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One Week Round Trips Across the World... | ||
Tags: Travel | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Sinfonia Senior Member Wales Joined 6746 days ago 255 posts - 261 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 9 of 14 17 August 2006 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
The Angelou thread *was* about travel, so I was at least as close as you. You posted as a deliberate swipe at me, whereas I posted to make a serious point about the effect of global warming on culture and language.
I'm too much of a realist to think I could ever persuade a modern human to put social responsibility ahead of his/her own personal likes and comforts. It's your conscience -- so please, go ahead and live with it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6859 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 10 of 14 18 August 2006 at 12:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
I didn't go through Orbitz, but I did pack light and flew to Poland to visit with a friend who was finishing up a three year stint with the Peace Corps. From there, we traveled north through the Baltics and then to St. Petersburg. I think I marginally passed the self-immersion test and have long dreamed of going back for extra-credit. I also spent a month in Spain for the same reason, but my boyfriend was there and he kept cheating for me by translating everything. I think I would do much better now, but I know I would need a lot more than a week. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6705 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 14 21 August 2006 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Interesting route! I'm sure that you could find Russian speaking people in all of these countries, but it must have been a problem for your immersion process to be confronted with at least four new languages during a short time while you were trying to pick up fragments of language number five. Apart from that you touch upon the worst threat to immersions tours: what to do with your travel companions? Everybody knows that the more time you spend in the company of your countrymen the less time you have for the native speakers you came to meet, and your companions may even spoil the few encounters you can get. But it apparently also be a problem travelling with somebody who knows too much.. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6859 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 12 of 14 25 August 2006 at 5:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's a good point. I didn't think about that! As my traveling companion speaks fluent Polish (and Czech), I felt our week in Poland was the portion of our trip where I absorbed the most. It just happened to be a language I hadn't planned on learning. In about one week there, where I met several of her friends (no one spoke English), I felt myself learning Polish. It was a connection I'll never forget and I wish I could have stayed longer. We didn't have this friendly vibe as we went north. We were both complete foreigners and it showed. I didn't like this. I especially didn't like having rocks thrown at us in Riga, Latvia, as children yelled, "Dai dengi!" "What are they saying," my friend said. "Give us your money!" I said. We ran. These types of language immersion experiences aren't my favorite. And I also felt pressure from her to understand everything perfectly, when what I really needed was some space to make my bumbling mistakes. And I made quite a few, especially in St. Petersburg. I wouldn't change these experiences for anything, but I do recall a few key moments that challenged my very being. My friend had never been in a situation where she didn't understand anything, and to be in the position where I was her connection to the world was probably very depressing to her. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| echoes Triglot Newbie Puerto Rico Joined 6700 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes Speaks: Spanish, German, English* | Message 13 of 14 27 August 2006 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
You probably won't learn much Valencian in Valencia. Whenever I've gone there the only place I saw it written was on government documents/signs where they are required to recognize the language. I have a lot of relatives in Valencia, and maybe the older ones can speak a little. If you talk to older people, especially in the rural areas, you may find some people who can speak Valencian, but I've never really heard it in the city itself, and I've spent a decent amount of time there. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6705 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 14 13 September 2006 at 8:33am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have now returned from my whirlwind trip to the fair province of Valencia, Spain, and I did find some Valenciano speakers in Valencia, - but many more who spoke Castellano ("Spanish"). I have moved my detailed commentaries on the subject to this thread, where they were more appropriate. Edited by Iversen on 13 September 2006 at 11:50am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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