british Boats in Espana

[Guest]

Why do so many British boats come to Espana and why do they not try to learn Espanol before ther arriv?

 

[Trevor_swfyc]

cos we is stil trying to lern inglish?
Trevor

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: The British Dilemma

We have to learn:
French for passing through France
Dutch for passing through Holland
That’s covered Belgium as well
German for passing through Germany
Etc etc
Ho! And Spanish to keep you happy

Now what do all of the above have in common?
THEIR SECOND LANGUAGE IS INGLISH

 

[peterb]

English as she is spoke

Yes, we could go and learn all the other languages. But we tackled it in another way. The purpose of language is communication, and for good interchange we need to have a common language. So we realised that by teaching everyone English it would be possible for everyone to talk to each other. I've been able to sit eating tapas in Madrid while listening to French, Germans, Italians, Swiss, Danes, Norwegians, Czech, Belgians, Dutch, Irish, Scots, Welsh and some English all talking together in English. They couldn't have done it in any other language.

 

[stevebirch2002]

Obviously you can speak English and communicate with us as well with most other foreign nationals as they all will speak English as a second language. It is also the common language of the Internet and most importantly - We Britsih as a lazy lot of ********.

Albin Vega "Southern Comfort" V1703

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: English as she is spoke

Ah, but if we had bought into Esperanto . . . .

 

[castaway]

It all goes back to the Spanish Armarda 1588 (when the Espanish all tried enmass to come on holiday to Ingland). Now if you guys had won we would all be speaking Espanish.. its all in tha detail.

All best Nick

 

[Avocet]

I think it's because we still think we have an empire. Don't worry, it will dawn on us sooner or later that we don't anymore!

 

[ccscott49]

Who gives a damn about empires! The main reason is the other peoples learn english at school, because most global business is conducted in english, air traffic control, computers (mainly) and a bunch of other things. Admitted the most widely spoken language in the world is Spanish! But not the business world! Plus of course without English speaking tourists in Spain, the economy of the southern coasts would collapse! I speak two foriegn languages for work, both northern european! how many do I need to learn as a cruising yachtsman? It is nice to be able to order a beer or say thankyou and please in the country you are in, but there is a limit!

 

[dangcharios]

We tuk ower bowt tuther Med cos thes ower much fog onthe tyn an weecanat
speek inglesh yit

 

[kingfisher]

Yes we could

When they all speak french, you don't notice.

We only use english as a common language for you lot and the Dutch.

Hablan castillana en España, por favor.

Obi-Wan
http://sirocco31.tripod.com

 

[ccscott49]

Re: Yes we could

Don't talk bollocks! Try Speaking french to an italian or greek!

 

[Guest]

Re: Yes we could

I find that you can often talk French to an Italian - its the second language they most often learn at school. On the other hand, you often cannot talk sense to a Greek!