No need to be sorry :p
I think you misunderstood me - your comment regarding how your skills had not been an asset to you, was based on your experience in Europe, where you said companies are paying lip service to foreign langauges being an asset (which I happened to agree with you). OTOH, Udhay's comment where he's found foreign languages to be an asset, was based upon his experience working for companies which, in order to secure business in the West, required them to speak the languages of the customers.
> The economic rise of Japan, China and India put paid to those assumptions.
I'm not sure if they do. If money is all there is to it - one can make a lot of money on tips from fetching scotch & soda... but that doesn't make you one of 'them'.
Cases like Mittal Steel's bid for Arcelor, CNOOC's bid for Unocal, Hutchison's bid for Global Crossing and the trouble it went through over bidding for the contract to manage the Panama canal, strongly suggest that this free trade business is very one-sided (and let's not going into textile, and what Japan had to go through many years ago in semiconductors) - it's ok as long as you're buying ouput from or making things for the west, but anything more...?
As an EU passport holder you've probably not been treated like a criminal when trying to get into the EU/US, but then, that's a different topic all together.
Frank Pohlmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I do believe we're looking at this from 2 different
> perspectives here - Udhay, you're looking at from
> the outside (the wanna-haves), so in order to get
> in, you must speak their language, while Frank is
> one of the insiders - the "haves and wanna keep"
> side, so a foreign language is only important if
> it's one of the 'pukka' ones (i.e. Western
> European).
No. Further back, I pointed out that I am not one of
the insiders and I quite clearly stated that I am
completely and uttely against the rule that European
languages (meaning English, English and English) are
not the only ones supposed to be spoken in commercial
contexts. Sorry, but I was arguing exactly the
opposite.
> be fetching scotch and soda for the sahibs, now
> you're answering their customer calls... then, you
> were forced to buy cotton from Lancashire or face
> the gunboats, now they're trying to force open your
> financial, telecom etc markets in the name of free
> trade.
The economic rise of Japan, China and India put paid
to those assumptions.
This is what I argued about. Incidentally, I dont
think there is much of a Western conquest going on. I
think that is precisely what most people in Europe
(and I was talking about Europe) deceive themselves
about.
-Frank
___________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
Yahoo! Autos. Looking for a sweet ride? Get pricing, reviews, & more on new and used cars.
