Immigrant lived in London for 13 years without learning English.?

Question

A Daily Mail like headline I know.

George I, King of England from 1714 to 1727, was a German prince who succeeded to the throne at the age of 54. He could neither write nor speak the English language.

Living in England for 13 years and never even bother to learn English.

So I wonder what will be made of this, was he a lazy immigrant who never bothered to Integrate?

Answer 1

There are MANY Brits abroad - in Spain, Greece, etc etc that have been there longer than 13yrs and do not speak a word of the lingo of their adopted country!

Answer 2

Ha! This is great.

Answer 3

Not many people at court spoke English either in those days, French or Latin were preferred, no-wonder they didn't understand their subjects!

Answer 4

If this is true, presumably the Court could have afforded to hire interpreters for him?

Answer 5

Brits are very lazy about learning a foreign language.They seem to think if the shout they will be understood by everyone. Yes I am a Brit living in Bulgaria for the last 3 years and still can only say about 5 or 6 words. My wife speaks perfect English which makes me lazy and Bulgarian is  very difficult to learn, even the alphabet is different and unless you have a converter I cannot type the letters on a normal keyboard. Age is also a handicap. Children seem able to pick up a language far quicker than an adult.

Answer 6

Many Brits who have lived in the UK all their lives haven't bothered to learn their own language properly, or so it would seem when you see the way people write on here.

I know many foreigners who speak better English than the British.