, there are more languages spoken in NYC than anywhere else on the planet. And I know that there are more art galleries within 20 blocks of me than anywhere else on the planet. So why is it that "american’ culture is so easily attacked? If one of our worst movies sells overseas, don’t blame the ticket buyers, blame american culture. This argument is moldy. When your american table companions voice a stupid comment, they become ‘stupid americans’. Guilt by association, which brings up the bigger topic, prejudice. Based on personal observation, americans are not the nicest people in the world if you want to average and correlate. Many are provincial, it’s true. But many of us don’t eat McDonalds and are tired of these arguments. You are welcome to attack the worst of our culture, just be specific and don’t be so obvious. Believe it or not, we even have a sense of humor.
You go Melissa. Yeah, i totally agree. I don’t like being lumped in the "stupid, closed-minded american" category. Yeah, some americans are stupid and close minded, and many that I know. But so are some Chinese, and russian, and swahili, and bitish and portuguese and french, and… ad nausem. So, yeah… thx for that
You go Melissa. Yeah, i totally agree. I don’t like being lumped in the "stupid, closed-minded american" category. Yeah, some americans are stupid and close minded, and many that I know. But so are some Chinese, and russian, and swahili, and bitish and portuguese and french, and… ad nausem. So, yeah… thx for that
