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Post by poptop on Jun 29, 2021 11:08:01 GMT -6
That is exactly what I mean. I am pretty bad at Spanish and living where I do, it would come in handy if I could get better at it. My new years resolution each year is to get Rosetta and learn it. I can get by at best. Not to mention, the dialects are pretty diverse down here. Mexican Spanish I'm best at. Cuban, not so much.
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Post by Ken on Jun 29, 2021 11:36:57 GMT -6
That is exactly what I mean. I am pretty bad at Spanish and living where I do, it would come in handy if I could get better at it. My new years resolution each year is to get Rosetta and learn it. I can get by at best. Not to mention, the dialects are pretty diverse down here. Mexican Spanish I'm best at. Cuban, not so much. I can say things like "Dos cervezas, por favor" or "donde esta el bano?" but it's extremely sparse. I know abierto is "open" and cerrada is "closed" so if we go to a bar or restaurant and we're not sure if they're open I will say "abierto?" and if I get a "Si. Si!" then I know I'm good. In Mexico my kids and I had fun reading signs everywhere and saying that pretty much all of it is understandable to someone who does not speak spanish although trying to form sentences or phrases is much more complicated than that. All my kids took spanish and I told them to speak spanish in Mexico and CR but they really did not and it's probably because if you don't use it, you lose it. I remember being in a small town in Costa Rica called La Fortuna and there were some shops there. I liked their beer "Pilsen" and I was looking for a shirt with the logo. In the store I was stammering like "Um. La camisa de cerveza Pilsen?" and sometimes the staff would look at each other and shrug and sometimes they would say "NO" or whatever. At one place I asked and the guy said something to his wife and then she said "what size?" and I said "XL" and the guy left for 5 minutes and came back with a Pilsen Cerveza shirt. Mission accomplished baby!
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Post by shaggaroo on Jun 29, 2021 14:27:06 GMT -6
Yeah, in the end we really had no problems. They know that you're not German and often start speaking English to you. We heard a lot of English in Vienna and also in Prague. Once in Vienna we sat down at an outdoor restaurant and the server came over and laid menus out for us and walked away. We looked down and it was all German (or Austrian?) and then we look at each other and here comes the server back to us and flips the page over to the English version, laughing... Oh, sorry about that. They just know. I would usually start a conversation with "Hello" and smile and then they knew. I was nervous not knowing the language but we've been to Munich and Frankfort, Vienna, Brataslava, Prague, Warsaw, Croatia, Athens and Santorini and English is everywhere, thank Jeebus. Most of the time I spoke German...which they appreciated; and it was great practice for me. Usually, if I entered a place and said Grüß Gott (which is the standard greeting in Bavaria and Austria) they assumed I was German, so I just went with it. But my wife even though sie kann Deutsch, she doesn't, it's always Englisch for her. We were in a shop in Munich one time, I said Grüß Gott when we walked in and just stood there, because really my wife was looking for baby-sized lederhosen and it was her gig; the shopkeeper was constantly looking to me to translate ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Post by shaggaroo on Jun 29, 2021 14:30:59 GMT -6
That is exactly what I mean. I am pretty bad at Spanish and living where I do, it would come in handy if I could get better at it. My new years resolution each year is to get Rosetta and learn it. I can get by at best. Not to mention, the dialects are pretty diverse down here. Mexican Spanish I'm best at. Cuban, not so much. Unlimited languages, lifetime subscription = $179. Just sayin'.
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Post by brewbama on Jun 29, 2021 17:42:36 GMT -6
I have not traveled as much as I wish I could but I think there is an earned respect when "a tourist" makes a good attempt to communicate in the local language. I think it lessens the initial "a-hole tourist" expectation. Yes? No? +1. Of course they guarded against the drunk obnoxious GI but when they realized we were respectful, in both Italy and Germany, the locals would welcome us when they saw we wanted to learn their culture and customs. We would try to find local spots vs tourist or GI hangouts. They wanted to share the experience with us while trying out their English as we tried out our Italian/German. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Post by Ken on Jun 29, 2021 19:12:01 GMT -6
I have not traveled as much as I wish I could but I think there is an earned respect when "a tourist" makes a good attempt to communicate in the local language. I think it lessens the initial "a-hole tourist" expectation. Yes? No? +1. Of course they guarded against the drunk obnoxious GI but when they realized we were respectful, in both Italy and Germany, the locals would welcome us when they saw we wanted to learn their culture and customs. We would try to find local spots vs tourist or GI hangouts. They wanted to share the experience with us while trying out their English as we tried out our Italian/German. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I always came at it from the angle that I was a guest in their country and although I was speaking English I was pleasant, friendly and respectful. The alternative is the rude American who is entitled to be there and if it weren't for him and people like him the country couldn't survive. I love the interaction with people in other countries regardless of where it is. It's awesome to drench yourself in another country even if it's just for a week or something. We sat at communal tables at a brewery in Vienna and we talked to the other people at our table and drank beer all night. We laughed and drank for hours.
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Post by gusso on Jun 30, 2021 19:46:48 GMT -6
German is the only language that I've ever "learned" that has been useful with staying power. Obviously, it's because I lived in Berlin for a couple of years but I can still recall phrases 30 some years later. Spanish and French never seem to stick. German seems more natural to me.
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Post by Ken on Jun 30, 2021 20:02:11 GMT -6
German is the only language that I've ever "learned" that has been useful with staying power. Obviously, it's because I lived in Berlin for a couple of years but I can still recall phrases 30 some years later. Spanish and French never seem to stick. German seems more natural to me. Interesting.
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Post by shaggaroo on Jul 1, 2021 7:25:31 GMT -6
German is the only language that I've ever "learned" that has been useful with staying power. Obviously, it's because I lived in Berlin for a couple of years but I can still recall phrases 30 some years later. Spanish and French never seem to stick. German seems more natural to me. Same for me... haven't lived in Germany but would love to. Grew up in Milwaukee where there was a lot of German folks... started learning in HS and it just stuck (sort of)
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