AIRPORT TRAFFIC SOARS TO 180,000 PASSENGERS LAST YEAR

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Quote: "Every French man and woman for two generations has learned English as a second language" -> I live in this country and can tell you that this is absolutely NOT true.

St Barths is a little different as most people speak English due the tourism industry. Also many locals moved to/from St Thomas, or went studying in the US & Canada.

However speaking 100% English in France won't get you far beyond the airport, car rental company and hotel as most people on the street don't speak English. Try Arabic, Spanish or Italian if you wish, but not English.

English is the international language of trade, science and diplomacy. However "globally" 212 million people still use the language daily, including in the Americas: Canada (9 million), Haiti (4.5 million), the French West Indies & Guyana (1 million), some parts of Argentina and Brazil. Even in the US, such as Louisiana (200,000 speak Cajun French at home), parts of New England (speaking a variant of Canadian French). Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire are the states where French remain the second most-spoken language.

In 2025, it is estimated that 500 million people will speak French worldwide.

French is one of the two languages used by the United Nations administration. It's also one of the official ICAO languages. Other international organizations recognize French as an official language: the European Union, NATO, the W.T.O, the International Olympic Committee...It's also the national language of 29 nations. French is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union.

In 2011, Bloomberg Business week ranked French the third most useful language for business... etc.

More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language

French irrelevant? Only native English-speaking people tend to think that. The same goes for Spanish or Chinese Mandarin, or any other language for that matter.

As a european, I expect every one to speak at least 1 foreign language. I respect those who can speak 2 foreign languages. I admire those who can speak 3 or more foreign languages. It is a sign of education, intelligence and interest in other cultures of this world.

As I said, you don't know how MacBook users produce diacritics. As a French speaker you would have no idea what percentage of people that an anglophone tourist encounters in France speak English. I can tell you that it's virtually 100% today. Not 25 years ago, but today it is.
French is a somewhat useful language, but I can tell you that if you work for an American multinational corporation and are transferred to Europe, you are not expected to speak French or German or Dutch or Italian or ....
The reverse would not be true.
As for learning second languages, I agree it's a nice endeavor, but for an American it's hardly essential, and arguably not an efficient use of one's time and energy.
Here's a map that you may find interesting:

from The Guardian 2014

Gentlemen! Gentlemen!

Dennis said:

Gentlemen! Gentlemen!

Click to expand...

:up:

Nice moderating, moderators! I somehow knew this place was not a democracy, but now it is confirmed.

Could you please explain why you erased all last posts, including the ones responding to the attacks above?

I expect this post to be erased too. Surely a radical way to handle truth.

islander said:

Nice moderating, moderators! I somehow knew this place was not a democracy, but now it is confirmed.

Could you please explain why you erased all last posts, including the ones responding to the attacks above?

I expect this post to be erased too. Surely a radical way to handle truth.

Click to expand...

First, why don't you explain how it is related to the topic.

Oh that's interesting! Thread drift means erasing by moderators? Wow!

You usually do not erase drifting topics, and there are many every day. It is very interesting to see that some are "moderated" and some are not. There was no abuse of language, no politics, no religion, no sex offense, not even strong words. The forum policy was respected at all times. If not, please refer exactly to the part where the line was crossed?

The moderating that you just did is simply unfair, it really feels like you didn't want Laurent and myself responding to the wrong assumptions of Cassidain (a friend of yours perhaps?)

I kept copies of the posts that you deleted and I keep them available by PM to any forum member reading this who would like to know how wrong your moderating was.

Again, by erasing this post and the previous one, all you will achieve is demonstrating that I'm right.

Right, mon vieil ami, Dennis and I are the closest of friends.

Check your PM, buddy! Moderating public space is one thing, telling you what I have to tell you by PM is another thing.

Mods, if you really want to help, why don't you erase Cassidain's last post? All he does is adding oil to the fire.

Now that would be some moderating!

I have called for une entente cordiale. We'll see if our gallic brothers respond in kind.

islander said:

Oh that's interesting! Thread drift means erasing by moderators? Wow!

You usually do not erase drifting topics, and there are many every day. It is very interesting to see that some are "moderated" and some are not. There was no abuse of language, no politics, no religion, no sex offense, not even strong words. The forum policy was respected at all times. If not, please refer exactly to the part where the line was crossed?

The moderating that you just did is simply unfair, it really feels like you didn't want Laurent and myself responding to the wrong assumptions of Cassidain (a friend of yours perhaps?)

I kept copies of the posts that you deleted and I keep them available by PM to any forum member reading this who would like to know how wrong your moderating was.

Again, by erasing this post and the previous one, all you will achieve is demonstrating that I'm right.

Click to expand...

Just so you undertand I'm Ok posting my PM to you publicly:

First, everything after your first sentence is absolute bulls*hit.

Take it to what ever "level" you want.

Second, I had no problem with the content of the silly back and forth, just the forum it was taking place in. What does that have to do with air traffic at SXM?

Go fornicate yourself.

I forgot to post your pompus Pm to me:

Dennis,

Can you please explain why you erased the last posts? 2 from Laurent, 1 from myself. They were in no way in breach of the forum policy, but perhaps did I miss something?

You provided no valid explanation on the thread other than a topic drift. Wow! Impressive.

I'm used to forums, and when there's some moderating going on, the moderator always describes why, what, when the moderating took place. I haven't seen any of this from you, and to say the least I was not impressed by your democratic skills here.

I cannot tell you how wrong this feels. I believe you crossed the moderating line, and from the outside it really looks like the forum is ran by bunch of friends sticking together against the rest of the crowd.

Laurent and I know a lot more about French (and other topics) than Cassidain, and should you think that you made an error here my advise to you would simply be to restore the posts. If you don't have a copy, I do!.

I obviously expect an answer from you by PM and possibly on the public space.

I am a long term resident of SBH and I guarantee you I will take this to another level, should I need to. Laurent is also a long term resident of SBH.

Last but not least, my company is a customer of sbhonline with yearly advertising on the site (thousands of USD spent in the last years). I'm not sure how WIMCO would react to see us leaving from the site?

Advise please.

Regards

Islander

Dennis- I hope you are the last word. :sleeping:

Dennis said:

Just so you undertand I'm Ok posting my PM to you publicly:

First, everything after your first sentence is absolute bulls*hit.

Take it to what ever "level" you want.

Second, I had no problem with the content of the silly back and forth, just the forum it was taking place in. What does that have to do with air traffic at SXM?

Go fornicate yourself.

Click to expand...

Let me get this straight.

"Bull****" and "go fornicate yourself".... WOW, once again real moderating skills demonstrated here! Not to mention the public publishing of a PM (which of course is technically directed to the private person and not to the wide public).

I have taken screen shots of the above. I am writing a letter to the website owner (WIMCO) and describe what happened in the last 24 hours.

Im also re-publishing the content of the posts that you erased, so that everyone here can decide if this was appropriate or not.

Published by "Laurent"

funny because, out of tourist's highlights (museums, car rentals comp., airports (well... it depends), 3 stars & above-hotels...etc... and in general in the capital/Paris tourist areas, I would have said the % is close to zero.
Learning english at french school is far far....really far away from being able to speak at least basic english.

And so, the 100% you encounter Cassidain is probably right at your hotel, into the multinational corp. meeting room...
out of this : back to a basic "coke please" / "bien sûr monsieur".
I wish 100% of the frenchs speak english, but it's just not true.



you are very right when you say : no way for me to evaluate french's skills from french people, when I speak french to them.

but,
1 - every time I'm in France, with no exception, I witness situations, from funny to annoying, that allow me to state a poor level. Edit : the same with frenchs outside of their own country where english is needed.
2 - I've spend quiet some time at school, in France, I've learned english (for what it worths) everywhere except at school
3 - the general poor level in english from the frenchs, is well known, it's a measured fact, some reading :

http://www.ef.fr/epi/
http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/articl...1684_3224.html
http://www.slate.fr/story/68577/francais-nuls-anglais

Published by myself and "moderated" by Dennis

Cassidain, as a gentleman, I would say to you: You have absolutely no clue of what's going on in the French education system. Also Laurent pulled out some very interesting articles which describe how poorly the French population speaks English. Did you read them?

It is not because you visit this country once a year that you know the people or the culture. You obviously stay in good hotels, eat in nice restaurants.... and of course the staff will have a reasonably good level of English (as expected in these places). Also you probably visit the touristic parts of France. Have you ever been in Montluçon, Nevers or Tours? (you can always use Google map if you don't know where these towns are). I guarantee you that you will meet very few people speaking English on the street.

Not everybody works in an american multinational corporation, and in fact, that's OK. This is not the whole world you know? If you think it is, this is very sad and I feel sorry for you.

Now get over it, try to listen to people a little more, especially when you are talking about a subject that you know little about. I'm guessing your day to day professional life takes you in high responsibility positions, where very few people challenge you on a daily basis. Am I right? But here, this is simply a discussion board about a little French island in the Caribbean sea. Many forum members know a lot more than you do about some topics and that's something your ego should live with.

Finally, please drop the insulting parts of your posts, as they start to be very annoying. I know how a MacBook works (I'm using one right now), and there are different ways to gets French accents from a QWERTY keyboard, including the one I described. Your arrogance is out of line.

I'm not your "vieux", and even less your "old friend" (I don't think we will ever be friends to be honest).

As a famous moderator once said, it's time to move on. I would have liked to ask how to say in French, "we'll just have to agree to disagree" (I've never run across its equivalent), but I don't think issuing helpful advice is your strong point. More into scolding. Farewell old unfriend. You could learn a collegial spirit from Pascale, but that would require a modicum of humility on your part.

oh, and ps, the "mon vieux" with you or anyone else on this site was always a tongue-in-cheek usage. Of course, we're not old friends. Again a nuance of usage . . .

islander said:

Let me get this straight.

"Bull****" and "go fornicate yourself".... WOW, once again real moderating skills demonstrated here! Not to mention the public publishing of a PM (which of course is technically directed to the private person and not to the wide public).

I have taken screen shots of the above. I am writing a letter to the website owner (WIMCO) and describe what happened in the last 24 hours.

Im also re-publishing the content of the posts that you erased, so that everyone here can decide if this was appropriate or not.

Click to expand...

I apologize for telling you go fornicate yourself. I don't apologize for thinking it, though.

It's just that Mad Max was winning all those awards...and I had been drinking...

Anyway, I asked y'all nicely to stop (Gentlemen! Gentlemen!). Hank got the point. You did not.

So you chose to play the "Do you know who I am?" card. Silly.

Finally, if you're looking for someone with "moderating skills", whatever those are. you're in the wrong place. mon ami.

Have a great leap year day!

Can someone please lock down this thread. It's out of control !

Lock