On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:02:13 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

spamfree writes:

This is somewhat of a USA rant, but Europeans will understand. In
the USA, if a sign/ad includes the word bilingual, it always refers to
an ability to speak English & Spanish (and not European Spanish, but
Mexican / Central American Spanish). But in Europe, bilingual would
simply refer to an ability to speak two languages; German & Italian,
Dutch & French, etc.

Many Americans don't realize that there are other non-English
languages besides Spanish.

I'm sure you have poll results to prove that rmarkable statemnt.
In fact many Amricans are quite aware of other languages, not
least because their parents or granparent spoke them.

This USA policy completely annoys some of us because if we ask that
question, "Which two languages?", we are immediately termed racists,
but in reality we are merely literalists.

Anyone who says anything politically correct in the U.S. is labeled as
a racist these days.

In any major city's Chinatown,
bilingual would more honestly refer to English & Chinese, and there are
neighborhoods in New York and Chicago where bilingual could easily
refer to English & Polish or English & Russian.

They aren't important. Only Spanish is important. It's all a matter
of lobbying, spin, etc.

What rubbish. Spanish is important in many areas. Tucson, for
isntance, is 40% Hispanic so Spanich is very important here, but
to say "only Spanish is important" as a general statement about
the USA is ignorant, but hardly unexpected of you.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *