I speak and read Chinese (since I'm chinese american), thank you
very much. And I took 3 years of French in high school, what a
waste of time. Like I said, France is a 2nd rate power, speaking a
2nd rate language.
Speaking and reading is not enough. One must understand. Read my
post again and try to understand.
Hints:
1."Hehehe" (the author must be joking)
2."write lyrics for Eminem" (the author thinks you can't be that
small minded and you must be trying to stir up controversy)
I changed my mind since.
You are right in saying what a waste of time. Obviously you can't
teach someone something beyond his grasp.
Let's go on, since I'm sure you enjoy "reading it" if nothing else.
Obviously, nobody in his right mind would c*ap on a people's head
if they don't like the smell of their own sh*t)
What do you think of your "first rate language nation's" taste in
architecture. Personnaly, I'd much rather walk in Paris than most
cities in USA. China is also well known to have a problem with
preserving beauty.
Did you at anypoint learn about the history of languages? Or even
basic history? You would know that english used to be the language
of the peasant and uneducated. (today, it has become the world's
intercultural language because of it's simplicty as well as the
fact that the geographical situation of the usa prevented them from
being destroyed during the two world wars. I would think that
there isn't much to be proud to become the world first superpower
when all other powers have been ruined by the war. (The allies in
europe certainly needed a bit of help, after so many months of
fighting, but america didn't face the germans all by itself back
when germany was at the apex of its power. They might have been
crushed (and saved by the french).
I could spend three years talking to you about how the bretton
woods accords were designed to make sure USA would not lose the
financial advantages recently acquired by chance. One of the
instruments being the creation of the IMF (with its unacceptable
balance of decision powers that should have changed as the european
economies recovered.) Or I could speak of all the ferocities of
both usa and great britain (the country who made "first rate" acts
in a war with china that had to do with opium... remember? But I'm
sure it would be a waste of time, as you say so elegantly.
Anyway, back to the french language:
Only a first rate mind could master a complex and beautiful
language like french. A language who had evolved with the sharp
minds of the sophisticated people who used it. That's why plenty of
the best works of litterature have been written in french by french
people and many foreign litterature had significant passages
written in french wich was the reference language of educated
people. (Read Tolstoi in the original when you have time) Numerous
french chef-d'oeuvres have been translated to english, but they
lost a significant part of their beauty in the translation (the
color gamut of english is smaller than french).
Summary (so that you don't lose all of your time reading this)
In this essay you learned that one should not judge what he doesn't
know and that infringment of this common sense rule exposes him to
insulting those he didn't mean to insult. (you probably meant the
french people, but by targeting the french language, you crapped on
the belgians, the canadians, millions of americans, the swisses and
many north african countries)
You also should have deducted that to some people, a tropical
forest is more first rate than the bulldozer that seeks its
destruction in order to feel more powerfull $$$, more acceptable to
himself $$$, despite it's low self-esteem.
You were remembered a painful part of the chinese history inflicted
on it by the very people you implicitly praise, so that you can be
warned against the psychological effects that can develop on the
vanquised people's children (you).
So, we were speaking about Chasseur d'images, right? Let's get
back to business if you will
TangoMan
Hum...
Am I the only one thinking he deserved it?
).