Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rowanas]

Re: Language difficulties

I learned basic English words when I was 4 or so.

The Chaos
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead—
For goodness sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose —
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart —
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd mastered it when I was five!

[Hanslanda]

I honestly think that native English speakers overrate the % of the population that will be able to understand them in a non-english speaking nation (because seriously, I think the "english as second language" stats are including people who are not fluent to any meaningful degree). I mean you'll do OK in hotels and tourist resorts but that's for all languages. And gestures and common words will go a long way anywhere you go, too . But if you expect to go to a random place in Rome, Madrid, or Paris and have people understand you, best case  scenario is that you'll be disappointed.

As for language, while everyone learns English in school, not everyone retains any competency in it.

Yeah, pretty much this.


By the way, a corollary for this is that no matter what your first language is, you should not assume the locals *don't* understand anything you're saying either. You never know when you'll stumble with that one guy who has a Romanian girlfriend, or used to spend summers with a family in Denmark, or something like that.

This. Even as an American, I always start in English, then horribly butcher the language that is the local norm.

I once told a Frenchman "You're welcome" instead of "thank you", and I speak basic conversational French. The shame reverberates eternally.

[IcyTea31]

Also, don't expect the locals to understand their local language, either. If you speak English like a gentleman of Victorian literature, chances are even a native speaker won't understand every word you say.

[Hanslanda]

Most polite phrase ever:

"I don't speak [local language], I'm terribly sorry. Is it possible I can speak to someone who speaks [my language]?"

I had a couple Mexican guys come into the store awhile back and with a bit of pantomime, drawing, and my exceptionally limited Spanish, I directed them to the items they sought. It was actually quite fun.

[Rowanas]

Also, don't expect the locals to understand their local language, either. If you speak English like a gentleman of Victorian literature, chances are even a native speaker won't understand every word you say.

I do, and they don't.  I'm the most fluent person I know, and I often come up against this internal language barrier.

Most polite phrase ever:

"I don't speak [local language], I'm terribly sorry. Is it possible I can speak to someone who speaks [my language]?"

I had a couple Mexican guys come into the store awhile back and with a bit of pantomime, drawing, and my exceptionally limited Spanish, I directed them to the items they sought. It was actually quite fun.

"Nie mowie po polsku, ale ucie sie"  though there are bibly bits I've not added because I'm using an english-standard set and can't be bothered to change language.  It means (in theory) I don't speak Polish, but I'm learning.

[Teneb]

Also, don't expect the locals to understand their local language, either. If you speak English like a gentleman of Victorian literature, chances are even a native speaker won't understand every word you say.

I do, and they don't.  I'm the most fluent person I know, and I often come up against this internal language barrier.

Sometimes, it's not even a matter of language. I've found that as I got better at historiography, I had more and more problems talking with random people outside the environment of the university. I actually forgot how to use "small words".

[Kagus]

I know a greeting in Spanish, a term of endearment in French, a curse in German, and a brand of vodka in Polish. I figure I'm good to go.

[Hanslanda]

Oh oh! I can say several disgusting curses, in assorted languages.

[Rowanas]

Also, don't expect the locals to understand their local language, either. If you speak English like a gentleman of Victorian literature, chances are even a native speaker won't understand every word you say.

I do, and they don't.  I'm the most fluent person I know, and I often come up against this internal language barrier.

Sometimes, it's not even a matter of language. I've found that as I got better at historiography, I had more and more problems talking with random people outside the environment of the university. I actually forgot how to use "small words".

That's what I was talknig about.  If I even use "expound", I'm likely to get blank stares or confusion.

[TD1]

I... emm... know Latin and some Old English.

That's... emmm... useful?

[Rowanas]

I... emm... know Latin and some Old English.

That's... emmm... useful?

Knowing a spot of Latin is, yes.  I can decode a great deal because of my grounding in Latin.

[TD1]

Actually, Old English is helpful sometimes with German.

[scriver]

Nearly all my understanding of the latin languages is crossreferencing the few things I know about Spanish, French, and Latin-derivates in Swedish and English

[ChairmanPoo]

That said, medical professionals are also considerably more likely to be proficient in English, due to most of the literature and many important seminars being in English.

*snort*
Hacking it together plus minus google translate is not the same as being fluent

Also: the problem is not other medical professionals as it is with what the patients actually say.


As trivia: Germany and Scandinavian countries are rather generous as far as language requirements are concerned. They require a B2 (contrast with the C level required in Spain, France and UK) and more often than not they offer you a crash course as part of the recruitment package. I still think it's risky to do a clinical interview  with less than a C because I know that even with a C level (and I'm unusually fluent) you can have issues at times, when speaking a foreign language.

[Mephisto]

*reads the previous page*

Whew, people didn't take my sads from the sad thread and start talking about them here.