[OT] command of English by non-native speakers

[Kevin Hunter]

At 4:08pm -0500 Mon, 07 Dec 2009, Mark Miller wrote:
> I must have misunderstood the idea behind sounder; I would have thought it
> impossible to be OT on a list that invites people like me to spout off.
> 
> BTW -- I'm constantly amazed by the English skills of the non-native
> speakers who inhabit the list.  I wish they could say the same thing about
> Americans.

Heh, reminds of a joke:

"What do you call someone who speaks two languages?"
  <pause, wait for audience participation> "Bilingual"

"What do you call someone who speaks three languages?"
  <pause, wait for audience participation> "Trilingual"

"What do you call someone who speaks four languages?"
  <pause, wait for audience participation> "Quadrilingual"

"Etc., etc.  You see where this going."
"What do you call someone who speaks only one language?"
  <pause, wait for audience participation> "American"


Bear with me.  I'm American, and can barely muddle through "Amaarican",
much less French or German.  ;-)

Cheers,

Kevin