Re: The Truth is out about the Irish, Welsh, Scotch, Mamx, Cornish, and Bretons

"Josiah Jenkins" <josiah-jenkins@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:6l47u29mdtb1n59n7kbokptpgmabgkcne0@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Whilst perusing Usenet on 26 Feb 2007 16:55:24 -0800, I read these
> words from "scally" <scally1976@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> :
>
>>
>>> Sure! It would end your reputation as the least literate national
>>> group in Europe. You must agree that most English people are pretty
>>> ignorant,
>>
>>The UK has a higher literacy rate than Spain, Italy, ****tugal, Greece
>>and Poland.
>>
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate
>
> To get back on topic,
>
> On a pro rate population basis, I'll wager that more
> Spaniards, Italians, ****tuguese, Greeks and Poles
> have attempted to learn to speak a second language
> compared to the *nglish !
>
> And let's not mention the Scandinavians, Germans,
> Luxembourgers or Dutch who regard fluency in a
> second language as *perfectly normal*.

That is true but there are other reasons for that as well as any general 
standard of education. For example Greek or Polish are hardly the world 
languages that English is hence if they want to communicate at all with 
foreigners in general then they need to learn one of the more widespread 
languages. Likewise with the British being islanders they are more
isolated. 
For example to go to the extreme in places like Luxembourg there are
French 
and German speakers living cheek by cheek.

Allan