Latest posts for the topic "the language barrier"

the language barrier

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:50:02 GMT

Was reading another thread and it made me think of this. My french is schoolgirl french...............and yes it's a long time since I was a schoolgirl. I did make my daughter laugh and nearly fall over when trying to speak in french. If I couldn't remember the french word, I improvised by saying it in English, with a french accent. She still takes the p*** out of me about it. Anyone else have any other probs trying to converse with the locals on their ski hols :D

Re:the language barrier

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:24:34 GMT

Interesting one Eljay. I know there of a number of multiple language speakers on J2ski, and it is just a guess, but I suspect that most would have their first secondary language as a result of learning at school.

I did seven years French at school. As a result, I can understand the language fairly well, but, because I haven't used it much, make more of speaking it than I ought to.

However, my German spreche is modestly strong, becauseI learned it just by speaking to Austrians, and from reading Deutsche grammer. Every winter sees an improvement. However, I suffer the opposite effect to French in struggling to understand some conversations, especially when they are technical, or dialect.

I don't see an issue with sticking in the missig word in English, but then checking that the word has been understood. If not, ask what is the correct word. In some cases your word will be correct, in others it will bring a query.

The main thing is to have a go. You can help yourself by watching French/German/etc TV.

Re:the language barrier

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:56:45 GMT

:DHi Eljay...

Even though i have spent a lot of time in the french alps over the years, i always find it takes me a few days to get back into the swing (if still limited)of things....beer and genepi helps i find, in fact the most fluent conversation i have ever had in french with a local was new years eve in Bazoom's in Bourg ,we were both plastered and the language barrier seemed to just vanish...or maybe it just got lost in a haze of drink....

hic...hic....

jon.

the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:10:50 GMT

Eljay wrote:Was reading another thread and it made me think of this. My french is schoolgirl french...............and yes it's a long time since I was a schoolgirl. I did make my daughter laugh and nearly fall over when trying to speak in french. If I couldn't remember the french word, I improvised by saying it in English, with a french accent. She still takes the p*** out of me about it. Anyone else have any other probs trying to converse with the locals on their ski hols :D

:lol:I know what you mean! I do the same thing when trying to speak to my friend from France..english with a french accent ha ha ha :lol:

Also when we hang out with our brit friends too long..we start to get a bad brit/canadian accent...quite funny! :oops: :lol:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:31:02 GMT

I'm pretty much bilingual, at least I can order a beer in five languages :mrgreen:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:48:24 GMT

Hi Eljay,
My French used to be like yours. I did French O'Level at the age of 15, over 30 years ago.

We were ski-ing in La Rosiere last year, at Easter, and we wanted lessons morning and afternoon. The afternoon lessons are only in French. So I asked my daughter if she could cope with that and she said O.K. She ended up in a French speaking lesson in the afternoon, but the teacher could actually speak very good English, so she'd give her a summary in English, and all went well.

I ended up in a French speaking afternoon class with a teacher (who was very nice) but with practically no English. And I got very frustrated with myself, because I'd forgotten a lot of my French. I spent my spare time back in our flat studying French vocab and grammar ready for the next lesson. I was ski-ing in an English speaking class in the morning, which helped, because I was basically learning the same things, in English in the morning and in French in the afternoon. It was great fun but very challenging.

So, when we came back I decided to go to adult French classes, and I've been going ever since. I now do 3 hours per week. They do say that learning a foreign language helps to prevent senile dementia, and seeing as I've reached the point where I can't remember where I've parked the car, what I walked into the kitchen for etc. it seems like a good idea all round.

Dave Mac - I'm most impressed that you can speak French, German, and English. Congratulations.

Ally

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:08:34 GMT

AllyG wrote:Hi Eljay,
My French used to be like yours. I did French O'Level at the age of 15, over 30 years ago.

We were ski-ing in La Rosiere last year, at Easter, and we wanted lessons morning and afternoon. The afternoon lessons are only in French. So I asked my daughter if she could cope with that and she said O.K. She ended up in a French speaking lesson in the afternoon, but the teacher could actually speak very good English, so she'd give her a summary in English, and all went well.

I ended up in a French speaking afternoon class with a teacher (who was very nice) but with practically no English. And I got very frustrated with myself, because I'd forgotten a lot of my French. I spent my spare time back in our flat studying French vocab and grammar ready for the next lesson. I was ski-ing in an English speaking class in the morning, which helped, because I was basically learning the same things, in English in the morning and in French in the afternoon. It was great fun but very challenging.

So, when we came back I decided to go to adult French classes, and I've been going ever since. I now do 3 hours per week. They do say that learning a foreign language helps to prevent senile dementia, and seeing as I've reached the point where I can't remember where I've parked the car, what I walked into the kitchen for etc. it seems like a good idea all round.

Dave Mac - I'm most impressed that you can speak French, German, and English. Congratulations.

Ally

Nobody likes a smart Ar** :mrgreen:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:58:42 GMT

Skidaddle speaks European. Its the same words and accent wherever he goes. It kind of works. He can order and coffee and a snickers anywhere in the alps. And grapefruit.

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:04:16 GMT

Tony_H wrote:Skidaddle speaks European. Its the same words and accent wherever he goes. It kind of works. He can order and coffee and a snickers anywhere in the alps. And grapefruit.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:05:12 GMT

I think that smiley is meant to be one for jealousy, Trencher corrected me once and he is right!!

Admin: If you read this can we get a grinning face that aint green for WIckham? Ta

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:06:00 GMT

Seriously, you want to hear it. I end up rolling around the floor every time. Its brilliant. It goes something like this:

"Guten morgen. Ein kaffee bitte. Et une snickeuuuurrrrrzzzzz. Avec pamplemousse. Grazie."

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:08:27 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:I think that smiley is meant to be one for jealousy, Trencher corrected me once and he is right!!

Admin: If you read this can we get a grinning face that aint green for WIckham? Ta

Education is a wonderful thing my son, Green is for envy :twisted:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:09:32 GMT

Why would anyone want to eat a snickers bar with grapefruit? And do they actually sell grapefruit in the Alps? I mean, the one is very nice and tasty (but a bit fattening) and the other is disgusting diet food.

Ally

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:10:16 GMT

AllyG wrote:Why would anyone want to eat a snickers bar with grapefruit? And do they actually sell grapefruit in the Alps? I mean, the one is very nice and tasty (but a bit fattening) and the other is disgusting diet food.

Ally

It's an Austrian Thing :mrgreen:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:10:47 GMT

In that case my education was poor. Still, a range of colours would probably be good. Now... the colour for sloth? :lol:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:13:36 GMT

AllyG wrote:Why would anyone want to eat a snickers bar with grapefruit? And do they actually sell grapefruit in the Alps? I mean, the one is very nice and tasty (but a bit fattening) and the other is disgusting diet food.

Ally

Glad it isn't just me who was wondering that.... :D

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:13:49 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:In that case my education was poor. Still, a range of colours would probably be good. Now... the colour for sloth? :lol:

"absence of caring" Pink :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:32:23 GMT

Just curious really, but wondered how many people on here speak a second (or more language), beyond the stage of ordering beer, snickers and grapefruit?

It's something I've always wanted to be able to do, but even though I did A-level French, I've forgotten most of it and now struggle to hold a decent conversation without reverting to ‘Franglais.' :oops:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:37:16 GMT

Lynn,
Come and join me in my adult French classes. We always have a really good laugh - it's not at all like school, and my French is much better now.

Ally

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:48:30 GMT

AllyG wrote:Lynn,
Come and join me in my adult French classes. We always have a really good laugh - it's not at all like school, and my French is much better now.

Ally

I have always threatened but have never followed up, some people I know are always correcting my pronunciation, I'm not great but I can order most things in a restaurant, but I always make out I can't speak a word and in five years they have not cottoned on, and they are very much like what Tony_H was saying about skidaddle but they really think they are fluent, I have hours of fun winding them up. :mrgreen:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:14:20 GMT

I'm ok with holiday-level French and German, but I luuuve how our Austrian instructor spoke English. It was very cute :wink:
Allie

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:17:34 GMT

acarr wrote:I'm ok with holiday-level French and German, but I luuuve how our Austrian instructor spoke English. It was very cute :wink:
Allie

OOhhh behave, he is not only a professional Instructor but an experienced english bird chatter upper :mrgreen:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:19:43 GMT

We haven't addressed the biggest language gulf between Scotland and England.

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:23:20 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:We haven't addressed the biggest language gulf between Scotland and England.

There is no gulf as long as we talk through forums :wink:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:44:14 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:We haven't addressed the biggest language gulf between Scotland and England.

Very true! Normally I don't have a problem understanding Scottish accents, but there was one guy from Glasgow that I used to work with and I couldn't understand a word he said. The rest of the office (who were Italian) I understood perfectly!! :lol:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:51:43 GMT

I went to night classes for conversational French and another for conversational Spanish. I can usually understand what is being said, but I have great difficulty in putting together in proper grammar what I actually want to say. E.g. my daughter got ripped off at the toilet stop in Bourg and when I went back with her, I had a real struggle trying to put into words that they'd given her change of 10 instead of 20. Got there eventually but it wasn't easy. I'd love it just to flow......... :(

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:56:39 GMT

Eljay,
That's odd, I have exactly the opposite problem. I can formulate sentences fine, as long as I know the vocab or have a dictionary, but I am really bad at understanding what French people are saying. And I can read French pretty well, but they speak too fast for me, and I can't separate out the words. I am best communicating by e-mail :lol:

Ally

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:57:05 GMT

I know what you mean Eljay. I'm the same in that I can understand most conversations, but get into a muddle when I try and reply. :(

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:59:22 GMT

AllyG wrote:Lynn,
Come and join me in my adult French classes. We always have a really good laugh - it's not at all like school, and my French is much better now.

Ally

Sounds good, though I think Wales may be a bit of a trek for me.... :D

Seriously though, language lessons are on my to do list when I get the time. I'd love to learn Italian (as Italy is my favourite place for holidays, summer or winter.) A friend tried to teach me the basics, but the only complete phrase I can remember is "Can I leave the door open please?" along with a load of chemistry terms (which I picked up when we tried to translate his thesis into English) which aren't the most useful, on a ski holiday or otherwise.... :roll:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:15:39 GMT

AllyG wrote:Eljay,
That's odd, I have exactly the opposite problem. I can formulate sentences fine, as long as I know the vocab or have a dictionary, but I am really bad at understanding what French people are saying. And I can read French pretty well, but they speak too fast for me, and I can't separate out the words. I am best communicating by e-mail :lol:

Ally

This one normally works for me

" Pourriez vous parler lentement pour satisfaire" :wink:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:31:33 GMT

No language barrier difficulties in Switzerland, despite the fact they have four official languages as English is the default position for virtually everyone there! All the 'announciations' on the railways and aircraft are repeated in English as well. I try a bit of German, but it's just not needed! :)

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:39:40 GMT

Ian,
That's pretty impressive - future conditional I believe, but should there not be a 'me' in front of the 'satisfaire'?

I usually say something like 'Pouvez-vous parler plus lentement s'il vous plait?'. But they still rattle on incredibly fast.

Ally

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:52:24 GMT

On a trip to Hamburg my mate bought a hot dog and said "thankyoushun" and meant it!

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:00:38 GMT

mfc wrote:On a trip to Hamburg my mate bought a hot dog and said "thankyoushun" and meant it!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:20:57 GMT

hows about

och aye the noo jimmy ?

scottish for good morning/afternoon/evening and how is one today?

<<<<<<< runs and hides from eljay

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:26:16 GMT

amanda n wrote:hows about

och aye the noo jimmy ?

scottish for good morning/afternoon/evening and how is one today?

<<<<<<< runs and hides from eljay

:roll:

My wife is Scottish and never called anyone Jimmy in her life, and no one north of the border actually says och aye the noo.

They do, however, have a very interesting language all of their own in Aberdeen. It reminds me of the old bloke on Dads Army (Ian will know which one I mean) who famously did the Walkers Crisps adverts:
"You'll no be havin a sale will ye?"

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:26:35 GMT

I'm still trying to work out the hot dog joke. I'm not very good at jokes.

Ally

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:30:55 GMT

Tony_H wrote:

amanda n wrote:hows about

och aye the noo jimmy ?

scottish for good morning/afternoon/evening and how is one today?

<<<<<<< runs and hides from eljay

:roll:

My wife is Scottish and never called anyone Jimmy in her life, and no one north of the border actually says och aye the noo.

They do, however, have a very interesting language all of their own in Aberdeen. It reminds me of the old bloke on Dads Army (Ian will know which one I mean) who famously did the Walkers Crisps adverts:

"You'll no be havin a sale will ye?"

Yes quite I was always good at quizzes the guys name is John Laurie
Role: Private James Frazer

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:32:28 GMT

Aye, thats the fellar

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:54:26 GMT

amanda n wrote:hows about

och aye the noo jimmy ?

scottish for good morning/afternoon/evening and how is one today?

<<<<<<< runs and hides from eljay

Och aye the noo hen, ah ken jist whit ye're sayin. An yer richt, thats jist hoo wae aw tak up ere :lol: :lol:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:55:19 GMT

ken

is resigned very much to the East coast and I hope it stays there!

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:56:54 GMT

Ken and Fit are the 2 most commonly used words in Aberdeen.

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:57:48 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:

ken

is resigned very much to the East coast and I hope it stays there!

nope it's VERY Falkirk

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:57:54 GMT

Eljay wrote:

amanda n wrote:hows about

och aye the noo jimmy ?

scottish for good morning/afternoon/evening and how is one today?

<<<<<<< runs and hides from eljay

Och aye the noo hen, ah ken jist whit ye're sayin. An yer richt, thats jist hoo wae aw tak up ere :lol: :lol:

bless ya lol

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:02:30 GMT

I went to Falkirk once, I will never be back.

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:14:38 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:I went to Falkirk once, I will never be back.

Pourquoi? I grew up there

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:16:20 GMT

Eljay wrote:

Pablo Escobar wrote:I went to Falkirk once, I will never be back.

Pourquoi? I grew up there

I've been there 8)

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:17:54 GMT

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:19:25 GMT

Pabs.............is that you???

Wickers.........why and when?

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:20:17 GMT

Just digging a hole for myself.

The only thing I liked about Falkirk was its close proximity to both Glasgow and Edinburgh :wink:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:23:15 GMT

Pablo Escobar wrote:Just digging a hole for myself.

The only thing I liked about Falkirk was its close proximity to both Glasgow and Edinburgh :wink:

You're absolutely right. That is certainly the only redeeming feature. Although I loved it when I was young.

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:12:56 GMT

Eljay wrote:Pabs.............is that you???

Wickers.........why and when?

I went there as a mystery guest for a hotel group, it was a friendly hotel and then on to the Railway hotel in Ayr which was more of a challenge date around about 1993. :wink:

Re:the language barrier

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:32:27 GMT

You guys should try Corby.