Re: Cleveland in the Big Apple

On Feb 15, 1:51 am, Kip Williams <k...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Michael Schaffer wrote:
Imagine someone trying to get by in the US with anything but
English...not only would he have the hardest time finding anyone who
can actually speak any foreign language, but most people wouldn't even
try to communicate with him.

When I worked in the foreign language department at a college, I had
occasion a couple of times to speak to people who had no English. I had
taken Spanish in junior high and high school, plus a little more in
college, and was willing to try to remember words and grammar -- and
they were just so grateful for it. I'm sure I sounded like an idiot (at
least my pronunciation was good, thanks in part to the consistency of
the language), but it was water in the desert for them.

When we visited Italy, I ran into a situation I hadn't expected, and my
mind simply went blank. I didn't even think to try Spanish or German. I
stood like an idiot and finally nodded when they asked me a simple
question.

German only works to some small degree in the most touristy areas, but
slow Spanish should work somewhat to establish basic communication
with Italians.

Luckily, when we were in China, there was always somebody around who
knew some English -- or, failing that, would indicate by signs what we
needed to know.  This was in Wuxi, not a major city by any means, just a
couple million population.

Kip W

.

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