Reflection on English and Cartoons

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This entry is a reflective one about the prevalence of English in Europe these days. Our trip began in the Netherlands where essentially everyone speaks English. As one older Dutch gentleman said to Lenora when she complemented him on his English - "well we have no choice". I recall saying to Lenora that we were spoiled by being in the Netherlands first and that once we arrived in Hungary and Croatia it would be a different story. Well, I was wrong. I teach a course at UNB called Bilingualism and Education and do a module on English as a global language. We read and discuss how English has essentially become the communication tool for speakers of different languages with respect to various countries including China. Nonetheless, I was really taken aback by how many people in hungary and Croatia spoke English and spoke it well. I believe there were only two occasions when we spoke to someone who could not speak English during our whole trip there. I remember in particular in Zagreb complimenting a young bartender on his English and asking him where he learned it. his reply? the Cartoon Network (... and school) - but clearly the Cartoon Network came first. People in the Netherlands talked about having English TV programming subtitled in Dutch and learning a lot of English that way. It seems like there is a lot of incidental learning out of school that is contributing to the spread of English in different countries - although some people did mention that they had good teachers.

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