Suppose this is one for people whos intrested in current affairs/politics

With referance to this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4840160.stm

Has he lost the plot? Hes really making him self looking stupied and even if he is fighting for the French lanuaeg surly hes missed that boat by over a 100 years? ANother form of him Wanted to protect everything French even if it does harm the French economy

 

i thought i read some were that more people speake french thruout the world than english? i personaly think the uk has nothing in common with europe and everything in common with america, all our politics are the same as the usa , i no it doesent have anything to do with this but after all if it wasent for the uk and the usa french peeps wud be talkin german now

andy

 

I think you read wrong mate. Mandarin is the most spoken language, I think English is second and then a close third would be Portugese or Spanish I'd have thought.

Andy

 

Actually, I was wrong - here's the top 30 list...

http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html

 

god english 2nd french 10th

well done mate

andy

 

Erm Morto acutally politically you will find UK is closer with Europe, dont let Iraq make you think different!

Personally Europe is fair better to be alined with than America (imo).

I just think Chriac doesnt like it, as France is losing a lot of its power within Europe.

 

:gayflag: Silly sausage

 

Rhys, how could you possibly say that, you live in Wales

Being half frog I feel the French are doing the right thing in trying to keep to their identity... It's easy for english speaking people to say, let's all speak english.

How would you feel if Mandarin became the de-facto language for international trade ? Would you not want to keep your identity too ?

Coming from a country that "allegedly" didn't want the Euro because the queen wouldn't feature on coins anymore. Pot calling Kettle black

 

I think the man is a fucking retard.. He wants everything in france funded by europe yet for his country not to stick with the european rules/way.

To be fair though i also think Blair too is a fucking retard

 

What do u mean living in Wales? We have fastest growing City in the UK and is one of the highest growing regions in the UK SO for that comment i dont get?

Sorry Chricc is a nut case take what he said about British food and that didnt go to well for France in Olympic respect with two Fin's as dudicators for olympics when he said they was the only ones with worse food than UK I have few French freinds and they all think hes a nut and would be happy for him to go! I didnt relise his main job is to represent France over seas, well erm i think someone could do a MUCH better job.


I know what u mean about identity but all he seems to want to do is stop anything from intefeiring. Surly the best way would be to take things head on?

 

You don't read the SUN do you

 

I don't see how talking English in business meetings is going to begin the end of the French culture - surely it's much more than that...

Lets be honest, he's not going to get everyone he deals with speaking French, so he's going to waste money on interpreters. Probably everone else's money

 

LOL

 

No not at all i was going to write a proper moan up but then thought fuck it retard sums him up nicely

 

I find it quite funny really, as a representative of the French people he's not exactly doing a great job. I can understand if someone directly insulted France or the French people, but because the union guy addresses the conference in English (heaven forbid - seeing as it's the main second language taught within the EU FFS) he has a hissy fit. I wonder if he'd have done the same if the guy had addressed the conference in Flemish or Austrian German?

Seems the French leaders are finding it hard to lose the 'Napoleon' complex

 

Oh and in answer to Rhys' question/thread title - he never had the plot in the first place!

 

Fair enough, just remember that while england has one of the most liberal attitudes towards the press in Europe, we are still told what we want to hear by the media - they are not charities and need to sell paper to make money. Many will print what sells rather than the truth, hence my reference to the SUN

 

It was meant with regards to keeping identity and language

Let's turn the tables the other way then... English may be the most widely taught, but is it the most widely spoken (as a mother tongue) in Europe.

How would you feel if the language for Europe was German (based on the fact that the German population outweighs the UK by 30%) ?
Would you not fight it ?

It could almost be french if it wasn't for the fact that the UK has very slightly larger population (most of which don't speak english anyway )

 

Not really, we English are generally an un-patriotic bunch!

We'd just have to pay more attention in German class at school

 

 

Interesting stuff.

Would you say he's been abit racist towards the English (as in not wanting the french to speak english)?

 

AJ Chriac is VERY RAcisit to the UK imo

Frog (i forgot your name sorry ) As for the language well i dunno as i dont speak Welsh aprart from Few phrases and it doesnt really bother me much. However what bothers me is that i dont speak another lanuage and i fell we as the British population do suffer from a bit of arrogance on that front! But i fell we would never storm out like Chriac! Thats just not the British way to do things

As for Why people speak English its nothing to do about population but how things unfolded with history, as 17xx's France had a fair bit larger population to UK and the trend continued that way for a long time.

 

I think it's Pierre John Frogley or summat like that

 

I like the time he was over in the US and he refused to speak english to Mr Bush (even though Chirac can) and Bush spoke to him in english, Chirac understood, then replyed in Frence and Bush had to use an interpereter (spelling)...

 

No i fully appreciate what your saying but i have quite a few french friends as well as work for a french company so i mostly go on the conversations of my friends and workplace etc.

(i do read striker everyday though )

Martin

 

PMSL Chris, but i would be in the same boat A lot of my freinds can speak two lanuagegs and i feel embarsed i cant!! So i going to learn German soon as i can talk a bit of it and understand more of it!

 

I don't think it is so much racisim (spl?) i just think as a country we are not very well liked all be it because we backed bush and went to war etc i mean look at the eurovision song contest we never get the votes (not that we have had a good act?? but then who has in that?? )

 

No Chriac is, he hates everything about the UK He things we are trying to take over Europe etc in is opinion.

 

 

[quote="Rhys"]PMSL Chris, but i would be in the same boat A lot of my freinds can speak two lanuagegs and i feel embarsed i cant!! So i going to learn German soon as i can talk a bit of it and understand more of it![/quote

Out of interest, why German? I find it a very gutteral and nasty sounding language personally

 

Chirac never had the plot to begin with. He is only interested in his own political grandstanding.

Calling him a retard would be an insult to retarded people

 

You can't blame him for wanting to try and keep a language that has been around in it's current form longer than ours [in fact, as Rhys pointed out, in the 1700's it was the French dignitaries over here that helped develop English and started using it around the world - read Bill Brysons "Mother Tongue" ]

It was UNDENIABLY a stunt for the French Media and the voters and IMO is pretty naive to think there's much more to it than that.

Imagine this scenario, as Brits a large proportion are against the idea of the Euro as the national currency [for whatever reasons]. So there's a meeting in Brussels about spreading the Euro even further to cover those countries that have not yet adopted it... Blair walks out.

In the Sun the next day you get "Tony sticks his middle finger up the Euro" or whatever and suddenly, everyone in the country comes out the woodwork to pat him on the back for trying to keep some semblance of sovereignty. Guaranteed re-election

Chirac may look like a podgy count dracula, but he ain't stupid

 

EscortWRC


Nice to hear from you again, what you been upto mate?

 

And best reply so far goes to