[Roderick Usher]

All right, I'll try not to rant here, but something has building inside me and I feel I must discuss the topic with others or I'll go nuts.

I've done some traveling...not a ton, mind you, but enough to find myself visiting countries in which I do not speak the native language. As an English speaking American it has never been too hard to get by, as inevitably (even in the smallest town) someone who speaks English is rarely more than a stone's throw away.

But come to America speaking anything other than English and you're screwed. Sure you can get by in the heart of some major cities, but even there it will be difficult. So few Americans speak a foreign language...and I don't mean those who "took some Spanish or French in High School", I'm talking about being able to converse.

It seems this is part of an inborn American Xenophobia (and it isn't reserved to America - there are other countries out there - primarily English Speaking countries that fall into this same trap) that makes us such mad citizens of the world. When I ask people if they speak a foreign language, they so often reply "Why? Everyone speaks English." This really bugs me. Thinking that our nation - which has its faults, sure...but this country that I love is so full of people who simply do not care about opening a line of communication with anyone who doesn't speak their language - as if anything not in English is somehow less important.

I, myself am trying to do something about it. I can get by with my Spanish and have done so in Mexico repeatedly. Living in Los Angeles, I use it almost daily with shopkeepers and the like. I've picked up a tiny bit of Japanese, Cantonese & French, but only enough to get myself in over my head in conversation.

I am going to immerse myself in a foreign language and I challenge all of you out there to do the same.

I know there are a few on this site for whom English is not their first language, and I find that really cool. How many of us English speakers would post, let alone become members, on a discussion board in another language? You guys fucking rule!

Now I have a question...which language should I go for? My Spanish is O.K. and getting better all the time, so I want to add a third to the mix.

I'm torn between...

French - I want to be able to address people in Cannes without looking like the Ugly American...and it's big in Africa and the Carribean

Italian - I have a film in preproduction in Italy and would love to be able to chat with Dario Argento

Which one?

And any of you fluent in a second language, let me hear about it. Nothing would make me happier to find that I am simply mistaken in my observation.