Better kind of multi culti

[Chuck]

Just looking at Greetings from France.

How many of us here know some other language, even a few words - apart from Anglo Saxon.

Me: I got French (best at), some Turkish and a few words - mainly greetings / food & drink etc - in Spanish, German, Thai (??) and Australian (G'day).

I think words from Karate clss etc don't count.

We used to have a map of FB members locations, we still got that?

[Christel]

Right here,

http://www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1314

[Dr. Strangelove]

Err, does speaking more slowly and loudly in English count?

Bits of Spanish ("Do you speak English" and "Where is" seem to get me by!) and some German, pretty basic though!

[Harrier1980]

I thought about learning another language while I sat waiting for my tea in my local chip shop a few years ago. but could not decide what to learn.

the owner of the shop was Japanese, the customer paying at the time was Italian, one side of me was an eastern European couple, and the other side a young spanish lad, I decided there and then not to bother.

For other European countries the obvious choice for them is English, but what should we learn? chinese I guess.

[Chuck]

harrier, if service was that slow I would have gone elsewhere mate :lol: :lol: Then again, beats reading a paper.

I learned bits by virtue of visiting the country, always find it helps to know a few words and also numbers - helps in bargaining - or correcting them if the change is wrong. Food, drink and where is the bathroom are the first ones I learn

Chinese (Mandarin??) would be good I reckon.

Speaking slowly and louder does not work - either way :cool2: . No matter how many times I say "I do not understand" in say Turkish they keep repeating it...maybe they think I mean I do not understand what they mean rather than the actual language itself.

Of course if the other person does not LISTEN and try to understand then it all falls apart. Mrs T speaks pretty good English obviously not perfect - but some shop assistants are so dense they cannot figure it out.

[Sandgroper]

My son is learning French, so I think I'll end up acquiring a smattering of French, but on the other hand I have enough trouble with English and that's my first language!

[ovenpaa]

A bit of English plus a few words in German, French, Norwegian, Danish and Spanish. I am a typical Brit, I hope that the other person speaks English!

[Tower75]

I'd like to learn and I've even tried French, German and Portuguese. But I just cannot wrap my tongue around it. Annoyingly the older I get the harder it'll be to learn.

Maybe one day I'll give French another try.

[EagerNoSkill]

Fully bilingual in SOFF AFFFRIICAN and AFRIKAANS - can read and follow Dutch and Flemish about 70%
GERMAN can follow about 20%!

As for the 428 sub-dialects of English in the UK I try to follow as best I can! :55:

[Christel]

ENS, you saying that about the dialects in the UK, I have decided that I will not call Virgin Media anymore, they employ some people who speak a dialect that obviously is only for the initiated.