Seanus: Knowing the British, really? I don't think paranoia is high on the list of national traits there.
Well, living in Shropshire, near the Welsh border, it was something I heard a few times when people dared speak Welsh in England, also heard it about Pakistanis, Indians etc. When I was studying in Belfast one colleague was teaching Protestants Irish. I areas like the Shankill it might have been surprising, but one of the reasons students gave was that they wanted to know if the Irish speakers were talking about them.
Polonius3: Is it true Brits have a harder time of it learning a foreign language than say Germans or French? How widely and well are foreign languages taught in British schools?
French, German and Spanish are widely taught but often don't start until secondary school (11 years old). I think another thing is that in Britain, at least until recently, it wasn't common to hear European languages being spoken on the street (at least in smaller towns etc). I lived in the Midlands in a new town and only met French people once in 20 years, so I didn't get to practice my French much. Likewise, 'foreign films' were usually on late at night because they were considered for arty types. Older generations are often a bit suspicious of subtitles. So you didn't even hear foreign languages much on TV until recently. My wife is amazed that I have hardly any knowledge of the French films she grew up watching in Poland, and have hardly any knowledge of European actors.
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