Language deficit

I've suggested before that all schools should be bilingual, meaning that while you're in school you have to speak another language so that by the time you leave school you're fluent in that other language.

But the English are mostly very arrogant about not wanting to learn another language, insisting that English is spoken in so many countries that there's no point in us speaking anything else.

Well, apart from the established fact that learning a second language stimulates the brain in various ways, it just seems like a friendly gesture to, say, someone French or German or Spanish that you can talk to them in their own language rather than expecting them to speak your own.

If you got seriously fluent you could work as a translator or interpreter, skills that are always in demand. Plus you could read books in their original language.

I had French lessons at school, but as I never spoke French to anyone I never acquired more than the basics and failed a French exam. If I had had to speak French all the time, I would surely have been fluent by the time I left school.

I know quite a lot of Italian but I'm nowhere near being fluent. Molto embarazzante!

It's pitiful that so many Europeans in particular can speak several languages and think nothing of it. They're often quite bemused that we only speak English and have no wish to speak another language thank you very much.

French or German would certainly be more useful to me than the Latin I did at school - most of which I've totally forgotten anyway. Cela n'a aucun sens!*

*It makes no sense

Bumptious tourists

When I'm on holiday, I'm very conscious that I'm a tourist in someone else's country and I do my best to respect those I meet and not behave like an arrogant prick expecting everyone to fawn all over me.

I was amazed at the selfishness of the two American women who scrawled graffiti on the Colosseum and then took a selfie of themselves and the graffiti. Signs in both English and Italian warn against defacing the walls. Yet they took no notice*.

There are tourists who get hopelessly drunk and pester the locals, who expect everyone to speak English, who poke fun at local customs, or who demand special discounts and concessions. They must annoy the hell out of those on the receiving end, but they're oblivious to how their behaviour comes across.

Of course a lot of things are not the same as home, and I do my best to be patient and flexible. Different security procedures, for example, or opening times, or hotel routines. Why get in a lather over something a bit unexpected? Why not simply adjust to it and relax?

I remember once catching the ferry to Sirmione on Lake Garda. Ahead of us were a group of around 50 schoolkids. Could they issue a single ticket for all of them? No no, each child had to be issued with a separate ticket, which seemed to take forever. But there was no point in complaining - that's the way it was done.

I think a lot of tourists see their holidays as merely a commercial transaction, demanding their money's worth and complaining loudly if they're not getting exactly what they signed up for.

But it's so much more than a business deal. I see a holiday as an invitation to visit someone else's country, a bit like being invited to someone's home, and I try to acknowledge their generosity and indulgence by behaving with courtesy and consideration.

In particular, I'm considerate of all those hard-pressed employees of hotels, coffee shops, restaurants and tourist attractions who are often treated with disdain - if their presence is even noticed.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

*Police reported them for damaging the ancient site. They now face a court hearing.