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Post by johnofgwent on Feb 22, 2024 23:03:46 GMT
Nowhere did I suggest, or imply that Canada celebrates the "true indigenous population", but the various native peoples are celebrated as part of Canadian culture, as are people of French origin, Germans, English, Irish and in some areas people speak Scottish Gaelic; We in this country rightly celebrate many aspects of the white, British, Christian culture and history. In Liecester for example, people of all backgrounds join in the Diwali festival, and most British Asians participate to some extent in Christmas, and why not. do you think we should celebrate the indigenous population of the UK? Have you seen the wild women of the Rhondda ? They don’t call them the Viet-Taff for nothing. It takes a viking with nerves of steel, and a sperm count rivalling the average chimpanzee to feel abke to stand up to that lot. |
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Post by Ripley on Feb 22, 2024 23:04:38 GMT
I love France and have always found the people very hospitable and kind. i enjoyed my time working there but maybe that id because from day one i asked my co workers to help me improve my french ….I liked Belgium better, but i was working with Flemish Belgians who don't like the Belgian French. That certainly helps. Language is currency. In my experience, learning the language has always paid dividends. I'm amazed at people who travel to foreign countries and make no effort to acquire even the basics of the local language. |
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Post by johnofgwent on Feb 23, 2024 13:21:01 GMT
i enjoyed my time working there but maybe that id because from day one i asked my co workers to help me improve my french ….I liked Belgium better, but i was working with Flemish Belgians who don't like the Belgian French. That certainly helps. Language is currency. In my experience, learning the language has always paid dividends. I'm amazed at people who travel to foreign countries and make no effort to acquire even the basics of the local language. I wouldn't go that far. I supose it depends what you mean by "travel".
I think i can order a couple of beers in most of the languages considered "official" by the EU but that's about it. I speak French but you have to leave me in the company of french speakers for a week for the translation system to cut in and then i stop using English. My grasp of all others is pathetic, although perhaps not as pathetic as a fellow uni student who in 1978 used his classical greek to buy us three ferry tickets from Halkidiki to Rhodes.
The ticket guy collapsed laughing. I spoke no greek and the greek chap in the queue behind us spoke no english but he and all of or party save our classics geek were somewhere decently fluent in french and judging by the now spreadng mirth i think i understood the issue
Our friend had gone up to the counter and in his best shakesperean, come out with something approximating to
"Hail, and well met, thou worthy mariner. Prithee tell me, at what hour dost the next galleon depart for the isle of the minotaur, and what coin will secure passage for me and my colleages"
I saw the problem at once. He should have said "Trireme"
My view is if I'm in your country as a tourist and you want my money as a provider of services to tourists, then if you can't understamd what i am saying that's your problem. If on the other hand I'm there working, well that's another matter. And if I'm there as an expat, then i want you to think i'm an ignorant git while all the time understanding perfectly what you are saying to your mates about me behnd my back. That goes for working with the french too.... well, some of them
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Post by Ripley on Feb 23, 2024 15:37:44 GMT
That certainly helps. Language is currency. In my experience, learning the language has always paid dividends. I'm amazed at people who travel to foreign countries and make no effort to acquire even the basics of the local language. I wouldn't go that far. I supose it depends what you mean by "travel".
I think i can order a couple of beers in most of the languages considered "official" by the EU but that's about it. I speak French but you have to leave me in the company of french speakers for a week for the translation system to cut in and then i stop using English. My grasp of all others is pathetic, although perhaps not as pathetic as a fellow uni student who in 1978 used his classical greek to buy us three ferry tickets from Halkidiki to Rhodes.
The ticket guy collapsed laughing. I spoke no greek and the greek chap in the queue behind us spoke no english but he and all of or party save our classics geek were somewhere decently fluent in french and judging by the now spreadng mirth i think i understood the issue
Our friend had gone up to the counter and in his best shakesperean, come out with something approximating to
"Hail, and well met, thou worthy mariner. Prithee tell me, at what hour dost the next galleon depart for the isle of the minotaur, and what coin will secure passage for me and my colleages"
I saw the problem at once. He should have said "Trireme"
My view is if I'm in your country as a tourist and you want my money as a provider of services to tourists, then if you can't understamd what i am saying that's your problem. If on the other hand I'm there working, well that's another matter. And if I'm there as an expat, then i want you to think i'm an ignorant git while all the time understanding perfectly what you are saying to your mates about me behnd my back. That goes for working with the french too.... well, some of them
Having studied Attic Greek once upon a time in the distant past, I believe it is the ancient dialect of the Ionic branch that most closely resembles modern Greek, but I can see how your friend's efforts at communication could easily have missed the mark. Good for him for trying, though. Most often, that's all it takes. I've had a lot of dealings with the Greeks in my time and can't think of one who didn't speak fairly good English. The ones I knew were typically multilingual. I can't agree with your approach to foreign language in the context of tourism. In my own experience - I've been visiting France all my life - they will bend over backwards to accommodate anyone who makes even a minimal effort to speak French. I've been told by French people that they dislike being expected to decipher the foreign languages of tourists. They find it rude. And I think that making an effort is a much more practical approach that yields better results. |
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Post by vlk on Feb 24, 2024 0:02:00 GMT
The problem is that everybody elsewhere in the world wants to practice one's English especially with a native speaker. You are very unlikely to learn to speak the local language better than the locals can speak English.
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Post by Ripley on Feb 24, 2024 3:27:44 GMT
The problem is that everybody elsewhere in the world wants to practice one's English especially with a native speaker. You are very unlikely to learn to speak the local language better than the locals can speak English.That may be true if you speak Arabic, Korean, Japanese or German, but it is not true of all languages. There are lots of languages that are easier to learn than English because they are less complex and have a smaller lexicon. It's quite easy for a native English speaker to acquire French, for instance. It doesn't benefit English speakers in the long run to limit themselves to one language and keep themselves ignorant of other languages while half the world acquires theirs. In my opinion, that's a short sighted strategy. |
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Post by vlk on Feb 24, 2024 20:05:31 GMT
The problem is that everybody elsewhere in the world wants to practice one's English especially with a native speaker. You are very unlikely to learn to speak the local language better than the locals can speak English.That may be true if you speak Arabic, Korean, Japanese or German, but it is not true of all languages. There are lots of languages that are easier to learn than English because they are less complex and have a smaller lexicon. It's quite easy for a native English speaker to acquire French, for instance. It doesn't benefit English speakers in the long run to limit themselves to one language and keep themselves ignorant of other languages while half the world acquires theirs. In my opinion, that's a short sighted strategy. Doesn't change the fact that in many countries people don't want to speak their own language to foreigners but prefer to speak English as if their own language is a kind of secret language which will forever be unknown to the lazy English-speaker. |
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Post by jonksy on Feb 24, 2024 20:27:30 GMT
Sorry posted on the wrong thread....
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Post by vlk on Feb 25, 2024 15:43:17 GMT
Malta is a place where a lot of Brits move to and as it is really just a tiny island its infrastructure hasn't been able to keep up with the pace of immmigration and it is now considered as a completely ruined place.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2024 18:35:10 GMT
Malta is a place where a lot of Brits move to and as it is really just a tiny island its infrastructure hasn't been able to keep up with the pace of immmigration and it is now considered as a completely ruined place. The biggest impression Malta gave was of rubbish being everywhere. It could hardly be dirtier. Having said that Corfu is pretty dirty and a lot of ex-pats are there, too. |
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Post by om15 on Feb 25, 2024 18:35:48 GMT
I first went to Malta in 1973 in the RAF, since then I have been there several times with work and on holiday, last visit five years ago. If I could go back to the Malta of 1973 I would move there like a shot, but I was sad on the last visit, all the modern building, the traditional buildings in Sliema knocked down for hideous blocks of offices. Very crowded and full of bustle, used to be laid back and with a slow pace. The people are very nice, piss heads mainly.
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