Newsgroups: sci.lang,alt.usage.english
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From: rickw@eskimo.com (Richard Wojcik)
Subject: Importance of German, etc. (Was: English: USA supreme court...)
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References: <4j9tmn$uva@news.ccit.arizona.edu> <KANZE.96Apr11221008@gabi.gabi-soft.fr> <31724B3D.6856@eurocontrol.fr> <KANZE.96Apr18211654@gabi.gabi-soft.fr>
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 01:01:32 GMT
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In article <KANZE.96Apr18211654@gabi.gabi-soft.fr>,
J. Kanze <kanze@gabi-soft.fr> wrote:
>In article <31724B3D.6856@eurocontrol.fr> Peter Hullah
><Peter.Hullah@eurocontrol.fr> writes:
>|> J. Kanze wrote:
>|> > 
>|> > Now that German has become more important than English (at least on the
>|> > European continent), everyone is wondering why the Alsacians can no
>|> > longer speak Alsacian.  (An Alsacian speaker can learn fluent German
>|> > very easily.  Much easier than a French speaker, at any rate.)
>
>|> German may be more important than English in Alsace, but it isn't in Paris.
>|> And I would be HIGHLY surprised to find it so in Rome, Madrid or Stockholm.
>
>Well, I've generally found German more useful than English in my travels
>in Europe, although I haven't had the occasion to try either in Paris or
>Rome...

Interesting comment.  I can understand why the importance of German is
increasing.  Germany dominates the European economy.  However, I have never
heard anyone claim that it is actually more widely spoken as a second
language than English.  Might this not have something to do with which
language *you* prefer to use?  Do you normally try to speak to people in
English? 

>In Eastern Europe, it is definitly the lingua franca.  And I've
>generally found it more understood that English in Holland, too.

In those countries with Latin alphabets, this may be true.  They have
always been more dominated by German-speaking nations.  It is not true in
places where cyrillic dominates.  English is still the most popular
second language in most areas.

-- 
Rick Wojcik  rickw@eskimo.com     Seattle (for locals: Bellevue), WA
             http://www.eskimo.com/~rickw/
