Social Studies and Foreign Languages

I’m stuck between laughing about this or worrying about the state of public education. Probably more the latter, but anytime Brett Thorson gets a chance to speak, you know it’s possibly tongue in cheek humor.

I’m glad Mad Max is available in subtitles, right?

16 thoughts on “Social Studies and Foreign Languages

  1. As someone who has hosted several foreign exchange students over the years, this is all too true.

    Some of our “favorites:”

    (to a Danish student): Are you going to miss the Internet when you go home?
    (to a Spanish student): Do you have cars in Spain? (her response was, “No, we ride bulls.”). Also she was asked multiple times if she spoke Spanish….as a Spaniard.
    (to a Norwegian student): Isn’t Norway a city in Italy?

    • Oh, this hurts to read. Makes me feel better as a parent. I believe my kids know better.

  2. To be fair, what language is it they speak in Australia? And isn’t Australia part of the Swiss Alps or am I confusing that with Amsterdam?

  3. the only foreign country that should have any justified confusion is my beloved 2nd country of Belgium… it has 3 official languages(4 if you count english) and 4 distinct regions… and it made history when the federal gubment didn’t operate for almost 2 yrs… and we managed just fine… but the one dept that didn’t have any hiccups was the tax collection dept!
    maybe this is why we have the world’s best chocolate and over 400+ varieties of the best beer, bier, la bière, or das bier, on planet earth!

  4. My Dad was in England during WW2.
    He told me he couldn’t understand a damn word those Limeys said.

    I have a friend from South Africa..I (speak rural Georgian) and I accused him of butchering the Queen’s English. Hoo boy! He became “indignant” (his word).

    If I could ask Thorson one question about Australia, I would ask him what keeps people down under from falling off the Earth?

  5. The great PT Barnum said: “No one ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American public.” Man, he nailed that one.

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