Tonchi - I completely agree. My sister was a foreign exchange student in Germany during her senior year of high school. When she came back, she could not only speak German, but she could recognize the different regional dialects. After being back home for a couple of years she couldn't speak it at all!
As far as the other countries knowing other languages, it's true - they HAVE to learn it in school. The big advantage they have is that they start kids on foreign languages when they are very young.
I swear, most non-Americans know more about American history & language than we do. Scary stuff.....
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