Hi Mot:
that's right, you would not see much Spanish at all in the US other than in media that cater specifically to the Spanish-speaking, and a few commercial outfits that want their business. There are of course the international owner's manuals in 72 languages. (Of course, in some parts of the country you would not see any English at all, just Spanish, and we are told that there are now parts of cities where you don't need to know English at all any more, but don't get me started on that....) And it is true that very few non-hispanic US folks would speak or understand Spanish.
The reason I thought that English is not that widespread (at least outside of academic or technical disciplines) in Japan, besides reading about it, is that I talked to several people who had visited Japan and who told me that they basically were unable to communicate in English with the average person on the street. I have also talked (or not) to Japanese visitors who, although very well educated and high-ranking in technical fields did not speak much at all English. Uniformly very nice and friendly folks though and really interesting culture. I'd love to spend some time in Japan.
I guess I'm not complaining that English is the dominant language these days, though...
sorry about the OT...
Eric
