Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Is English the Modern Day International Language of Love?

Yesterday, I had a meeting with a business contact who is originally from France. He currently lives in San Francisco, attempting to grab a share of the money Janet Yellen is pumping into Silicon Valley, but he was born in Paris and lived in the City of Lights for over 40 years.

His English is very good, though he tells me he still frequently comes across words he has never heard before. He said that it was only last month that he had heard and learned what 'pay stub' meant.

During our meeting, he mentioned his wife was from Ukraine. I asked him how they communicated. Did she know French? He said she did not but that English was her second language. And so a Frenchman married to a woman from Ukraine communicate on a daily basis via their common second language, English.

This brought to mind a conversation I overheard on a plane a few years back.Sitting behind me were two people, an Italian man and a woman from Brazil. They soon discovered that they could communicate with each other via English. The guy was pretty good and before the 5 hour flight from San Francisco had landed in New York City, they had plenty of plans as to things they were going to do together in the Big Apple.

And so, I am guessing, that a lot of mingling between the sexes by internationals takes place in the language of the Empire. It is not that English is a pretty language for love and romance. It is simply that the economic power and might of the Empire is so broad based that it becomes important for many to learn its language. And as a byproduct, international love takes place.

-RW

3 comments:

  1. Yes it is; however, I recommend learning Spanish. (My girlfriend is from Madrid)

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  2. I visited Czechoslovakia a few years ago and met a local girl. We found the language we could best communicate in was German (I from high school classes, she from several years study). But she wanted to improve her English, so German was verboten.

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  3. International language of love and speed.

    The language of International Air Traffic Control is English. Also the Federation Internationale de L'Automobile (FIA) the governing body for Formula 1 and other major international automotive racing) require English to be spoken for all on track radio communication.

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