A bit strange, Peter Bi, to join the discussion about EP & foreign languges with
a smart "who cares?". No?
Admitted: a German looks at these things from a SLIGHTLY different angle, i.e.
while the majority of Americans still seems to think that the wide world speaks
English anyway & that the US is the center of everything anyway [which, in a
very personal sense, keeps being true for me, and I like this thought, having
grown up in a distinctly pro-American early post-war West-Berlin], we here in
Europe usually are brought up with a healthy sense for what world citizenship
really means & that the 1st step towards multi-cultural & international
understanding is learning languages. I. e. McDonald's & Coke is NOT world
citizenship. I cdn't say that having learned other languages than just my native
one did me any harm. Through Pound I came to study Chinese history, culture, &
language at the university. Through Pound I came to look into Italian and
Provencal languages more closely. And re-activated my "school French". Etc etc.
There cd be found LOADS of Pound quotes which preach the necessity of learning
foreign languages. Pound, thus wd be the last to say "who cares". He was the one
who incessantly declared war on ignorance.
I'm very sorry, Peter Bi. But yr "who cares" in this context - EP, languages &c
- is pure cynicism. An inexcusable misinterpretation of Poundian thinking.
Pound wd have found other words for this, and far less polite ones.
 
alex