foreign languages

silvia said:
anderixo is bilingual and speaks spanish and euskera. That would give a very exhotic touch to whatever you are doing :D
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i'm ambitious sil but euskera8O :lol:. ok then more criteria.

1)european languages only
2)roman alphabet only
3)I am not learning basque (not yet anyway!8O :lol: )
 
my french has lapsed over the years but still have a smattering

made a couple of poor attempts at Spanish, know a few words/phrases but no where near enough to not look like an idiot when speaking

i think i will try to learn English next - it seems like a so much easier language

(although when blind drunk on saturday night when i got home i managed to use the word "articulate" in a sentance - the sentance didn't make sense but i still managed to use that word)
 
Im gonna start learning from home. Wasted time and money trying to do it at College. Reckon I'll have a better success rate on my own (my college class was full of weirdo's and old people telling me all about their dreams of buying pubs in foreign resorts). Almost got taken to court over unpaid fee's as well after I got shafted by the new Learning Fund Initiative in Scotland. Grr....

Still, managed to at least gain some respect from local's from making the effort. Before I've always felt a bit ashamed at my complete lack of Spanish but this year it was nice to be met with a smile while I tripped over the basics.
 
fatphilb said:
Still, managed to at least gain some respect from local's from making the effort. Before I've always felt a bit ashamed at my complete lack of Spanish but this year it was nice to be met with a smile while I tripped over the basics.
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i often try out of respect for the local language but always end up looking foolish

best one is the "order a couple of beers with just a little extra words thrown in"

cue the barperson replying with a 5 min Spanish babble (to me) and i end up looking :oops:
 
macdonsj said:
i often try out of respect for the local language but always end up looking foolish

best one is the "order a couple of beers with just a little extra words thrown in"

cue the barperson replying with a 5 min Spanish babble (to me) and i end up looking :oops:
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as a local, I never thing tourists trying to speak my language, look foolish or silly. IMO it's much more worst those who take for granted that everybody will understand them, don't make any effort when they realise nobody understand them and at the end they look arrogant and shock cos you just don't understand their language.
 
silvia said:
as a local, I never thing tourists trying to speak my language, look foolish or silly. IMO it's much more worst those who take for granted that everybody will understand them, don't make any effort when they realise nobody understand them and at the end they look arrogant and shock cos you just don't understand their language.
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I sooo want to learn Spanish as well because i love the country so much and i despair of the tourist image of "shout louder in English and make them understand"

(plus Spanish sounds sexier than English)
 
macdonsj said:
I sooo want to learn Spanish as well because i love the country so much and i despair of the tourist image of "shout louder in English and make them understand"

(plus Spanish sounds sexier than English)
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To be honest, and maybe failling into topics, the ones who have the worst reputation about their attitude with language are russians ;)
 
Barbie said:
:oops: Si :lol:

(We're not as advanced as you, we're still learning to count up to 1000 and talk about our family :roll: :lol: )
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I can see we are going to have so much fun on the terraza on Sunday!! :lol:
Lots of conversations about your family and we will have to find something to count.

Maybe we can play count the stripey vests like Tom is wearing?? :lol: ;)
 
grego said:
i'm ambitious sil but euskera8O :lol:. ok then more criteria.

1)european languages only
2)roman alphabet only
3)I am not learning basque (not yet anyway!8O :lol: )
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Well, that counts me out :? Though the Cyrillic alphabet isn't that hard to learn!

I was almost fluent in Spanish at one point... but that was 18 years ago! :oops:
 
Morbyd said:
Why do you say that?
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Cos this is my experience.
My family runs a chemistry in the right city center and they deal with tourists every single day of the year. The ones who look more arrogant and scandalized cos you can't understand them are russians. Or other members from the east countries with loads of money and big lack of politeness (and sense of fashion). I've seen it hundred of times, even banging the door when they leave cos you just don't speak their language.
Perhaps it's something cultural, like us being considered rude cos our politeness forms are different from than in other places, but at the end of the day, we are at home
 
i speak fluently...

german (motherlanguage)
english
french
italian

and i understand spanish, but that's more because i speak italian and french and so i can mostly make the connection...
 
silvia said:
Cos this is my experience.
My family runs a chemistry in the right city center and they deal with tourists every single day of the year. The ones who look more arrogant and scandalized cos you can't understand them are russians. Or other members from the east countries with loads of money and big lack of politeness (and sense of fashion). I've seen it hundred of times, even banging the door when they leave cos you just don't speak their language.
Perhaps it's something cultural, like us being considered rude cos our politeness forms are different from than in other places, but at the end of the day, we are at home
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Actually, that is true... Some Russian tourists do expect that someone will understand them in Russian, especially if they're traveling to a place where a lot of Russians go (Spain being one of those locations). But, as with any nationality, it's the rotten apples that spoil people's impressions. I have heard some funny stories though.

Most Russian friends I have either speak English or try to get by on some basic English phrases when they're abroad - but these are younger, upper-middle class folk. I can only think of a couple of people who know Spanish though!
 
nostrum said:
i speak fluently...

german (motherlanguage)
english
french
italian

and i understand spanish, but that's more because i speak italian and french and so i can mostly make the connection...
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i was waiting for you to appear. viva switzerland and its many languages;) :lol:
 
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