Google's 200 new jobs ...

ahal

Hi all,

Am I alone in finding a strange irony in this statement, given that we have nearly half a million people on the dole?

"John Herlihy, Google's vice president of global ad operations, said the office had acted as a magnet for talented employees from across Europe."

Sounds to me a bit like "we're getting what we want, screw the Irish" on the face of it.

Then again, we don't want the jobs ... is that still the matra?

GSF

What about 200 Google employees based in Dublin earning lets say £50k each or £10m a year. Would you rather they paid tax and spent their salaries somewhere else?

ahal

GSF wrote: »

What about 200 Google employees based in Dublin earning lets say £50k each or £10m a year. Would you rather they paid tax and spent their salaries somewhere else?

That depends on whether you want an economy or a society I suppose.

GSF

ahal wrote: »

That depends on whether you want an economy or a society I suppose.

I dont see how it is an either/or choice as regards Google creating jobs?

ei.sdraob

Only if more Irish people bothered to learn a second (major) European language (and maybe not waste so much time barking up the Gaeilge tree)

More people would find themselves alot more employable... here and in Europe

(fluent in 2.5 european languages here )

ahal

GSF wrote: »

I dont see how it is an either/or choice as regards Google creating jobs?

There's quite a difference. It has to do with Irish people getting jobs. In short my point is that revenue raised through making Ireland a giant railway station for foreign labour - as is being openly applauded it seems in that statment - isn't much use to Irish people trying to get a job, especially when a large chunk of our workforce are on the dole.

ahal

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Only if more Irish people bothered to learn a second (major) European language (and maybe not waste so much time barking up the Gaeilge tree)

More people would find themselves alot more employable... here and in Europe

(fluent in 2.5 european languages here )

That's a reasonable point. For some reason the Irish education system has traditionally weighed in favour of French for some reason.

On the flip side, CPL are offering help with relocation for underpaid jobs in HP 'Dutch speaking support'. I'm sure there are unemployed Dutch people living in Ireland as it is?

ei.sdraob

ahal wrote: »

There's quite a difference. It has to do with Irish people getting jobs. In short my point is that revenue raised through making Ireland a giant railway station for foreign labour - as is being openly applauded it seems in that statment - isn't much use to Irish people trying to get a job.

Ireland is an open economy (and yes this works both ways)

Either bite your nationalist lip and realise that we on average have economically richer lifes than most of the world due in part to being so open

Or close the borders and build a big wall

instead of moaning about the way modern world operates, take advantage of it

Sleepy

200 new jobs are a bad thing?

Is it because they're not unionised?
Because despite the fact that Google work their staff hard they treat them well and pay them what they're worth instead of paying them all at the same (OTT?) rate regardless of their contribution to the organisations success?
Because you (mistakenly) believe that our low corporate tax rate is harmful to the country?

Maybe you should see the real lesson here: some elements of the private sector (albeit FDI) are still managing to grow and create jobs in spite of the governments failure to do anything to assist it while expecting that sector's workers to pay for it's mismanagement of the public sector. Not all private companies are in as fortunate a position as Google though, most of them are still shedding staff under the excessive pressures being placed upon them by an inept government.

ex6

Well even if Google creates 200 new jobs and imports 199 guys here from other EU countries, it is still good for Ireland.

1) the 199 people have to live somewhere (they are going to be renting rooms and appartments) - so 199 Irish property owner gets some money out of every new Google employee.

2) They all get paid here and pay their taxes in Ireland.

3) They use all kind of local services, starting from buyig food, commuting, and ending with (ir)regular expenses on entertainment and beer.

Trust me, I know what I am talking about. I am also this kind of "imported" specialist, working in one other big international company here in Dublin. My job is language/location specific, so I am not taking job away from any Irish guy or gal.

Roro4Brit

This thread is bloody ridiculous. OP you're an idiot. Google's ad operations is going to be targeting countries, agencies and customers in a whole host of European and Asian counties. Why on earth would or could they hire mainly Irish employees? Honestly, how many Irish people do you know that have marketing experience and speak fluent German, French, Russian etc...yeah I'm guessing you can count them on one hand.

fontanalis

ahal wrote: »

That depends on whether you want an economy or a society I suppose.

Whaaaaaaaat!

ahal

Roro4Brit wrote: »

Why on earth would or could they hire mainly Irish employees?

Eh, this is Ireland.

Personal remark reported

PS: the feeling is mutual

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Mervin J Minky

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Only if more Irish people bothered to learn a second (major) European language (and maybe not waste so much time barking up the Gaeilge tree)

More people would find themselves alot more employable... here and in Europe

(fluent in 2.5 european languages here )

That is not really fair. I am Lithuanian and I speak four languages fluently; Lithuanian (obviously), Latvian (because it is very closely related to my native language), Russian & English (because they were spoken & encouraged in school). I have leant these languages from an early age and I seriously doubt I could pick up another language at 29 years of age and especially become fluent so I could become employable, especially to interact with native speakers, as it would take years to gain that level of fluency.

ahal

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Ireland is an open economy (and yes this works both ways)

Exactly

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Either bite your nationalist lip

Sorry, I forgot that's a bad thing. What country do you come from? Most non - Irish are nationalists in their own countries you know.

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Or close the borders and build a big wall

In fairness, I think that's a bit silly.

ei.sdraob wrote: »

instead of moaning about the way modern world operates, take advantage of it

Yeah, I remember someone calling me a whinger when I said boo about Dell in 2005. Oh, where are they now?

Roro4Brit

ahal wrote: »

Eh, this is Ireland.

Personal remark reported

PS: the feeling is mutual

I apologise now for remark, I did in fact mean that the sentiment you expressed was idiotic rather than a personal attack.

Seriously, this is a very I'll informed opinion. The jobs will require fluency in multiple languages, a knowledge of certain markets and ther structures etc and the best applicant s for these jobs nearly always come from the counties they will be working in. That's a fact. Saying that only Irish people should be considered is pants, and google wouldn't be where they are now if they did have that mentality.

ahal

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

That was a tounge in cheek remark, and not meant in a literal sense. We had an "economy" and look where it got us being the suggestion. Yes, there are a million and one different strands to that arguement but you get the gist ...

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Mervin J Minky

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I think you got my post all wrong. I know all about the Irish education system but I was answering the poster who wrote "why don't Irish people learn another European language" because I understand that it is extremely hard for native English speakers to suddenly try to learn a foreign language if they haven't learnt it from a young age.

I was only using myself as an example that I have learnt 4 languages from a very early age and 29 years later I can honestly say I am 99% fluent in them. 5 years ago it would have been a totally different story BUT I still had very advanced English and that made all the difference.

BehindTheScenes

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Only if more Irish people bothered to learn a second (major) European language (and maybe not waste so much time barking up the Gaeilge tree)

More people would find themselves alot more employable... here and in Europe

(fluent in 2.5 european languages here )

I don't even think Irish has anything to do with it. I think the island nation mentality pervades. On top of not being bothered to learn our own language why would most bother with another when English is spoken by so many around the world.

You are right though about the employment prospects if you spoke a second language.

liammur

Mervin J Minky wrote: »

I think you got my post all wrong. I know all about the Irish education system but I was answering the poster who wrote "why don't Irish people learn another European language" because I understand that it is extremely hard for native English speakers to suddenly try to learn a foreign language if they haven't learnt it from a young age.

I was only using myself as an example that I have learnt 4 languages from a very early age and 29 years later I can honestly say I am 99% fluent in them. 5 years ago it would have been a totally different story BUT I still had very advanced English and that made all the difference.

A lot of Irish people can't even master the English language, (hence we are swamped with tabloids) let alone the challenge of a few European languages.

ahal

Roro4Brit wrote: »

I apologise now for remark, I did in fact mean that the sentiment you expressed was idiotic rather than a personal attack.

Nope, calling someone an idiot doesn't equate with disagreeing with what they say. I don't really care anyway.

Roro4Brit wrote: »

Seriously, this is a very I'll informed opinion.

In your opinion

Roro4Brit wrote: »

The jobs will require fluency in multiple languages, a knowledge of certain markets and ther structures etc and the best applicant s for these jobs nearly always come from the counties they will be working in.

Quite likely in some cases. However you as a matter of course recruit from the existing labour market, especially when nearly half a million people are out of work and the economy is in the dike. Google et al are not God, they should make all efforts to recruit from the existing labour market if they can, rather than looking for more recruits from abroad.

Roro4Brit wrote: »

Saying that only Irish people should be considered is pants

It is yes. If I used the term 'Irish' I meant those already in the labour market here.

Regarding open Europe, I consider myself Irish first and European second. True, Irish can go anywhere in Europe for work, though other than Germany and the U.K. I don't seem to notice too many vacancies in the I.T. sector.

Regarding our bunched economy, the problem goes back 30 years. The govt. sat on it's arse while all the FDI came in without building Irish companies on the back of it in any meaningful way. Fas should be out there right now offering training specifically targetted at the needs of companies, rather than offering $2.2 billion companies workers literally for free ( 'This is a work placement which does not offer a salary')

Regarding the languages, I tried to learn German in the 1990's. There was bugger all help from FAS, and I ended up getting grids from a UCD student which I paid for myself. I hung around the Goethe institute quite a bit too, but their courses were a bit out of my league financially. I got as far as intermediate level and got completely pee'd off.

Regarding the more general situation, Ireland is never going to compete on low wages at one end and 'Graduate placements' at the other. The powerhouse of any economy is sub - university, and we don't have the cost of living to go with competing in the low - wages stakes. There basically isn't a plan.

liammur

ahal wrote: »

Regarding our bunched economy, the problem goes back 30 years. The govt. sat on it's arse while all the FDI came in without building Irish companies on the back of it in any meaningful way. Fas should be out there right now offering training specifically targetted at the needs of companies, rather than offering $2.2 billion companies workers literally for free ( 'This is a work placement which does not offer a salary')

]/QUOTE]

Excellent point.

RichardAnd

Speaking from experience, I have found found Google to be an incredibly arrogant company to deal with with a very inflated view of themselves. Personally, I would rather work for a more mature company like Microsoft or SAP.

But that that being said, 200 jobs is still 200 jobs. The fact is, if a factory making AK-47s for middle east warlords wanted to set up in Cavan and create a few hundred job we are not in a position to complain. So despite my opinions of Google, this is a happy end to the day.

liammur

Correct.

We are sad when jobs are lost, so let's be happy when jobs are created.

ardmacha

These are relatively well paid jobs and so very welcome. But the positive effect of Google continuing to invest in Ireland could swing things for other potential investors and lead to 500 more.

Roro4Brit

Well OP perhaps you should express yourself more clearly. There a big difference between saying 'The Irish' and Ireland's labour force. your op's definitely don't show that you mean the Irish labour Market, it sounds like you mean those of Irish nationality.

ahal

Roro4Brit wrote: »

Well OP perhaps you should express yourself more clearly. There a big difference between saying 'The Irish' and Ireland's labour force. your op's definitely don't show that you mean the Irish labour Market, it sounds like you mean those of Irish nationality.

Fair enough, it was a mistake as opposed to back-tracking

ahal

ardmacha wrote: »

These are relatively well paid jobs and so very welcome. But the positive effect of Google continuing to invest in Ireland could swing things for other potential investors and lead to 500 more.

I agree to a point. These are what I call 'trophy jobs' though and for every one there's 20 more that aren't, and what's happening there interests me greatly. I have no idea what Google are like as an employer, but I have to say I saw a photo of an employee on a spacehopper on their recruitment website, which certainly made me think (and swallow my Tea the wrong way)

johnnyskeleton

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Only if more Irish people bothered to learn a second (major) European language (and maybe not waste so much time barking up the Gaeilge tree)

More people would find themselves alot more employable... here and in Europe

(fluent in 2.5 european languages here )

Sorry to cut across the thread, but is it grammatically possible to be half fluent?

Kinda like half expecting something.

ex6

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Sorry to cut across the thread, but is it grammatically possible to be half fluent?

Kinda like half expecting something.

Its just a "figure of speach" I would think... Perhaps s/he understands language fully, but writes with mistakes? Or perhaps s/he is fluent with the languake s/he knows at "street level", but would be in trouble with more technical / scientific / financial / medical / ... terms?

ei.sdraob

Mervin J Minky wrote: »

That is not really fair. I am Lithuanian and I speak four languages fluently; Lithuanian (obviously), Latvian (because it is very closely related to my native language), Russian & English (because they were spoken & encouraged in school). I have leant these languages from an early age and I seriously doubt I could pick up another language at 29 years of age and especially become fluent so I could become employable, especially to interact with native speakers, as it would take years to gain that level of fluency.

Hey I actually agree with you,

its very hard to pick up a language in school (especially with the crop of teachers we have) hence why i think spending dozen+ years learning Irish in school without it being widely spoken in society is waste of time

Best way is to be dropped in a country and get immersed in the culture, tv etc
Which is how I learned, i tried to learn German and French in school but no luck there

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Sorry to cut across the thread, but is it grammatically possible to be half fluent?

Kinda like half expecting something.

Well one of the languages i can speak perfectly and do regularly with family, but have hard time with the grammar when putting pen to paper despite doing that quite well at one time, simply a lack of practice and laziness
Its actually very easy to forget a language over time with no practice, I seen it happen with my parents

liammur

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Hey I actually agree with you,

its very hard to pick up a language in school (especially with the crop of teachers we have) hence why i think spending dozen+ years learning Irish in school without it being widely spoken in society is waste of time

Unfair to blame our teachers, certainly some of them are poor, but i wouldn't generalise.

ahal

ei.sdraob wrote: »

Best way is to be dropped in a country and get immersed in the culture, tv etc
Which is how I learned, i tried to learn German and French in school but no luck there

Quite true, and I'd have to wonder why all the 'twinning' of towns here never resulted in much more than junkets for politicians. For example Bray is twinned with Wurzburg, but bar sending a class of primary kids over now and then I don't see much in the way of languages exchange happening.

Imho learning a language from a book is totally unnatural. It's grand to a point, but only to a point: gets you the basics. The fact that I can write German much better than speak it is probably not a coincidence. I do remember back in the day that the Goethe Institute had courses in Germany, but they were in the thousands.

astrofool

Knowing Google and it's employees well, a lot of these jobs will likely go to Irish people. It's the fact that they can bring non-Irish into the country that these jobs exist at all (otherwise they'd be created somewhere else).

The original statement is indeed stupendously stupid.

It's getting harder and harder to find truly skilled people in Ireland (unless you want a house built).

Nijmegen

Yeash. "Jobs for the Irish or no jobs at all!" is a silly position.

1. We've done rather well out of the EU, mobility, etc, ourselves

2. Some of these jobs in this global company require skills - like languages - that not all Irish people have

3. For every job created in google there are jobs created elsewhere (remember when Dell pulled out and we got worried about the people cleaning the office, working in the grocery store, driving the truck to bring the goods to the grocery store... Etc). In short, any economic activity, tax and so forth is good for the country

I'm sorry OP, but the insular type of economics you seem to be thinking of died with Dev.

WalterMitty

liammur wrote: »

Unfair to blame our teachers, certainly some of them are poor, but i wouldn't generalise.

i know very few people who can speak Irish fluently or had good experiences with in school despite it being taught to everyone for their entire school life! That says a lot about the teachers in Ireland and the structure they are part of that stops Irish becoming more known.

ahal

astrofool wrote: »

The original statement is indeed stupendously stupid.

It's getting harder and harder to find truly skilled people in Ireland (unless you want a house built).

You're entitled to your opinion. Your arguement seems to run on anecdotal 'evidence' and Government soundbites.

Nijmegen wrote: »

Yeash. "Jobs for the Irish or no jobs at all!" is a silly position.

1. We've done rather well out of the EU, mobility, etc, ourselves

2. Some of these jobs in this global company require skills - like languages - that not all Irish people have

3. For every job created in google there are jobs created elsewhere (remember when Dell pulled out and we got worried about the people cleaning the office, working in the grocery store, driving the truck to bring the goods to the grocery store... Etc). In short, any economic activity, tax and so forth is good for the country

I'm sorry OP, but the insular type of economics you seem to be thinking of died with Dev.

Yet another person who hasn't read the OP. I was referring to sourcing within the existing overflow of labour in the market.

1/ The EU has done better out of us actually. What you call 'Mobility' isn't a "happy clappy" thing. Our SKILLED people go abroad while we bring skilled people from abroad, meanwhile accepting nearly 500,000 unemployed. Now that's silly!

2/ Utter rubbish. Are you telling me that out of 500,000 there's need for endless 'relocation' adverts for Dutch technical support? Not one Dutch person among that number? The I.T. sector is displacement by definition. Have you walked around inside any of these places lately? I have.

There's nothing insular about my arguement. Every other country in the World has a plan. It usually goes "look after the existing numbers (and I include foreign labour in that equation) first". We clearly don't. Sadly many can not see past the end of their nose while they're getting by - God knows, that is an Irish trait!

I'll come back to this thread in a few years, obviously the Dell syndrome is at work here - no long term view. Most of what I see is "I'm alright jack" and "don't rock the boat", no intelligent debate beyond throwaway remarks and truly rubbish anecdotal 'evidence' based around the year 2000. Ireland is currently a hub through which the World passes through, and until the "I'm alright Jack" folk are out on their ears it's lost on you.

No wonder the Government have such an easy ride.

danbohan

liammur wrote: »

Unfair to blame our teachers, certainly some of them are poor, but i wouldn't generalise.

well somebody is very much to blame , teachers , dept , govt, its nuts that in 2010 our kids are leaving school without been fluent in at least one european language and they should also have a language like chinese {mandarin , ?} as well .

RichardAnd

danbohan wrote: »

well somebody is very much to blame , teachers , dept , govt, its nuts that in 2010 our kids are leaving school without been fluent in at least one european language and they should also have a language like chinese {mandarin , ?} as well .

To be fair, the reason people in this country are so bad at languages is because there is no incentive to learn. We all got taught Irish for 12 years yet only a fraction of us learned to speak it. Is this the fault of the teachers? No, it's the fault of the students because they were given ample opportunity to learn another language yet they choose not to take it.

28064212

"John Herlihy, Google's vice president of global ad operations, said the office had acted as a magnet for talented employees from across Europe."

What exactly is the problem OP? Having the Google office here attracted talent. There's nothing there about Google actively recruiting outside Ireland. Google advertise a position, and anyone who's eligible to apply, can. They pick the best person for the job. What are you saying they should have done?

gurramok

astrofool wrote: »

Knowing Google and it's employees well, a lot of these jobs will likely go to Irish people. It's the fact that they can bring non-Irish into the country that these jobs exist at all (otherwise they'd be created somewhere else).

The original statement is indeed stupendously stupid.

It's getting harder and harder to find truly skilled people in Ireland (unless you want a house built).

This is an incredibly stupid post. I live near Google HQ on Barrow st, Dublin and the vast majority of its 1500 employees are non-Irish. Its stated this as fact if you bother Google the facts on their workforce here.

http://www.irishjobs.ie/ForumWW/WWIndividualArticle.aspx?ForumTypeID=2476

Google now has one of the most multilingual workforces of any employer in Ireland, with staff from 37 countries. Up to 70pc of its workers in Dublin are from overseas. The multilingual nature of the search engine means that many of the 500 new jobs are expected to be taken up by foreigners.

These jobs do nothing for denting that Irish unemployment rate except bringing in some income taxes. Its still not reducing the Live Register total. And yes, it takes years to learn a foreign language especially technically as Google requires so forget about training the 450,000 people out there seeking a job, it ain't gonna happen.

ardmacha

These jobs do nothing for denting that Irish unemployment rate except bringing in some income taxes.

Income taxes are very welcome of course, but as noted earlier in the thread these employees will also spend most of their wages in Ireland on rents and other services. The people serving them in shops, painting their apartments etc may well come from the Live Register.

This type of multinational support is always going to have many nationalities, whereever it is located.

gurramok

ardmacha wrote: »

Income taxes are very welcome of course, but as noted earlier in the thread these employees will also spend most of their wages in Ireland on rents and other services. The people serving them in shops, painting their apartments etc may well come from the Live Register.

This type of multinational support is always going to have many nationalities, whereever it is located.

It is indeed like the Spar next to Google on Barrow st. It won't dent the Live Register total that much you know.

gurramok

On the rent subject from Google employees, I can give a local input. The vast majority(if not all) rent in that area and are helping rents(along with RS applicants) stabilise as far as up to Ringsend village itself as the vast majority of foreigners rent instead of buying.

On topic, its fine and dandy getting jobs here but it ain't gonna help your techie Slovakian job vacancy to be filled by an Irish person. Get real, these type of jobs will not dent the Irish Live Register one iota.

ardmacha

Get real, these type of jobs will not dent the Irish Live Register one iota.

Of course these jobs do not have the strongest connection to the Irish economy. But just as tourists support Irish jobs, each foreigner based here will support a service job. The people doing these service jobs might never get a tech job in Google. The government will end up with half of the Google payroll through direct and indirect taxes which means they do not have to cut something. And 10-15% will go to Irish people.

gurramok

ardmacha wrote: »

Of course these jobs do not have the strongest connection to the Irish economy. But just as tourists support Irish jobs, each foreigner based here will support a service job. The people doing these service jobs might never get a tech job in Google. The government will end up with half of the Google payroll through direct and indirect taxes which means they do not have to cut something. And 10-15% will go to Irish people.

Thats a cool idea. Foreigners subsidising Irish people who can't(not thru laziness) learn foreign languages technically!

Lets see, do we want the Irish employees off the Live Register end up in Spar type jobs in order to have a quality of life?!

ardmacha

The idea that Irish people are going to learn all of these languages is fanciful. . There will be 20 languages in this centre, it is much easier to find someone from Hungary with some knowledge of spatial technologies than to have someone here (other than the increasing number of people from these places) study both these technologies and Hungarian. No matter where in Europe you located this you wouldn't have coverage for more than 3 or 4 of these languages from locals.

But there is a serious point here, well trained Irish people may well find jobs in technical areas, for instance IBM are hiring 200 for work on their Smart Cities project entirely in English, but some of these require people with PhDs in particular areas. The problem is not these people finding jobs, but in finding jobs for people without these skills. The guy that used to drive a lorry delivering timber to building sites can get a job delivering goods to Spar, he is not going to end up as a Geospatial analysis and visualisation Research Scientist in IBM and there is little point in regretting that he does not get that job. The challenge is to integrate the IBMs and Googles with Irish universities so that the non language related jobs can go to Irish graduates.

gandalf

To be honest I am not sure what people want here. The "errr they are taking our jobs arguement" doesn't apply to a lot of these types of jobs as they in some cases involve languages that Irish people will never get the chance to learn via our educational establishments.

Also bear in mind that hiring decisions could be moulded by the attitudes of the target markets towards people that they deal with over the phone. I worked (years ago) in a call centre environment and they had to change the majority of the German Team to native speakers because the Germans did not like buying from foreign sounding people.

At the end of the day 200 jobs is 200 jobs and we as an economy benefit from the taxes from these jobs and from the employees expenditure. We also gain from having these people become part of our society and the majority make it a more open, diverse and vibrant society.

As for learning a new language when you are older, yes it is hard. I am trying to learn French at the moment and am finding it a complete and utter bitch. But I have to, not because I am going for a job. I married one of those that came to our shores for a job. She's French and we have a 10 week old son who will be brought up bi-lingual. I have to learn French because otherwise he will be answering me in a language I won't understand.

murphaph

gandalf wrote: »

As for learning a new language when you are older, yes it is hard. I am trying to learn French at the moment and am finding it a complete and utter bitch. But I have to, not because I am going for a job. I married one of those that came to our shores for a job. She's French and we have a 10 week old son who will be brought up bi-lingual. I have to learn French because otherwise he will be answering me in a language I won't understand.

Irish? lol.

I'm in a similar situation. I learned German because I wanted to move and work here (don't actually need it for work though, but it's nice to be included in German conversations in the office) and my GF is German so it's only fair that we speak both languages with each other and of course, we want kids and I want to be able to understand them when they speak German.

The Irish attempt at getting kids to learn foreign languages is about as useful as the same failed attempt at getting them to learn Irish. I left school with good points apart from my languages (Irish and German, I did ok in honours English funnily enough) which really let me down. I put it down to a lack of ability but now I know that was rubbish, I can speak German FFS! The teacher (she tought me both Irish and German) was just a load of rubbish and when I look back I realise that her German skills were attrocious (constantly looking in a dictionary).

Part of the fault lies in the fact (at least when I was a kid) that we don't learn ENGLISH grammar at school. At least not to the same extent that continentals learn about their own languages. It helps them A LOT to learn foreign languages.