Vestitor:

Luib:Why don't you learn any Aborigines language in Australia? Or is this just my Swiss way of thinking? (in Switzerland everyone learns at least one other language spoken in the country; Ticinesi even have three compulsory languages: German, French and English.)

Well, that's a bit misleading. Like the situation in Belgium it gives the impression that everyone is tri-lingual or at least bilingual, but even this is not true. Once I was out of the areas where German is spoken in Switzerland, finding a German speaker was much harder. Of course finding people who spoke English was far less difficult. And that's not even one of the 'official' languages.

Well, it's right that the language teaching doesn't work perfectly. My point was that they at least try to make children learn some French over there in Zurich and the other German-speaking cantons...
But in Ticino they speak French really well, at least better than the Romands speak German or Italian. There the language teaching does work, probably because the little children feel they must master the other languages to have a chance. That's also why everyone speaks English relatively well.

Interesting experience in France. Mine is just the opposite.

For many years I have gone to France regularly and speak French when I am there.

Recently I went to the south-east of France. Suddenly when people hear a foreign accent they turn to speaking English - immediately, without asking permission, without even asking if you understand English.

I was listening to a French radio broadcast about being helpful to tourists in Paris. The message went along the following lines: "You will find that tourists want to speak English. Be friendly and speak English with them."

Speaking English = Friendly, Speaking any other language = Unfriendly? As someone who values linguistic diversity I am concerned about this development.

eddyh:Speaking English = Friendly, Speaking any other language = Unfriendly? As someone who values linguistic diversity I am concerned about this development.

I think they assume that English = the language of tourism, and that the alternate language to English is French. Considering that the stereotype is that the French insist on speaking French to you even if they speak English and even if you don't speak French, I think they are trying to break the stereotype by encouraging the French to use their foreign language skills with the tourists. It's polite, after all. If I encountered a foreign tourist on the street of my city, and if they spoke a language I spoke, I would certainly try to be welcoming by giving directions or information in their language.

I don't know. It's a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation for many Europeans now. If they keep on speaking the local language, they're not trying hard enough and being insular; if they switch to the common 'solution' of using English, they're scuppering your chances of learning the lingo.

Tial ni bezonas Esperanton! (or is that Jen kial..?)

Velkro:For your information, here is a link to an article about learning a second language in Australia. It was published in a national magazine for teachers; i.e. distributed directly to schools rather than to newsagencies. The article didn't mention Esperanto, or Duolingo for that matter. Many of us here will already know a lot of the topics that the article addresses. In tone, it's more 'oughta' than 'gonna'. I put my reply in the comments, which you can read.

Another article is that of James Redfield: “The Politics of Language Instruction”.