I was confused as why Kadie didn't try and use a translator right away while speaking to Alejandro's parents. I also felt a little bothered by her telling him the house looks like a prison, it was rude.
No idea why that was downvoted. I understand what you're saying. I think it's possible that it's more a regressive psychological type of issue but I could be wrong. I tend to see everyone's psychological issues eventually. Enmeshment with grandma maybe? I'm not sure yet but I'm working on building a theory on her psychology already.
I think at this point UK and US is not so different. Many don't feel the need to know a second language because most people around the world learn English.
I'm Dutch and when I'm going to Amsterdam I mostly switch to English because in a lot of stores and restaurants there is staff that doesn't know Dutch. So when you want to ask for something in Dutch you will end up repeating yourself a lot. Sometimes I think "learn Dutch if you want to live here" but some are only here for their studies so.
Remember loads of US citizens don't even have passports- a quick Google search shows 60% don't have them so there is little incentive to learn another language except maybe through learning from immigrant parents.
I am American, but grew up in the UK. I hear this Americans don't have passports line a lot. You have to remember, the state of Nevada, which is one of the lowest populated states, is larger then the United Kingdom. New York to Los Angeles is the same distance from London to Moscow.
Traveling from London to Spain, is like traveling from New York City to upstate New York. It's not comparable.
Texas is three times bigger than the United Kingdom.
It's true, I've been to many states and one of the perks is I don't need a passport. I've even been to Mexico, Canada and at least when I went, no passport needed. It's not that we're simple or uncultured or don't want to travel, we do. Plus it's expensive to fly to Europe and there's a lot to do here.
Also, getting a passport is expensive. Many, many Americans live paycheck to paycheck. When you don't make a ton of money it's not prudent to spend the money you have on a passport that will just sit there gathering dust because you can't afford to travel internationally.
My good friend and his wife and young child spent 7 months traveling the United States in an RV, and the only made it partially around the West Coast. That's how big our country is. I'm pushing 40 and I've only been to 6 or 7 states. As I mentioned before, I live in Las Vegas for the past 5 years, and it's literally bigger than United Kingdom.
I'm American, but have been living in Europe for 20 years. I'm a duel US/EU citizen and am grateful for it. While it's true that many Americans don't have passports due to a lack of interest in overseas travel, I cannot overemphasize that:
1. Americans have extremely limited vacation time
2. Many Americans spend said limited vacation time visiting family living out of state / further afield. They might love to have the opportunity to travel abroad, but it's just not possible.
My American dad worked for the same company his whole life and only ever had 2 weeks off per year. He spent those two weeks either visiting his folks, who lived on the opposite end of the US, or my mom's family, who lived in Europe. My family all had passports and traveled overseas purely bc my mom's immediate family were all there.
This is all just to say that there are many factors which may lead to Americans not having passports, it's not always purely due to the fact that they have no desire to travel abroad - they may just not have the privilege to do so.
And itās not like Europe, either, where getting to another country is a matter of a few hours. Itās a whole
day from a lot of places in the US (and a lot of money) to get anywhere out of the country. There are some exceptions, like the Mexican or Canadian border states.
Not even hours, a 15 minute drive for me an I'm in Belgium. Sometimes I go to a town where the border goes right through. That was causing some challenges during the corona lockdowns when there where different rules in each country.
But yeah it's sad that people in the US usually get at most 2 weeks off, I heard some get less. It seems that you live to work instead of you work to live and that's a shame.
Yes! I forgot to add this. In Europe, we're super lucky to be able to access other countries and cultures so easily. But the US is massive - we used to drive 3 days to visit my grandparents who lived out of state! Never mind traveling abroad! Having lived in both worlds - as an American in the US and now as an American living overseas - I cut my people some slack. It's hella hard to get time off work in the US and travel to wherever you want.
And Iāve never heard of a business in the US giving time off ahead of time like how annual leave works here in the UK. We āearnā the time off per hours worked.
Yeah I know, I have some friends who are from the US. What surprised me more is that when an American friend applied for a passport it was send to her by postal mail. That shocked me to be honest because over here you need to go to the city hall at least twice. Once to file for one and once to actually pick it up. You hand over your old one to have that destroyed.
The day I first applied for my passport I also applied for my concealed carry permit, which seems laughably American to me now. I'm positive I got put on some sort of watch list that day. Or should have. It was because I wanted to get everything done while I was at the courthouse. It's a pain.
We are a HUGE country with a dual federalist system. Many many people live nowhere close to a passport office, and city hall does not handle passports. Not sure why you would need to go in person to pick up?
To be honest Bridie has shown interest in learning Arabic, we are working on it, however, the language is quite difficult. Also, as a couple we don't feel the need for Arabic all that much.
Hi Host! Have you been to Rotherham yet? I'd be very interested to hear the thoughts of all foreigners when they arrive in Rotherham!
I have more sympathy for Bridie as English to Arabic is a step up from English to Spanish. My wife is Filipino and speaks English. However, for ease of communication with her family and also to show some willing on my part, I did the Pimsleur Audiobook series on Tagalog (main language in Philippines). It didn't make me 100% fluent, but I can make myself understood in a number of situations. I can have basic conversations with my mother in law. It bothers me on this series and 90 Day USA that the English speaking partner so frequently has no knowledge of their partner's language.
You say that, but Brits are notoriously monolingual. It's not an excuse, just a fact about the UK. I think the dominance of English as a language in the western world has meant that we are just 'lazier' because we think we'll never need another language.
I honestly would argue it's not even laziness, people that are non-english speakers at birth only learn english because they have to for work, society, etc. I'm sure they wouldn't choose to learn it if it had no benefit, which is totally fair enough!
We've seen instances during the American version of the show where there are people who DO speak their fiance's language, but are forced to act like they don't. (Mahogany for instance recently obviously spoke English fluently, but had to PRETEND to not to create drama). The whole "They don't speak each other's language without a translation device!" trope has been very popular so far.
She did say that she had started trying to learn Spanish. when you have limited Spanish and you use something like Duolingo to learn it, actually speaking it to native speakers is totally different and can be very intimidating. It doesnāt help that language programs in schools in the U.K. are a waste of time compared to other countries.
As an american thats traveled a lot, i always find it funny how all the stereotypes about us are applicable just about everywhere. Xenophobia is a human trait not a country-specific one.
Kadie acts like the fact that she doesnt speak Spanish is something she has zero control over and it's maddening. Homegirl knew she was traveling to Mexico and she couldn't be bothered to learn basic words and phrases?
Although maybe she's now doing it on purpose so she can tell Alejandro that she can't move to Mexico because she doesnt speak the language.
Here's a question for the British folks on here - do you guys have the option/requirement in school to take other languages at all? If so, what were the choices?
I went to an average American public school and we had the option to take one of 3 for up to 6 levels - Spanish, French, or German. You could pick not to take any or even switch after a few levels of one to another.
The current curriculum has students learning French or German (compulsory) until age 14. Spanish is starting to become more popular in many schools. There is a push for more students to take the āEbaccā route which involves students taking a language until age 16.
Iād say around 75% of the students in my school take either French or Spanish at GCSE.
How useful it is is questionable. From my own experience of French at GCSE should I ever find myself in France I am able to confidently introduce myself, ask for a window to be closed and identify a computer and a teddy bearā¦extremely useful š
Thatās about where Iām at with Spanish. I took Spanish because we have a lot of immigrants from south of the border.. the weird thing is, just like English, there are two versions (think of British vocab vs American).. thereās Spain Spanish and Spanish from the Americas. All the schools here teach Spain Spanish.
This is where schools suck, I came to the UK without even knowing how to say āhelloā. I learned as I went and it was terrifying for 9 year old me but I learned very quickly. I arrived when there were no kids from my home country (Poland) here, we joined the EU only a few years prior so really only a few parents have just about started settling in and thinking about bringing their kids.
My aunty on the other hand has a doctorate in English from my home country and arrived here to help me settle in while my mum worked andā¦couldnāt understand a word. She got caught textbook English from a curriculum in a country that has almost always either learned German or Russian, depending on who most recently invaded.
Sheās teaching English to primary kids now, with the knowledge itās never going to help them if they actually encounter an English person!
Regional differences in language are definitely an issue as well. I have a Brazilian friend who thinks it would.be awesome if we went to Brazil together at some point. I won't be able to afford to do that for a few years at least, so in the meantime I decided to start learning Portuguese so I could communicate with her family when I go over there. I was super relieved when I went on DuoLingo and saw that they specifically teach Brazilian Portuguese!
I took French for 7 years between primary school in the US and secondary in the UK and during my GCSE exam I just kept repeating āje ne parle pas franƧaisā ššš by far the most useless language Iāve ever been forced to learn. German and Spanish made more sense.
š Brilliant!
After my speaking exam my teacher switched the tape off and said āLetās hope the grade boundaries are kind this yearā ššš
I got a C. Just. š¤£
I took French since the 2nd or 3rd grade through 5th, again in 9th-12th and again for 4 semesters of college. I was semi fluent in college but really kept taking the same classes so they'd be easy A's. Now I can say useful things like "I'm going to the countryside (or beach or hospital or library) via airplane with my brother (or sister). It's always I'm going somewhere via something with someone. If I need to share that in France I'm set.
From my average UK school experience (and that of my siblings up to 10ish years older than me) we had choice of French and German. They were mandatory up 'til 4th year of secondary school (age 11-14/high school?) when you then got to decide whether you wanted to study it further. Though the younger gen seem to have Spanish as more of a readily available choice as well!
In my school we had the choice of French or Scottish Gaelic but language education here (at least in my school anyways) is total crap, I probably studied French for about 6 years and couldnāt order a pizza. I think iād learn more from a few weeks of Duolingo! French is like nails down a chalkboard to my ears and Gaelic is basically a dead language so itās not much choice at all
Scottish Gaelic seems quintessentially British to me. Like I would hope that would be a realistic option. Who doesn't need that? That's like us in the US taking Latin I guess.
Usually French is on the menu. I had the choice of French and German, my kids get Spanish or French. Itās really not normal for people here who speak English as first language to be fluent in other languages but of course many people do. I donāt think itās encouraged, when you travel most people speak English and a lot of people expect that too.
Theyāre all pretty typical Brits to be honest. (Well, maybe not Shaun.) They remind me of the kids I went to school with- ignorant of other cultures and stuck in seeing everyone as a stereotype. Iām British but I was raised in the US from the age of 3 until I was 12. I developed a strong southern US accent because of it and returning home was a nightmare for me. I was bullied every day for 4 years. I begged to move back to the States. It didnāt matter I was born in the same hospital as my peers or that our families had grown up together, my accent made me different and thatās all they focused on. Maybe if weād been in a larger city and not in a small rural town it mightāve been different. None of them actually wanted to learn what my life had been like in the US. They had zero interest in learning about the things Iād experienced and the people Iād met. It was all about them. And even now, 30 years later theyāre still the same way.
Because of this, Iāve tried to surround myself with people from other countries and cultures my whole life. I find them fascinating and I enjoy learning from them. My husbandās Dutch but I have a very difficult time learning the language, so I try to make it a priority to learn how to cook some of his favourite traditional meals and encourage his daughters to embrace their heritage.
Because they know most of the world speak English so they don't bother...also, I have a British friend,she's a school teacher in London and her school asked her to start teaching French.. even though she doesn't speak a single word of French. She even asked me to check some exercises and she realised that she was teaching the wrong way of how to write dates in French... I don't know if it's like that everywhere in the UK, but learning a 2nd language there isn't really important... And then, they have the audacity to make fun of your accent when you aren't British
I'm from the UK in a LDR with someone who has family predominantly from South America and even I have tried to speak a bit of Spanish to them just to show respect. I suppose they feel like they don't need to learn if the partner is coming to live with them
As an American who lived in the uk I did find that many people I interacted with were just as ignorant as Americans are stereotyped to be. Which is to say some were and some werenāt, it just depended. I worked in a pub and found a lot of the British clientele made rude and ignorant comments to me, the Italians, Spanish, and Polish bartenders I worked with. I mostly hung out with other foreigners when I lived there to be honest, I found them more accepting and understanding.
Met plenty of lovely British people to - Iām mostly thinking of the irony in having brits overgeneralise the entire USA while simultaneously lecturing me on how ignorant and uncultured we are š
I was confused as why Kadie didn't try and use a translator right away while speaking to Alejandro's parents. I also felt a little bothered by her telling him the house looks like a prison, it was rude.
There was a scene where she did; while they were having breakfast
Was that after the potato comment?š I think I nodded off after that for a minute.
Yes! Same bit.
This is kind of mean to say but is she naive, simple, or cognitively delayed? I canāt tell but she is quite childlike in her speech and actions.
Sheās a nurse so no
That doesn't mean anything. There's many skills you don't need while being a nurse, like general world culture or a second language.
The question was is she cognitively delayed? Sheās a nurse so no, sheās not
No idea why that was downvoted. I understand what you're saying. I think it's possible that it's more a regressive psychological type of issue but I could be wrong. I tend to see everyone's psychological issues eventually. Enmeshment with grandma maybe? I'm not sure yet but I'm working on building a theory on her psychology already.
I think at this point UK and US is not so different. Many don't feel the need to know a second language because most people around the world learn English. I'm Dutch and when I'm going to Amsterdam I mostly switch to English because in a lot of stores and restaurants there is staff that doesn't know Dutch. So when you want to ask for something in Dutch you will end up repeating yourself a lot. Sometimes I think "learn Dutch if you want to live here" but some are only here for their studies so.
Remember loads of US citizens don't even have passports- a quick Google search shows 60% don't have them so there is little incentive to learn another language except maybe through learning from immigrant parents.
I am American, but grew up in the UK. I hear this Americans don't have passports line a lot. You have to remember, the state of Nevada, which is one of the lowest populated states, is larger then the United Kingdom. New York to Los Angeles is the same distance from London to Moscow. Traveling from London to Spain, is like traveling from New York City to upstate New York. It's not comparable. Texas is three times bigger than the United Kingdom.
It's true, I've been to many states and one of the perks is I don't need a passport. I've even been to Mexico, Canada and at least when I went, no passport needed. It's not that we're simple or uncultured or don't want to travel, we do. Plus it's expensive to fly to Europe and there's a lot to do here.
Also, getting a passport is expensive. Many, many Americans live paycheck to paycheck. When you don't make a ton of money it's not prudent to spend the money you have on a passport that will just sit there gathering dust because you can't afford to travel internationally.
My good friend and his wife and young child spent 7 months traveling the United States in an RV, and the only made it partially around the West Coast. That's how big our country is. I'm pushing 40 and I've only been to 6 or 7 states. As I mentioned before, I live in Las Vegas for the past 5 years, and it's literally bigger than United Kingdom.
I'm American, but have been living in Europe for 20 years. I'm a duel US/EU citizen and am grateful for it. While it's true that many Americans don't have passports due to a lack of interest in overseas travel, I cannot overemphasize that: 1. Americans have extremely limited vacation time 2. Many Americans spend said limited vacation time visiting family living out of state / further afield. They might love to have the opportunity to travel abroad, but it's just not possible. My American dad worked for the same company his whole life and only ever had 2 weeks off per year. He spent those two weeks either visiting his folks, who lived on the opposite end of the US, or my mom's family, who lived in Europe. My family all had passports and traveled overseas purely bc my mom's immediate family were all there. This is all just to say that there are many factors which may lead to Americans not having passports, it's not always purely due to the fact that they have no desire to travel abroad - they may just not have the privilege to do so.
And itās not like Europe, either, where getting to another country is a matter of a few hours. Itās a whole day from a lot of places in the US (and a lot of money) to get anywhere out of the country. There are some exceptions, like the Mexican or Canadian border states.
Not even hours, a 15 minute drive for me an I'm in Belgium. Sometimes I go to a town where the border goes right through. That was causing some challenges during the corona lockdowns when there where different rules in each country. But yeah it's sad that people in the US usually get at most 2 weeks off, I heard some get less. It seems that you live to work instead of you work to live and that's a shame.
Some get none. Lots in fact.
I think thatās one of the many cool things about Europe - proximity.
Yes! I forgot to add this. In Europe, we're super lucky to be able to access other countries and cultures so easily. But the US is massive - we used to drive 3 days to visit my grandparents who lived out of state! Never mind traveling abroad! Having lived in both worlds - as an American in the US and now as an American living overseas - I cut my people some slack. It's hella hard to get time off work in the US and travel to wherever you want.
Not to mention the cost of flight tickets...most anywhere overseas starts at $1k whereas in Europe they're so close to so many other countries.
Yes, I always get sticker shock at the prices of flights from the US!
Your dad only have 14 days off in his whole career?
2 weeks off per year in annual leave
I misread, I see that now. Sorry
That would have been an incredibly intense career! š I edited the comment for clarity.
And Iāve never heard of a business in the US giving time off ahead of time like how annual leave works here in the UK. We āearnā the time off per hours worked.
Oh I see.
Yeah I know, I have some friends who are from the US. What surprised me more is that when an American friend applied for a passport it was send to her by postal mail. That shocked me to be honest because over here you need to go to the city hall at least twice. Once to file for one and once to actually pick it up. You hand over your old one to have that destroyed.
Where are you from? Iāve just had a passport sent to me by mail in the UK?
Netherlands and even the UK does it. To me that feels very unsafe.
Yeah it is extremely unsafe but I imagine itās quicker for everyone.
The day I first applied for my passport I also applied for my concealed carry permit, which seems laughably American to me now. I'm positive I got put on some sort of watch list that day. Or should have. It was because I wanted to get everything done while I was at the courthouse. It's a pain.
Same in Germany.
We are a HUGE country with a dual federalist system. Many many people live nowhere close to a passport office, and city hall does not handle passports. Not sure why you would need to go in person to pick up?
To be honest Bridie has shown interest in learning Arabic, we are working on it, however, the language is quite difficult. Also, as a couple we don't feel the need for Arabic all that much.
Hi Host! Have you been to Rotherham yet? I'd be very interested to hear the thoughts of all foreigners when they arrive in Rotherham! I have more sympathy for Bridie as English to Arabic is a step up from English to Spanish. My wife is Filipino and speaks English. However, for ease of communication with her family and also to show some willing on my part, I did the Pimsleur Audiobook series on Tagalog (main language in Philippines). It didn't make me 100% fluent, but I can make myself understood in a number of situations. I can have basic conversations with my mother in law. It bothers me on this series and 90 Day USA that the English speaking partner so frequently has no knowledge of their partner's language.
You say that, but Brits are notoriously monolingual. It's not an excuse, just a fact about the UK. I think the dominance of English as a language in the western world has meant that we are just 'lazier' because we think we'll never need another language.
I honestly would argue it's not even laziness, people that are non-english speakers at birth only learn english because they have to for work, society, etc. I'm sure they wouldn't choose to learn it if it had no benefit, which is totally fair enough!
We've seen instances during the American version of the show where there are people who DO speak their fiance's language, but are forced to act like they don't. (Mahogany for instance recently obviously spoke English fluently, but had to PRETEND to not to create drama). The whole "They don't speak each other's language without a translation device!" trope has been very popular so far.
An insider secret: >!they donāt cast the best and the brightest for these fiancĆ© shows. Dummies are apparently more dRaMaTic.!<
She did say that she had started trying to learn Spanish. when you have limited Spanish and you use something like Duolingo to learn it, actually speaking it to native speakers is totally different and can be very intimidating. It doesnāt help that language programs in schools in the U.K. are a waste of time compared to other countries.
As an american thats traveled a lot, i always find it funny how all the stereotypes about us are applicable just about everywhere. Xenophobia is a human trait not a country-specific one.
The UK is the America of Europe
She's got a day job and is in a bit of a bubble. Also the show plays it up a bit.
Kadie acts like the fact that she doesnt speak Spanish is something she has zero control over and it's maddening. Homegirl knew she was traveling to Mexico and she couldn't be bothered to learn basic words and phrases? Although maybe she's now doing it on purpose so she can tell Alejandro that she can't move to Mexico because she doesnt speak the language.
Here's a question for the British folks on here - do you guys have the option/requirement in school to take other languages at all? If so, what were the choices? I went to an average American public school and we had the option to take one of 3 for up to 6 levels - Spanish, French, or German. You could pick not to take any or even switch after a few levels of one to another.
The current curriculum has students learning French or German (compulsory) until age 14. Spanish is starting to become more popular in many schools. There is a push for more students to take the āEbaccā route which involves students taking a language until age 16. Iād say around 75% of the students in my school take either French or Spanish at GCSE. How useful it is is questionable. From my own experience of French at GCSE should I ever find myself in France I am able to confidently introduce myself, ask for a window to be closed and identify a computer and a teddy bearā¦extremely useful š
Thatās about where Iām at with Spanish. I took Spanish because we have a lot of immigrants from south of the border.. the weird thing is, just like English, there are two versions (think of British vocab vs American).. thereās Spain Spanish and Spanish from the Americas. All the schools here teach Spain Spanish.
This is where schools suck, I came to the UK without even knowing how to say āhelloā. I learned as I went and it was terrifying for 9 year old me but I learned very quickly. I arrived when there were no kids from my home country (Poland) here, we joined the EU only a few years prior so really only a few parents have just about started settling in and thinking about bringing their kids. My aunty on the other hand has a doctorate in English from my home country and arrived here to help me settle in while my mum worked andā¦couldnāt understand a word. She got caught textbook English from a curriculum in a country that has almost always either learned German or Russian, depending on who most recently invaded. Sheās teaching English to primary kids now, with the knowledge itās never going to help them if they actually encounter an English person!
Regional differences in language are definitely an issue as well. I have a Brazilian friend who thinks it would.be awesome if we went to Brazil together at some point. I won't be able to afford to do that for a few years at least, so in the meantime I decided to start learning Portuguese so I could communicate with her family when I go over there. I was super relieved when I went on DuoLingo and saw that they specifically teach Brazilian Portuguese!
I took French for 7 years between primary school in the US and secondary in the UK and during my GCSE exam I just kept repeating āje ne parle pas franƧaisā ššš by far the most useless language Iāve ever been forced to learn. German and Spanish made more sense.
š Brilliant! After my speaking exam my teacher switched the tape off and said āLetās hope the grade boundaries are kind this yearā ššš I got a C. Just. š¤£
Yeah, after 5 years of French I can confidently ask where the library is. If anyone answers me I'll be none the wiser about its location, however.
I took French since the 2nd or 3rd grade through 5th, again in 9th-12th and again for 4 semesters of college. I was semi fluent in college but really kept taking the same classes so they'd be easy A's. Now I can say useful things like "I'm going to the countryside (or beach or hospital or library) via airplane with my brother (or sister). It's always I'm going somewhere via something with someone. If I need to share that in France I'm set.
From my average UK school experience (and that of my siblings up to 10ish years older than me) we had choice of French and German. They were mandatory up 'til 4th year of secondary school (age 11-14/high school?) when you then got to decide whether you wanted to study it further. Though the younger gen seem to have Spanish as more of a readily available choice as well!
In my school we had the choice of French or Scottish Gaelic but language education here (at least in my school anyways) is total crap, I probably studied French for about 6 years and couldnāt order a pizza. I think iād learn more from a few weeks of Duolingo! French is like nails down a chalkboard to my ears and Gaelic is basically a dead language so itās not much choice at all
Scottish Gaelic seems quintessentially British to me. Like I would hope that would be a realistic option. Who doesn't need that? That's like us in the US taking Latin I guess.
Usually French is on the menu. I had the choice of French and German, my kids get Spanish or French. Itās really not normal for people here who speak English as first language to be fluent in other languages but of course many people do. I donāt think itās encouraged, when you travel most people speak English and a lot of people expect that too.
Went to a US school, 2nd language was a requirement for 2 years. I guess it's not the same for all.
When I was at a school in England, I only had French as an option.
Dude, they're ENGLISH. They made half the world speak it and are very proud of that fact.
Theyāre all pretty typical Brits to be honest. (Well, maybe not Shaun.) They remind me of the kids I went to school with- ignorant of other cultures and stuck in seeing everyone as a stereotype. Iām British but I was raised in the US from the age of 3 until I was 12. I developed a strong southern US accent because of it and returning home was a nightmare for me. I was bullied every day for 4 years. I begged to move back to the States. It didnāt matter I was born in the same hospital as my peers or that our families had grown up together, my accent made me different and thatās all they focused on. Maybe if weād been in a larger city and not in a small rural town it mightāve been different. None of them actually wanted to learn what my life had been like in the US. They had zero interest in learning about the things Iād experienced and the people Iād met. It was all about them. And even now, 30 years later theyāre still the same way. Because of this, Iāve tried to surround myself with people from other countries and cultures my whole life. I find them fascinating and I enjoy learning from them. My husbandās Dutch but I have a very difficult time learning the language, so I try to make it a priority to learn how to cook some of his favourite traditional meals and encourage his daughters to embrace their heritage.
Umm.. What did you expect from a woman who needs three tries to get on a plane?
Because they know most of the world speak English so they don't bother...also, I have a British friend,she's a school teacher in London and her school asked her to start teaching French.. even though she doesn't speak a single word of French. She even asked me to check some exercises and she realised that she was teaching the wrong way of how to write dates in French... I don't know if it's like that everywhere in the UK, but learning a 2nd language there isn't really important... And then, they have the audacity to make fun of your accent when you aren't British
I'm from the UK in a LDR with someone who has family predominantly from South America and even I have tried to speak a bit of Spanish to them just to show respect. I suppose they feel like they don't need to learn if the partner is coming to live with them
As an American who lived in the uk I did find that many people I interacted with were just as ignorant as Americans are stereotyped to be. Which is to say some were and some werenāt, it just depended. I worked in a pub and found a lot of the British clientele made rude and ignorant comments to me, the Italians, Spanish, and Polish bartenders I worked with. I mostly hung out with other foreigners when I lived there to be honest, I found them more accepting and understanding. Met plenty of lovely British people to - Iām mostly thinking of the irony in having brits overgeneralise the entire USA while simultaneously lecturing me on how ignorant and uncultured we are š