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> As Curtis says English is a very strange language (bad enough for us who are
> brought up with it!) and to me it highlights a couple of points.
When translating from English (applies to all languages), the translator should
always (well at least ideally!) be a native language speaker with English as the
second language. The target language is the most important.
There also seems to be a certain superiority (not sure if this is the right word
or not) associated with native English speakers (a bit sweeping I know but in
general...) and an assumption that foreigners should speak their language. Here
in Europe, a lot of non-UK residents speak at least 2 languages, often more. In
the UK you're lucky if you get schoolboy French/German. I can't talk about the
US but I get the impression that it's a similar story.
If abroad and you make the effort to communicate in French etc it's generally
appreciated that you've made an effort, no matter how bad it may be. When it's
the other way round we tend to smile at the attempt, possibly because we've
never tried French etc and so don't appreciate how difficult it is.
Having said that, I've spoken to several 'foreigners' over the years who's
English would put to shame many to whom it is the native tongue.
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