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@sim True, but small nations with long histories are likely to have border areas where many people speak both their home nation's language and the neighboring nation's language.
I think the stereotype that English speakers won't learn other languages comes from the fact that most English-speaking nations are large areas without a lot of interaction with foreign language speakers. (Or in UK's case, the nation is a group of islands.)
Also, thanks to English being the (primary) language of business and the Internet, people all over the world are learning the language anyway.
I still want to learn some foreign languages and try to teach at least one of my grandkids as well.
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@simsa03 @xj9 @sim
Yes, the part about losing proficiency without immersion matches my experience. I lived in (West) #Germany during part of my childhood. The military housing area was right across the street from a local housing area, so kids intermingled on the playground. Then I moved back to the US, and within a few years struggled to express anything more than "Wie gehts?"
Living in #SoCal, we had some Spanish language influence. Many of my friends had cousins that would visit from #Mexico, #Ecuador, #Peru, #Venzuela. We'd spend the Summers hanging out and speaking "Spanglish" together, then the rest of the year, that would slowly fade.
And that was at school age. I imagine it will be more difficult now that I'm a few decades older.