Re:When your child speaks a language you don’t
by j_s on Wednesday March 18, 2015 @11:13AM
(#9226030)
So the joke goes: three languages = trilingual, two languages = bilingual, one language = American
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Re:When your child speaks a language you don’t
by smcl on Wednesday March 18, 2015 @12:41PM
(#9226748)
It's a cute joke, but I feel that the US gets an unfair rap around languages. I know for a fact that plenty of people the UK (where I'm from) declare their hopelessness with foreign languages with a good deal of ... I don't know ... pride? humour? There's always going to be a number of talented bilingual folks there, but they're in the minority. I'd be interested to see how the UK and the US compare, I wouldn't be surprised if the US had a greater proportion of bilingual people.
Re:When your child speaks a language you don’t
by solve on Wednesday March 18, 2015 @02:26PM
(#9227595)
It's so strange that people often lump US & UK into the same group. They're vastly culturally different in many ways, opposite even.
Re:When your child speaks a language you don’t
by smcl on Wednesday March 18, 2015 @03:01PM
(#9227905)
I don't disagree, but in the context of this joke I was just wanting to say "Hey America, us too!" :D
Re:When your child speaks a language you don’t
by epaladin on Wednesday March 18, 2015 @11:24AM
(#9226109)
I tested myself to see if I fit the stereotype by trying to explain this joke to a Japanese friend, in Japanese. After a collective effort which determined that there isn't a concise noun phrase in Japanese that's equivalent to "bilingual"/"trilingual" etc (anyone else know if that's actually the case?), I think the point was communicated, which I hope implies graduation to at least some limbo between "American" and "bilingual".