Well, as a scotsman who has lived in italy for 20 years, I have to say that I've always been impressed with other people's grasp of English. I speak italian fluently and french fairly badly, so I know what's involved in learning other languages. But it don't think it's fair to say that 'the U.S. position in global markets tends to drive the need for business use of English'. IMO, use of english is driven by the simple fact that it's the most widely used language on the internet. This is partially to do with the US, but America is only one of many countries where english is the first language. Any kid growing up now in italy or wherever, already knows some english just from surfing. So, at school, they concentrate on english because how useful it will be to them. mac PS I wasn't going to say it, but..... oh well..... "Americans speak English???" LOL j/k