A common languageIn developing her theme on why Americans can't afford to lose their common language, Peggy Noonan lost me with this phrase:
- "She's one of a small army of advertisement giver-outers in New York."
- "Europe is lucky: All those different cultures and languages are bundled up all close to each other and next to each other. They learn each other's languages with ease."
I personally think it is great to learn several languages-- the children in Haiti learn four, not that it has stopped endemic corruption or built a decent infrastructure. But which languages should they be? Do our illegal immigrants speak decent, educated Spanish, let alone understandable English? Yes, a common language would be great. Starting with our best known writers.