Crossing the language barrier

[Julia9054]

Went into a tiny backstreet restaurant in a tiny village in the hills of Majorca - well away from the main tourist run.

Proprietor spoke virtually no English and we spoke minimal Spanish.

Menu was in Spanish only, so we pointed at things and he said "chicken" or "beef" then he was totally stumped for English word the next item so said "Baaaaaa!"

Google translate rather ruins the fun of all that!

 

[Crackle]

I lived in Hamburg for a bit in the 80's and had to run the gauntlet of shopping in the local shops well before I had enough German to really do it. In fact I was only a few pages into a photocopied and bootleg recording of a linguaphone course and had two sentences at my disposal. Ich bin ein tischler and Ich bin die schwester von Walter. Strangely I've never found a use for them. Anyway after a few weeks of mangling my way through the shopping list, the grocer one day simply and gently took the list off me and quietly put everything together, crossing it off as he did. I was wordlessly grateful and wondered if I could train the butcher, baker and corner store to do the same.

 

[arranandy]

When I first moved to NL, I kept missing appointments by an hour. Turns out "half three", means half before three.

The other mistake I remember is talking about "sleeping in". The Dutch say "sleeping out" - "sleep in" is used in the context of putting an animal to sleep.

I got caught out with the same thing a couple of times when I first came to the Netherlands as well

My Dutch friend speaks Dutch, English, German and French. We had a weekend to Madrid earlier this year and when checking into the hotel she spoke to the receptionist in - to my ears - perfect Spanish. I commented to her later that I didn't know that she spoke Spanish. Her reply "Well, you never asked"

 

[Andy in Germany]

Ich bin ein tischler

Are you a carpenter?

 

[Crackle]

Are you a carpenter?

Have you never seen my bird table thread, that would answer your question.

 

[swee'pea99]

Ah I tend to do the translation then get it to do it again in reverse. Not tried the conversation option.

Reminds me of the story I heard about Robert Burns's Ode to a Haggis ("Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!") being translated into German, and then back to English, with the second half ending up as "Führer of the sausage people".

 

[Pat "5mph"]

In this respect, you have to applaud the Dutch. They often switch from one language to another seamlessly.

I can do that, was much faster when younger, though!

When I first moved to NL, I kept missing appointments by an hour. Turns out "half three", means half before three.

Yes, same in Germany, there is a family story on when my German mother was left waiting for an hour by my Italian father

When I first got to Scotland it was a shock, I was certain I could speak English ...big mistake!
For the first six months I limited my shopping to big stores, where I could pick stuff myself from the shelves, without having to ask, invariably resulting in being met with blank stares

 

[ColinJ]

When I first got to Scotland it was a shock, I was certain I could speak English ...big mistake!

My mum was Scottish (west coast) but she sometimes struggled to understand Glaswegians!

 

[alicat]

When I first got to Scotland it was a shock, I was certain I could speak English ...big mistake!

When I was a trainee solicitor in a market town in Yorkshire, I had a Scottish client who wanted a divorce.

Me: What are your children called?

Client: The oldest is Rvin.

Me: Pardon?

Client: Rvin

[Repeat a few times.]

Me: Could you spell that?

Client: W I L L I A M

Me:

 

[jefmcg]

Scottish regional accents are often subtitled on Australian TV. Which is only fair, as the yanks dubbed the first Mad Max film.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Have you never seen my bird table thread, that would answer your question.

No. I'll have a look...

 

[Andy in Germany]

When I was a trainee solicitor in a market town in Yorkshire, I had a Scottish client who wanted a divorce.

Me: What are your children called?

Client: The oldest is Rvin.

Me: Pardon?

Client: Rvin

[Repeat a few times.]

Me: Could you spell that?

Client: W I L L I A M

Me:

You think that's bad, I know of a few occasions when people from different German states have spoken English because it was easier for them than understanding each others dialect.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I remember once being asked by a German High school student to help him correct the English in a forthcoming Presentation.
"sure," Says I. "What will it be about?"
"The concept of manifest destiny and its influence on early American history and culture"
I'm not making that up. It is a direct quotation. I had to read his presentation twice to be sure I understood it...

 

[marshmella]

I remember once being asked by a German High school student to help him correct the English in a forthcoming Presentation.
"sure," Says I. "What will it be about?"
"The concept of manifest destiny and its influence on early American history and culture"
I'm not making that up. It is a direct quotation. I had to read his presentation twice to be sure I understood it...

 

[Andy in Germany]

That was pretty much my response. And this is high school...