MOD NOTE - split from another thread Which languages do you speak?
I can definitely see how this comes from a European perspective. And I will definitely say that my little bit of Latin knowledge has helped my understanding of English, particularly with vocabulary. My question is why does just about every single cultural American idea somehow turn into a strike by Europeans (and other parts of the world) at America’s “self-centeredness?”
I am NOT against learning more languages and NOT against the welfare of other countries. But here in the US, learning another language is generally optional for the most part because our country wants our people to know the language MOST Americans speak, and learn it well. Unlike Europe, we want our country unified under one language we can all understand. When we start splitting that unity apart, it just becomes a guessing game about how to speak what.
Excuse me if this is too far off-topic but, above all, I want everyone who thinks that America does not care about other countries, in this example those that are European, to remember this one thing:
When the Nazi Regime threatened and overtook most of the European continent during WW II, which country was it that came to the rescue and helped to put in end to the madness, freeing pretty much all of Europe and allowing those countries to go about their own way? America.
I am not saying that America is perfect, nor that all Americans understand and respect the importance of other nations. We have fallen short with other nations many times. But I want to be very clear when I say that I don’t appreciate when everyone in my country is generalized under the category of “self-centerdness.” Such people lack thorough historical knowledge and are, quite possibly, extremely self-centered themselves.