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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| brian00321 Senior Member United States Joined 6602 days ago 143 posts - 148 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 17 of 39 02 December 2006 at 8:46pm | IP Logged |
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Thailand: Thai
Laos: Laotian Japan: Broken Japanese and English; I could (and can still) read katakana, hiragana, and some kanji but my speaking was flat out bad. First two days in Tokyo were a nightmare. I basically went homeless my first night because I missed the last train for the evenings to get back to the hotel. Also due to my confusion of the train system (well the placement of the sign really and my lack of speaking Japanese) on my second day I got on the wrong train at Ueno Station (the one on the opposite platform). I didn't know much Japanese so I asked the two people next to me "Narita? Which one goes to Narita?" And before you know it, "Sh!t! Damn doors shut on me." They're not like the doors on New York trains. These things shut air tight so there was even't a point in trying to opening them up. So yeah, second night I missed the train to get back to my hotel (Which is the Holiday Inn right outside, two minutes walking distance of Narita Airport incase if you're wondering. I liked the hour and thirty minute train rides. It was nice not having to feel congested the entire time I was there. Plus it was only for a week so I didn't mind the location. Except for the fact that the last train's run from Ueno, Ginza, Tokyo Station, and pretty much everywhere else to Narita was around 9 or 10.). Yeah I know, kind of pathetic, but it was still a great experience. It's like one of those bad experiences that you have, but once it's all over you just laugh about it. I still do to this very day (so do my parents). Edited by brian00321 on 02 December 2006 at 8:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6601 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 18 of 39 05 December 2006 at 10:31am | IP Logged |
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Finland: Finnish (and English when I was there for the first time and wasn't studying Finnish yet)
Czech Republic: Russian, some Czech, English, little German Sweden: English Belarus: Russian...and Belarusian when talking to my grandmother, as this language is not widely spoken, everyone knows it but speaks Russian :( But she's of course happy because I'm trying to learn it, so she speaks it to me. Ukraine: Russian and Belarusian when people refused to speak Russian Germany: English. I didn't know the German for "excuse me". Some people replied me in German though, so I did use my German at least passively Poland: some Polish, some Belarusian Edited by Serpent on 05 December 2006 at 10:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| winters Trilingual Heptaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 7048 days ago 199 posts - 218 votes Speaks: Croatian*, Serbian*, Russian*, English, Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek Studies: Greek, French, Hungarian | Message 19 of 39 16 December 2006 at 5:05pm | IP Logged |
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Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia/Montenegro: I am basically a cameleon here, given that Croatian and Serbian are my mother tongues. I find it very amusing to 'modify' my speech a little in various parts of various countries to sound like a native.
Other Slavic-speaking countries: By knowing 4 Slavic languages it is relatively easy to get my point across so I try to speak the language of the country I am in (sometimes, e.g.in Slovenia, I even succeed at communicating perfectly in their language which I de facto cannot speak!), if I come across difficulties, I will either shift to English or, the more pleasant variant but the one I dislike to do because I am pretty conservative - 'mix' their language with other Slavics I can speak. It is very funny experience, and it actually works, but I still prefer one-language-at-a-time policy. Everywhere else I will use mostly English (though, ironically, I have never been to an English-speaking country!), with snippets of the local language (I would never say that I can speak even elementary German or Hungarian, but the very basics of them have proved to be very useful when travelling, and I find it amusing to try to communicate in the language I de facto cannot speak), except in Italy, where I will use Italian. I am yet to go to Greece, but when I do (in less than a year), I will do my best to use exclusively Greek. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Bunni Triglot Newbie United States Joined 6557 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, Mandarin Studies: Cantonese, French, Spanish, Arabic (Written), Portuguese, Korean, Hindi, Indonesian, Swahili, Twi | Message 20 of 39 16 December 2006 at 6:23pm | IP Logged |
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Mainland China: Mandarin (I still felt rather dumb because I still didn't understand the all of the "errrs" in Beijing dialect)
And that...is all because my pockets are too full of air to be able to afford extensive travel. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6907 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 21 of 39 16 December 2006 at 7:20pm | IP Logged |
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Germany - German (and English before I was able to communicate well in German)
Austria - German Switzerland - German France - French (I speak really bad French but I was trying to do my best :)), English, German Spain - Spanish, some English (when I went last summer to Spain, I wasn't really able to communicate in Spanish, particularly at the airport. Then it was getting better and I left Spain speaking Spanish only :)) Gibraltar - English, some Spanish (when I was starting conversation in English, people were answering in Spanish and vice versa ;). Probably I have an awful foreign accent in both languages.) Czech Republic - Czech (I was trying, at least), some English, some Polish when I was desperate :)). Slovakia - kind of Czech & Polish mixture, English, some German. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| maile Triglot Newbie Canada Joined 6546 days ago 12 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Cantonese | Message 22 of 39 27 December 2006 at 1:15pm | IP Logged |
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Canada: English, French, Cantonese
US: English, Italian (got lost in Little Italy in NYC) France: French, Spanish Italy: French, English, Italian, Spanish Egypt: French, English Hong Kong: English, Cantonese 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Aritaurus Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6578 days ago 197 posts - 204 votes Speaks: Cantonese, English*, Japanese, Mandarin Studies: Spanish | Message 23 of 39 02 January 2007 at 12:23pm | IP Logged |
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Canada: Cantonese, English
USA: English Japan: Japanese, English, Mandarin Taiwan: Mandarin, English Singapore: English, Mandarin, Cantonese Malaysia: English, Mandarin, Cantonese Hong Kong: English, Cantonese 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Shalomikhin Diglot Newbie Russian Federation shalomikhin.com Joined 6549 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 24 of 39 07 January 2007 at 7:35pm | IP Logged |
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Ukraine: Russian
Kazakhstan: Russian Germany: English and basic German words The Netherlands: English (BTW, Is there anybody in Holland who can't speak English?) Italy: English, Russian, basic Italian words and (in the most cases) the language of gestures :-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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