on the article published in "The Observer"

In response to AgataL's post, I've decided to share my views on the matter.

To be honest, I'm not surprised by the fact that English teenagers are refusing to learn foreign languages. I think that they are very much aware that English is today's lingua franca, which makes them convinced that they can communicate with people all over the world using their own native language and still be understood. Even I chose to learn English because of its universality – the truth is that all of my foreign friends (Swedish, Turkish, Spanish, and German) know English and this is the language that made us able to communicate and develop our relationships.

However, if someone’s 1^st language isn’t English, one is somehow condemned to learn foreign languages – how else could we communicate with the rest of the world? I can’t imagine knowing Polish only – I feel really sorry for my friends who don’t know any foreign languages – I have no idea how they function in the internet, which is DOMINATED by English. In my opinion, they miss a lot. Let’s take for example shopping – eBay is the best internet market place I’ve ever seen and although it has its Polish version, it’s still poor and doesn’t translate key words while searching, which makes access to international transactions nearly impossible for those who don't know other languages.