That's another thing I've noticed -- that almost all younger Europeans speak fluent English. I wonder if the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union have a lot to do with that, at least in Central and Eastern Europe. OTOH, I've also noticed a huge increase in the quality of English spoken by Japanese, Chinese, and Korean folks in the last few decades.
We have French relatives and Norwegian relatives. The typical French person ...one who is long removed from school...and does not have a job requiring English, speak barely a word. My wife's sister is married to a French guy ( totally fluent due to work ), and his parents are our age. We spent a week in their home( the parents ) and it was laughable. Our French ( which is limited was far superior to their English. So we defaulted to French as our common language and used Google translations a lot. We went to a Xmas party( 18-20 guests of all ages ) and I was shocked how few had any grasp of English. And they all acknowledged that they had little motivation to learn English. In Norway, the older folks ( again......long removed from school...) recalled a handful of random words. And they speak with a nordic accent that made it impossible (for me) to comprehend. The younger generations, however, are fluent in English. My Norwegian doesn't exist, so I can't complain.
I was quoting another poster.
@MSGRET, you know why the Dutch speaks better English than other non-English speaking European countries? Because in the INDO- EUROPEAN language family there is a branch called GERMANIC, there are 3 sub-branches under the Germanic, one of them is WEST GERMANIC- which includes German, Dutch and guess what? English also ! The closest language to English is Dutch, but the closest to Dutch is German(Deutsch).That's why the Dutch has easier task to learn English, albeit even easier for them to learn German. The other GERMANIC sub-branch is NORTH GERMANIC which includes Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic. So, the people in Northern European countries is still under the big umbrella of GERMANIC language system, not too far cousins of the English - also not too difficult to learn English, comparatively speaking against others.
What I like about your post is that you have direct and current contact with French people. As France is my country, I can confirm that what you are saying is normal and true. Even young people in France are generally not great at English or any other foreign language.
Its humbling to understand the language skills of most in Europe and Asia. Since English is the de facto business language of the world, rare that any younger person or frequent traveler isn't fluent or at least skilled. Not uncommon to have younger Europeans or Asians to be fluent in English and their home country's language, and able to converse in 2-3 others. When I managed an Asian company in the past, my Administrator was fluent in 3 languages and could hold a conversation in 5. Many of us have trouble communicating when traveling from Boston to NY or vice versa.
Well said. While I don't underestimate the talent we lost, just having Paige and Azzi for a full year makes us better. UConn doesn't have the size of SC but we are very well balanced at all levels and exceptional at guard.
As an American of French descent, I can assure you that folks in France, especially around Paris, would much rather practice their English on you than let you practice your French on them. Maybe these folks were also reticent about speaking imperfectly, but I doubt it.
A Spanish man who spoke no English went into a department store to buy socks. He found his way to the menswear department where a young lady offered to help him.
Ya dont need your wrist to run.
Cool. I always wondered if it was that. So, could the mindset best be described as “well, he’s not going away, I guess I’ll have to talk to him.“
Are you not flattered?
Absolutely Sir.Are you not flattered?
Hi Gus.Thank you for your service, MSGRET.
While I liked and appreciated all three of the seniors and believe they gave their best to their team, I couldn’t realistically call them “top draft picks”. No disrespect intended, they were great people, great teammates, and solid players and will be missed, but I think next year’s roster will be stronger even with their absence. Assuming, of course, we are healthy!
Couldn’t have said it better. 100% agree, but one more big from the portal please.
What do you mean over-performed? I believe that the Preseason ranking for last year was SoCar, UConn, Stanford and MD. So to me they played up to their potential and didn't over perform. I don't think that they under performed either because with the exception of Dorka, they played the NC with pretty much the Preseason projected lineup.
