GM to cut virtually all Saab's ties to Sweden

I'm sure that learning a language early is much better. I didn't get any foreign language instruction until I was at least 13, and I can't say that I ever got very good at it. Luckily, auto repair seems to be a skill learnable at all ages :)

John

Pooh Bear wrote: > I was lucky to have a part private education - starting learning French ( for a > total of 8 yrs ) at age 8. I forget when I started Latin ( silly language but it > was a popular requirement for Oxford and Cambridge University entry ) but it was > around the same time. I spent 2 yrs learning German too from 14-16.

Wonderful for you.

Texas, often seen as a state of rednecks and hicks, requires foreign language studies in high school. Also, nearly all of our state Universities also require it to earn any degree. Our school teachers are required to study it in college to earn their teaching certificate. Of course, anyone who has undertaken the study of a foreign language knows that you either use it or lose it, so I doubt the Scandanavian languages would do much good here in the states, although I did actually have a couple of fairly close Norwegian friends in college.

There are plenty of *more than decent* Americans who do take a legitimate and informed interest in foreign affairs, and still agree that the Iraqi leadership needed to be bitch-slapped, and that if the Muslim people are not willing to do what is necessary to engage in long term efforts to lead their people to a rational and peaceful state of existence, then it is up to the more competent people in this world to get the ball rolling.

If you want the podium, then please inform us of your alternative solutions to the world's problems. With your premium education, you should offer more than just blanket criticism.

including your

oblivious or

And this has what, exactly, to do with Saab cars?

Vincente Fox, or some other Fox?

hog the limelight.

foreign language ?

Of course. Why would you _assume_ otherwise?

You know, it's funny - I don't see a lot of American's bashing _your_ political system, even though it couldn't be called anywhere close to intelligent. Why is it that you feel the need to bash ours? (That's a rhetorical question and I don't really expect you to have an actual answer)

Yes, it was. But I'm used to seeing them from you, so it's amusing that you'd point out when others use that tactic.

Speaking of silly frivolous comments, that's one right there. Just so you know.

Of course. You have some odd "guy running for re-election gets to decide when the election is held" process, apparently? That's really odd. So the guy watches the polls, does something popular, and calls for an election? That's an _interesting_ way to do it.

Who is this "we" which you are speaking for?

What does this have to do with cars? You seem to be obsessed about this.

GM is a global company. And Saab hasn't been SAAB since they merged with Scania. Learn the company history before spouting off about that which you don't understand. Of course, not building Saab cars in Sweden would be an idiotic move on GM's part. Why do you feel the need to then blame an entire country and culture for some dumbass corporation's move?

How could it be politics? We don't vote for GM's leadership, Graham. Did you know that? Oh, and did you know there's a GM in UK as well?

Ya think?

I think you are confused about cause and effect relationships. But that seems to be typical these days.

The people in this world who have a problem with the war on terrorism need to inform the world of their proper, righteous, dignified, diplomatic and peaceful solution to the probem. Because it *is* a complex problem. There are practical approaches, and then there's just intellectual and ideological pontification. We live in a

None of which were done without congressional approval. So, if you're a US'n Democrat, your boys share any blame to be assigned. I could provide the quotes if this was anywhere vaguely on-topic for a group _about cars_, but it's not. Graham's rants have gotten beyond old, and oddly enough, I can't recall him posting anything of content recently.

And then you started talking about Bush and Rice and other stuff that had nothing to do with GM. Remember?

The part about GM was fine. The part about US foreign policy, etc. was off-topic and annoying. There are plenty of confused, arrogant, whatever Americans, but I haven't seen a lot of them in this newsgroup. Those of us who are respectful to others would appreciate the same courtesy from you. I don't think that's too much to ask.

One of the great things about usenet is the large number of different discussion groups. These "newsgroups" are generally named according to the topic of discussion. For example, alt.autos.* groups are for discussion of cars, alt.metaphysics.* groups are for discussion of metaphysics, and alt.politics.* groups are for discussion of politics.

There is obviously some confusion about this point, and I hope that this explanation helps to make things clear.

John

Thanks John, and I apologize for allowing myself to get sucked into this off-topic discussion.

Yeah, apparently I kicked off this cycle by mentionhing Pooh's tendancies. I'll avoid that in the future.

Brother Graham, while I feel strongly that everyone is entitled to an opinion on pretty much anything - I'm afraid I have to agree with Brother John. It was a legit original question as a matter of interest that I'm afraid is trending into the sort of thread I try to escape by subscribing here. It seems to happen more often than not these days and nothing to be ashamed of I suppose.

My take? If there are any ignorance as regards nationalities - it is the starting point that any given nationality is better or worse than another because of nationality.

Here in Canada, we are all supposed to be bilingual. However, the truth is that being or not being functionally bilingual is often used to define your opportunities as a citizen. This has led in many ways to an artificial stratification in society where people can be mediocre at their given career - but can be more successful than their peers based solely on their ability to use a second language (in our case - French). This has led to many very otherwise bright people leaving our Country for places where things are perceived to be more purely merit focused.

Is this a problem based on Nationality? No.

Is it a problem based on ignorance as to perceived National characteristics? Most certainly.

Personally - I'm trilingual.

I'm fluent in Actionscript, Perl and have just enough Java to model a decent bottle of wine if the wait staff is patient. I've often thought about taking up a little C - but never had the opportunity to practice it with chums.

.. :) ..

That's not bad after only two years of German in a UK school, or it must have been a really intensive course.... Usually it takes -a lot- longer to be so fluent as to be mistaken for a 'native'. With most non native speakers you can tell their origin after two sentences, sometimes one.

-- MH '72 97 '77 96 '78 95 '79 96 '91 900i 16

Views based on arrogance and ignorance.

-- MH '72 97 '77 96 '78 95 '79 96 '91 900i 16

Show me a *rant* !

You do realise that I'm relatively 'pro-American' in the European ( and rotw ) context.

Trouble is that you guys are effing up so badly that most ppl really loathe you.

Sorry, Grahaam

Scania is also Swedish !

Graham

All those who wish to be placed into Graham's 'most ppl' category please stand up.

Actually he did something *unpopular* ( supporting the Iraq war ) and his majority in Parliament was slashed !

Seems that one went over your head or wasn't reported in the US. Kinda proves my point actually !

It's about the US view of the world and how they treat their operations abroad - if you hadn't figured that out !

I bet GM *hate* the fact that they have to pay Swedish wages to get Saabs and are acting accordingly ! They may not have yet figured that it's Swedes that make the brand interesting !

Just don't expect Saabs to have the same DNA / blood line in future though. It'll just become another boring corporate branding exercise.

I'm going to stick with a 9000 for now.

Graham

in article snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com, Pooh Bear at snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote on 26/05/2005 18:31:

Hahaha! Sorry, that's really funny. ROFL :)

Aw heck, I've been trying to keep out of this one, since I fear my proclivities too have been much misunderstood.

In international company, that can only mean I have not been explaining myself too well ...

Paul