Quote Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat View Post
Quietly sneaking this in here:

No, the English/British are not at all an arrogant bunch. I think that's just you passing off private hypernationalism as a national character trait of a monolithic English/British identity.

The English are on the whole perfectly relaxed about their identity, and quite open. Inquisitive and embracing of the outsider and the foreign. There are few practical reasons for an Englishman to learn foreign languages, this is often, in Britain and elsewhere, mistaken for the British being oblivious of the world, of being culturally inward looking. Quod non!
Britain has always been a melting pot of sorts since the days of the Empire where intellectual elites from around the world mingled in the streets of London. There are many great names which visited, should as Gandhi in his younger days, who took these ideas back with them when they returned home.