Why do the French get so much stick for their putative hostility towards and poor levels of English?

[Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas]

Not my fault that Portuguese is not a global language unlike Spanish or English.

Portuguese language is the sixth most spoken worldwide and has its presence in all continents. I don't know what is your definition of global? English language is far more relevant than Spanish though and has given me a lot more possibilities than Spanish could ever have. There's a reason why 95% of your posts in this forum are written in English and not in Spanish.

[Turxanthus]

If French parts of Canada can succeed to break off and create an independent state in Northern America, that would be a serious blow to Globalization trends. ''Vive la France'' would say many people.

[MsSPF]

In all honesty, most French tourists do not bother speaking anything else but French when they visit Portugal. I am not sure if it is because that's the only language they know or because they assume that we will understand them. Probably some of the preconceived idea that French people are on average not good at foreign languages might come from that experience. On the other hand I have to say that all French members of TA have really good proficiency in English, contrary to the stereotypes.

I'm not surprised at all and I noticed it when I was in Portugal..."Do what I say, not what I do" "Fais ce que je dis, pas ce que je fais" like we say in France
To be honest, French tourists are one of the worst... not all of them but most of time they are really rude when they travel abroad

When I traveled to the US few weeks ago, I had two touristic groups of retired French people in my plane... they were awful. Complaining about everything, being rude with the staff and airport employees etc.. while they have been able to travel to the other side of the globe visiting beautiful national parks with amazing nature. It's cultural, French are never happy and they are really chauvinistic. Very pessimistic culture always ready for another French revolution I guess

[coolfrenchguy]

Simply because of their accent that is the most distinct in the west which can give the impression that they're less proficient in the English language. No offence but British English is one of the most unintelligible form of English.

you mean cockney from london,it's awfull,i couln't really understand them,but with educated people that's ok,i understand more mainstream american
frankly i think than i'am not bad i'am almost,i say almost, bilingual,indeed more you spend time to wrote in english better you became ,i mean on TA the level is pretty good in general 70% of the members are not native english speakers,especially russians or eastern users,but i have also a very anglo musical culture, i listen almost only english spoken bands it's helping too,but i have made a lot of progress this year

tooting carmen don't forget than there is also a huge contentious between the "froggies" and the "rostbeefs",there is a kind of "latent racism" from the english against the french towards some unfinished buisnesses with old wars,old lost battles etc ...,but english and french are pretty close in truth we share a lot of common words
english never accepted having lost some territories,it's why maybe a kind of intelligentia is putting french before english, we talk a lot of "anglicisms" in the french language
something than the quebecians have tendency to push at the extreme like magasiner at the place of shopping for ex,but it's understanable there are surrounded by anglo speakers,did you know than there is around 220 millions of french locutors in the world ,it's not a minor language,but because these fucking GAFA ,computers,programmers etc...
we are force to use more english than french
but we have this language proximity with walloons and some part of the swiss too,i admire the swiss they are able to spoke 3 or 4 languages in the parlement for example,with a strong gutural germanic accent for sure, but you have a lot of anglo writers,actors,movie makers,creators who are able to speak french and who like the french culture too
but english is more flexible,more straight ,more maritime,it's a language of action,it's why many people catch it more easely,where the romance languages are more pictorial and elliptic,a thing than i have discover,danish seems sticking more to english with a tiny germanic influence where swedish seems to be more elliptic
if i tell you all than i haven't a single diploma did you believe me?(high school level) but i have general culture and that it's more important and i have forget to be a triple dumb too,sorry american folks but your youth are one of the most dumbiest of the world

don't forget than the high school level in USA is pretty low in general,it's even worse than in europe,they are awfull in geography and in languages,USA is a monolanguage country where here in europe we have local expressions from local patois(this is the example of words than french and english share),europe is a patchwork of plenty of things

[coolfrenchguy]

I'm not surprised at all and I noticed it when I was in Portugal..."Do what I say, not what I do" "Fais ce que je dis, pas ce que je fais" like we say in France
To be honest, French tourists are one of the worst... not all of them but most of time they are really rude when they travel abroad

When I traveled to the US few weeks ago, I had two touristic groups of retired French people in my plane... they were awful. Complaining about everything, being rude with the staff and airport employees etc.. while they have been able to travel to the other side of the globe visiting beautiful national parks with amazing nature. It's cultural, French are never happy and they are really chauvinistic. Very pessimistic culture always ready for another French revolution I guess

you're not completly wrong,but i think it's also a trait of olders in some social classes,but it's similar in belgium too,with a friend we had fallen on the dumbiest belgians ever in brussels ,(damn brussels what a fucking ugly town looks like soviet union constructivism!) ,like we smell the poop at 1km around,i think than this transeuropean "latent racism" is very common amid the europeans

[Cristiano viejo]

Portuguese language is the sixth most spoken worldwide and has its presence in all continents. I don't know what is your definition of global?

Well perhaps I exaggerated about Portuguese but certainly Portuguese dont serve to travel worldwide and only if you go to Portuguese-speaking countries you can use it.

English language is far more relevant than Spanish though

Go with your relevant language to Central or South America, or to Africa, or to Asia, and then you will see how much relevant really is

and has given me a lot more possibilities than Spanish could ever have.

Not true. If you had been a person that was going to work in any Spanish-speaking country, you would need Spanish and not English. As easy as that.

There's a reason why 95% of your posts in this forum are written in English and not in Spanish.

No, the reason is that this forum is English-speaking one, done by a person that lives in UK, and nothing else.

[Ford]

People are just butthurt over the fact that English is discount French.

[Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas]

Well perhaps I exaggerated about Portuguese but certainly Portuguese dont serve to travel worldwide and only if you go to Portuguese-speaking countries you can use it

What other countries than non Spanish-speaking countries is Spanish widely spoken? I can't think of any. As a Portuguese native speaker I can travel to Spanish speaking countries with no problem whatsoever and make myself be understood whereas Spaniards always have a lot more trouble in Portuguese speaking nations.

Go with your relevant language to Central or South America, or to Africa, or to Asia, and then you will see how much relevant really is

Portuguese is a lot more relevant in Africa than Spanish (45 million speakers). I just came from Angola in the previous week, everybody speaks Portuguese in there. In Central and South America I have no problem in making myself be understood as a Portuguese speaker and besides Brazil is the only latin american nation that figures in the top world economies (basically the most important latin american nation has Portuguese as their official language). In Asia Portuguese is as useful as Spanish, basically not much (but for that I have English).

Not true. If you had been a person that was going to work in any Spanish-speaking country, you would need Spanish and not English. As easy as that.

Yet again, I wouldn't have any problem in speaking Spanish plus to my advantage I can speak English too (which most Hispanics are known to be poor at), so it would be an extra advantage to get employed.

No, the reason is that this forum is English-speaking one, done by a person that lives in UK, and nothing else.

The real reason is that an European Cultural Community in Spanish wouldn't make sense because the majority of European citizens don't know it or learn it at school unlike English.

[Tooting Carmen]

@Bras Garcia: here is the Eurobarometer survey from 2012.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langua...ish_EU_map.svg
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/a...ebs_386_en.pdf

[Tooting Carmen]

On the other hand I have to say that all French members of TA have really good proficiency in English, contrary to the stereotypes.

I beg to differ. Visage Pale and coolfrenchguy in particular make a lot of mistakes.