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I think it really comes down to the proximity to areas that speak that language. I can travel 100s of miles in every direction from my home in the US and only f

I think it really comes down to the proximity to areas that speak that language. I can travel 100s of miles in every direction from my home in the US and only find English speakers. If there was a town that spoke Spanish 50 miles away, I may consider picking it up. Not many Europeans speak Chinese, why do you think that is?

Tomis02 3y ago
And yet plenty of Americans travel to Europe. Wouldn't hurt to pick up a few words in a foreign language, no?
- zwieback 3y ago
  I think part of it is that so many people around the world speak English so if English is your first language it's easier to get around.
  - dopidopHN 3y ago
    But you get the English treatment. While being polite, lots of people will think of you as a retarded child. If you travel to Mexico for instance, the difference is staggering between someone with a command of Spanish and someone that speaks English only.
    - tayo42 3y ago
      As an adult it's really hard to pick up a language to be conversational. I tried, it's alot of dedication. Then I went to Mexico, no one understood me. I guess I have an accent or issues with pronunciation. If I did ask a question, I didn't understand the answer. Everyone just spoke English.
    - zwieback 3y ago
      Now you're making Mexicans sound like dicks, I don't want to believe that is true.
LorenPechtel 3y ago
Yup, why should I learn it? I simply have too few occasions to interact with someone who speaks Spanish but not English that it would have been quite a waste of effort to learn.
jameshart 3y ago
A coding challenge for someone with more GIS knowledge than I have: use the dataset behind this map https://hub.arcgis.com/maps/847cabe2dfc64f92918f2c282e3cedfb https://hub.arcgis.com/maps/847cabe2dfc64f92918f2c282e3cedfb (number of households where Spanish is the primary spoken language by census tract) and see if you can find a location in the United States where you can travel 100s of miles in any direction without encountering a Spanish speaker. Might be somewhere in Alaska, maybe?

Tomis02 3y ago

And yet plenty of Americans travel to Europe. Wouldn't hurt to pick up a few words in a foreign language, no?

zwieback 3y ago
I think part of it is that so many people around the world speak English so if English is your first language it's easier to get around.
- dopidopHN 3y ago
  But you get the English treatment. While being polite, lots of people will think of you as a retarded child. If you travel to Mexico for instance, the difference is staggering between someone with a command of Spanish and someone that speaks English only.
  - tayo42 3y ago
    As an adult it's really hard to pick up a language to be conversational. I tried, it's alot of dedication. Then I went to Mexico, no one understood me. I guess I have an accent or issues with pronunciation. If I did ask a question, I didn't understand the answer. Everyone just spoke English.
  - zwieback 3y ago
    Now you're making Mexicans sound like dicks, I don't want to believe that is true.

LorenPechtel 3y ago

Yup, why should I learn it? I simply have too few occasions to interact with someone who speaks Spanish but not English that it would have been quite a waste of effort to learn.

jameshart 3y ago

A coding challenge for someone with more GIS knowledge than I have: use the dataset behind this map https://hub.arcgis.com/maps/847cabe2dfc64f92918f2c282e3cedfb https://hub.arcgis.com/maps/847cabe2dfc64f92918f2c282e3cedfb (number of households where Spanish is the primary spoken language by census tract) and see if you can find a location in the United States where you can travel 100s of miles in any direction without encountering a Spanish speaker. Might be somewhere in Alaska, maybe?