With reference to the “warm” welcome that Steve93 was greeted with regarding his question on this forum: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=114619
Do you think that an English test should become part of the regulations to drive/work in this country?
Obviously this would have an impact regarding UK drivers working abroad, so let’s assume for the sake of this questions we are looking at UK full-time, and ignore being able to do the odd trip oversea’s.
However, if you do think there should be a language test to work in a specific country, at what point (how many days) do you think qualifies as full-time work in a specific country, and thus a language test becomes mandatory?
Evil8Beezle:
With reference to the “warm” welcome that Steve93 was greeted with regarding his question on this forum: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=114619
Do you think that an English test should become part of the regulations to drive/work in this country?
Obviously this would have an impact regarding UK drivers working abroad, so let’s assume for the sake of this questions we are looking at UK full-time, and ignore being able to do the odd trip oversea’s.
However, if you do think there should be a language test to work in a specific country, at what point (how many days) do you think qualifies as full-time work in a specific country, and thus a language test becomes mandatory?
The only language a driver needs is when he wants a beer, coffee, steak, chips, thats about it really, and if you aere really serious in your post, what happens when a driver goes across 6 or more countries, should he learn every one of them…thought so…when i was on international journeys, english and german was enough all the way the to the middle east…good job we dont go to china or japan…
Course if we had shown some real courage of our convictions in 1945 most EU countries would speak English as their first language and their original language would carry as much weights as Welsh does today, but hindsights a wonderful thing.
In fact there would be no EU we would all be called the UK, but thats probably a bit controversial.
Dipper_Dave:
Course if we had shown some real courage of our convictions in 1945 most EU countries would speak English as their first language and their original language would carry as much weights as Welsh does today, but hindsights a wonderful thing.
In fact there would be no EU we would all be called the UK, but thats probably a bit controversial.
Seeing as most of the world can speak English i don’t think we’ve done to bad.
Its should be English only and none of this French, German, Spanish, Italian primitive gibberish…
We are 3rd in the most common languages spoken in the world,
I have found myself in an RDC waiting room surrounded by foreigners speaking rubbish and been tempted to ask them to leave or speak in a language I am familar with (thats just English then).
Sure I’m not alone in this but I find it insulting if a visitor to my country can’t speak my language or at least have the decency to STFU in my prescence.
As you can imagine when a call centre in India (other foreign countries are available) phones me at home they are greated with so much abuse they have to put the phone down.
I also struggle to listen to alot of English speaking rubbish, usually with a racist slant to it
Just out of interest dipper, do you speak any foreign languages? Do you “visit” foreign countries and do you get ■■■■■■ off when the locals are rude to you because you don’t speak their language?
If you ever bump into me feel free to STFU in my presence
Dipper_Dave:
Its should be English only and none of this French, German, Spanish, Italian primitive gibberish…
We are 3rd in the most common languages spoken in the world,
I have found myself in an RDC waiting room surrounded by foreigners speaking rubbish and been tempted to ask them to leave or speak in a language I am familar with (thats just English then).
Sure I’m not alone in this but I find it insulting if a visitor to my country can’t speak my language or at least have the decency to STFU in my prescence.
As you can imagine when a call centre in India (other foreign countries are available) phones me at home they are greated with so much abuse they have to put the phone down.
What a complete load of racist nonsense, no doubt when you are on your fortnight in Benidorm you speak fluent Spanish or do you just shout loudly in English adding an O to the occasional word. that’s if you have ever ventured outside of the tiny little xenophobic world you inhabit.
daleyboy:
I also struggle to listen to alot of English speaking rubbish, usually with a racist slant to it
I totally agree although we are all a little racist in the company of our peers, are we not.
Just out of interest dipper, do you speak any foreign languages? Do you “visit” foreign countries and do you get ■■■■■■ off when the locals are rude to you because you don’t speak their language?
Yep I can get by in Espanyol, not fluent but enough to show a respect for their culture and language by attempting to converse in it.
If you ever bump into me feel free to STFU in my presence
I can’t see that being a problem as I speak fluent English in England, or are you just trying to point score a bit
Dipper_Dave:
Its should be English only and none of this French, German, Spanish, Italian primitive gibberish…
We are 3rd in the most common languages spoken in the world,
I have found myself in an RDC waiting room surrounded by foreigners speaking rubbish and been tempted to ask them to leave or speak in a language I am familar with (thats just English then).
Sure I’m not alone in this but I find it insulting if a visitor to my country can’t speak my language or at least have the decency to STFU in my prescence.
As you can imagine when a call centre in India (other foreign countries are available) phones me at home they are greated with so much abuse they have to put the phone down.
What a complete load of racist nonsense, no doubt when you are on your fortnight in Benidorm you speak fluent Spanish or do you just shout loudly in English adding an O to the occasional word. that’s if you have ever ventured outside of the tiny little xenophobic world you inhabit.
Nice, but as stated above I can get by in Spanish quite well. Where have I been racist just wanting to hear my own language in my own country…by throwing the racist card you are part of the problem not the cure.
You don’t need to learn the language you just need to learn to communicate.
We get everything through our yard (including Welsh) and most things can be communicated through gesturing and drawing.
Going the other way make the effort to learn Hello, Please, Thank you, sorry, and the phrase “Sorry I can only speak English”. Grin like an idiot and do your best to understand the situation.
We’re all doing the same job. The foreign drivers probably hate it enough over here (other side of the road, busy roads, inadequate parking etc.) without us adding intolerance in to the mix.
10-08:
…without us adding intolerance in to the mix.
But to be fair, intolerance is about the only thing that we are still any good at in this country!
I always try to learn as much of the language as I can when I go somewhere, whether it’s France, Germany, holland or Yorkshire, it’s not just about respect for the host country, but also so you can get more out of your visit.
Dipper_Dave:
Course if we had shown some real courage of our convictions in 1945 most EU countries would speak English as their first language and their original language would carry as much weights as Welsh does today, but hindsights a wonderful thing.
In fact there would be no EU we would all be called the UK, but thats probably a bit controversial.
I always thought that Welsh was the native language and English the foreign one. There we are. Learn something every day.
The irony of your post DD is that “English” is a mixture of Latin and German/Nordic languages amongst others. Ever hear of the word “Pyjamas”? That ain’t English. A lot of these “Gibberish” languages influence our own.
Similarly the “British” are a mixture of Celts, Norse, Saxon, Norman to name a few. Did you know that a lot of people in the South West can trace their ancestry back to Portugal?
Like it or not, the British are a mongrel race from a wide variety of countries, as is our language.
You do seem a bit of a xenophobe mate, making assumptions about people you have probably never met.
10-08:
…without us adding intolerance in to the mix.
But to be fair, intolerance is about the only thing that we are still any good at in this country!
I always try to learn as much of the language as I can when I go somewhere, whether it’s France, Germany, holland or Yorkshire, it’s not just about respect for the host country, but also so you can get more out of your visit.
Gary
I’d say that tolerance is about the only thing we are good at.
If we’d been an intolerant race, we’d have a hell of a lot more violence against ‘furiners’ than we do.
LOL I wonder how he would get on in a customs clearance place in EU/Middle East compound listening to about 15 different languages at once, waiting for his papers to come out?
If a driver works for a British company operating in the UK then yes they should have to be able to speak English, it’s a complete joke when I ring our office, you could get a Polish ■■■■■■■ the other end who can’t understand if you have an issue, if it is basic things then there ok but any discrepancies and your ■■■■■■, the only reason they are employed at my place is because we have drivers who can bearly speak a word either and it’s WRONG!
I have no problem respectng other peoples cultures and trying to communicate in their language when passing through another country but if I was going to work and live there for a long period of time i would at least make an effort to learn the lingo.
In this country though it appears to be optional, my youngest is even learning some phrases at school in some weird ancient tongue (not sure if its taught or just whats being picked up on the playground).
If you come here to live and work (say for 6 months +) it should be compulsory to either take classes, study on line or at least show willingness to learn English.
Maybe tolerence is our biggest weakness or fear of reprisals by having the gumption to stand up and say ‘hang on, do as we do, speak as we speak or bugger off back home’.
Still I suppose there will always be those that don’t agree with our culture but they will always agree with our benefit system.
I welcome diversity (not the dancing troup) but it should have limitations and embracing new cultures is good but imports (both legal and illegal) should learn to embrace ours first.
I almost feel guilty ordering a chinese now.
