|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
06-20-2009, 03:30 PM | #31 |
When's Doughnut Day?
Posts: 10,059
Karma: 13675475
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Houston, TX, US
Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad
|
No doubt, one of us would best need to know the other's language - and would unlikely to be me!
|
06-20-2009, 03:44 PM | #32 |
Not scared!
Posts: 13,424
Karma: 81011643
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Midlands, UK
Device: Kindle Paperwhite 10, Huawei M5 10
|
Have to say that I always try to learn at least a few words ('please', 'thankyou', 'hello', 'goodbye', 'a large beer please' - you know, the essentials). Having said that though, I couldn't manage even that in Finland in February and I'm only getting there in Slovakian because I've been there 4 times this year!
I do get quite annoyed though when I try to speak the local language and the local responds in English. This normally happens to me in France and Germany and I guess they are just trying to be helpful but I feel like it should be me making the effort, not them. |
Advert | |
|
06-20-2009, 04:54 PM | #33 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 9,707
Karma: 32763414
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Krewerd
Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
|
Quote:
I can give an example of that... Way back when, when I was still young, we went interrailing (3 weeks, going by train all across Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland). We first went to Denmark. At the train station in Copenhagen there was an interrail "office" (run by students mostly, to help interrailers find lodging and other interesting things in Copenhagen). We had just asked for directions (in English, we first asked which language they wanted to use, as we didn't speak Danish) for lodging when two French guys came in. They started talking in French (and those French can talk fast!), but those two behind the counter made clear they didn't speak French at all. But those two French guys apparently only spoke French as they never switched language... If they had only spoken a little bit of English or German, they would have been able to get their questions across, even with broken sentences only. Quote:
Those two French guys didn't even try and the two Danish guys finally just ignored them... |
||
06-20-2009, 05:46 PM | #34 | |
Guru
Posts: 834
Karma: 102419
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Vienna, Austria
Device: iPhone
|
Quote:
I appreciate it when someone tries, at least, to speak in my native language, but sometimes, when I reply and get a blank stare, I offer to switch to something we both understand better. No use giving directions when all the other guy understands is the general direction you indicate with your hand. That said, I went to france 2 weeks ago and was at one time pretty annoyed when the french lady in the store tried to speak english to me. My french is pretty good, and I was asking for a "thingie for an allergic nose". I mean, doesn't it count for anything that I can say "thingie" in french? |
|
06-20-2009, 05:56 PM | #35 | |
Not scared!
Posts: 13,424
Karma: 81011643
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Midlands, UK
Device: Kindle Paperwhite 10, Huawei M5 10
|
Quote:
What we need is one common language; Esperanto, anyone? |
|
Advert | |
|
06-20-2009, 05:57 PM | #36 | |||
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
Posts: 27,827
Karma: 921169
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Paris, France
Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
|||
06-20-2009, 08:39 PM | #37 |
Opsimath
Posts: 12,344
Karma: 187123287
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand
Device: Sony PRS-650, iPhone 5, Kobo Glo, Sony PRS-350, iPad, Samsung Galaxy
|
It's simply polite to make an effort to speak another person's language, no matter if you are in their country or they are in yours. It's communication. But there is no real need to learn more than 3-4 'polite' words. The rest can always be done with pictures.
Pictures usually work. I never leave the house without a small pocket notebook and a pen. I might not know the local word for 'post office' but I can draw a picture of a letter with a stamp on it. (This gets a bit dicey when trying to find a gynecologist.) A quick 'excuse me' in the local language for good manners, then a picture, and finish with 'thanks,' again in the lingua franca and you're on your way. No one is embarrassed or upset and perhaps you'll make a friend! Stitchawl |
06-20-2009, 09:53 PM | #38 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,248
Karma: 35000000
Join Date: Jan 2008
Device: Pocketbook
|
This is why I don't tour in most foreign countries. My language skills are terrible, (not for lack of trying) and the most important thing of touring a foreign country is meeting the people (or so it seems to me). And you can't do it without learning at least some of the language. Or so this "ugly American" feels.
(I can never sort out another language in my mind. It always becomes an auxillary vocabulary to English to me. and after I tried to learn two languages (German after Spanish), they both got lumped into the same "aux vocabulary" and get mangled together. The result are..ahem...interesting, to say the least. But I can sound like I'm from the barrios, a la Cheech and Chong, mainly because I am...) |
06-21-2009, 02:37 AM | #39 | |
It's Dr. Penguin now!
Posts: 3,909
Karma: 4705733
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: (USA)
Device: iPad mini, Samsung Note 3, Sony PRS-650 (rarely used now)
|
Quote:
STOP GENDER CONFUSION! |
|
06-21-2009, 07:01 AM | #40 | |
Opsimath
Posts: 12,344
Karma: 187123287
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand
Device: Sony PRS-650, iPhone 5, Kobo Glo, Sony PRS-350, iPad, Samsung Galaxy
|
Quote:
Stitchawl |
|
06-21-2009, 08:12 AM | #41 | ||
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
Posts: 27,827
Karma: 921169
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Paris, France
Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
06-21-2009, 08:14 AM | #42 |
Storm Surge'n
Posts: 5,776
Karma: 8213195
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Lobster Capital
Device: S0ny PRS-300/350/505/700/T1
|
|
06-21-2009, 10:09 AM | #43 | |
Beepbeep n beebeep, yeah!
Posts: 11,726
Karma: 8255450
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, aka America's IceBox
Device: iThingie, KmkII, I miss Zelda!
|
Quote:
|
|
06-21-2009, 10:54 AM | #44 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,627
Karma: 406616
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Northern Virginia
Device: SurfacePro, SurfaceBook 2
|
|
06-21-2009, 10:59 AM | #45 | |
When's Doughnut Day?
Posts: 10,059
Karma: 13675475
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Houston, TX, US
Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad
|
Quote:
Another time I was in a train station in Den Haag buying a ticket to Schipol. The lady behind the counter was trying to tell me something but couldn't figure out the words and I struggled to no avail with the very few Dutch words I knew. She grabbed a coworker who was also unable to explain. The three of us spent a few minutes laughing our heads off in the process. (I later learned they had been trying to tell me transfer to another train at the next stop.) Again, it was unforgettable. And the worst result would have been that I was lost for awhile. Maybe that's why I don't consider the need to learn the language as so crucial. Who cares if I get lost? More fun! |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Non-Published Authors (so to speak) | jhempel24 | General Discussions | 2 | 08-31-2010 02:45 AM |
Speak the truth to me...is the eBookwise reader suitable for an 11 year old boy? | Siwickimom | Fictionwise eBookwise | 22 | 08-16-2009 01:05 PM |
Looking to speak to owners/users of Sony eReaders in London, UK | jibosan | Introduce Yourself | 0 | 05-13-2009 09:03 AM |
Speak to me in verse | Seabound | Reading Recommendations | 21 | 04-19-2009 04:52 AM |
How to speak the French book advice | Tinwolf | Reading Recommendations | 4 | 04-17-2009 10:49 AM |