I was trundling through the park earlier, when I happened to pass two guys on a bench speaking French. I had no reason to interrupt them of course, but I reflected to myself that, while it is wonderful to live in such a multilingual city, I could probably assume that they spoke English perfectly well. I’m afraid to say that I then caught myself observing that most French people can these days, even if they still live in France. It was just a casual observation to myself, but something about it struck me.

I suspect my French friends and relatives would be quite disgruntled at this speculation, but is there any actual leverage in it? Has the English language become so dominant that we can reasonably assume that most of our neighbours use it? Obviously, this will have a lot to do with the ubiquity of American culture; but knowing how proud French people are of their language and culture, this trend really must vex them. I have written before about how English now seems to now be the default tongue.

Has English really become that ubiquitous, or am I just being an arrogant, ignorant Londoner? The question is obviously moot as I’ll never know what languages those guys knew, but I was struck to find myself making the assumption I did. After all, if you bumped into two guys speaking English in a Paris park, they wouldn’t necessarily know a word of French. I was just struck by the reflection I found myself making, although to be honest I really suspect there is a lot of truth to it.