Sorry for my English

In the following Podcasts, I am really sorry for my terrible english…

A little anectdote on this subject

I was at a conference in Cambridge (UK) some time ago.

The organizer of the conference, invited us one evening in his apartment at the university, to drink a whisky. There were 2 Americans, 2 English and 2 French including me. The conversation was about languages.

We (the French) complain bitterly about the difficulty for us to use another language than our mother tongue. Arrogant as always, we say that it is very difficult for us to demonstrate the infinite subtlety of our thinking in English.

The 2 Americans, conciliatory but condescending as always, tell us that it is not the case and that our English is very good…

After having let us spend a long time in these arguments, my English friend, phlegmatic but ruthless as always, turns to me and says: “Pierre, you don’t know how lucky you are, nearly 200 million people speak your language in the world. As for me, there are only 20,000 people in Cambridge and 15,000 in Oxford who still speak mine.”