Learning a language different form your own can be a very touchy isse.
Some of us took a foreign language in school, and dort of managed to pass the class, but would it hold up during travel?
Do you remember enough to be understood?
The reality is many people int he world DO speak English. They just do not like to let on.
As a general group, Americans are seen as a bit arrogant, and somewhat uneducated. And to a point it is true. We do not usually bother to learn the customs and ways of doing things in other cultures or countries, and we really do not bother to try and learn the languages of other people.
A perfect example is the commercial on TV these days wehre woman one states that she speaks french and several otehr languages, woman two says, "parle (sp) vouz good deal?"
While it is an effort to try and learn a new language, especially if over age 50, I think it is an effort well spent. No ne says you have to be able to carry on a conversation like a native. No one says bad things will happen if you do not learn a new language. I can say that many people, not all, but many, will appreciate your efforts to at least NOT be an obnoxious American.
Probably the largest hurdle to language is learning how the letters that we are familiar with sound in other languages. Second would be their special letters that we "think" we know, like the A with the ring or cirlce over it, or the umlauts on other letters. Buy a CD or tape and listen while you try to dollow the words int he workbook. Repeat as need with the introduction lesson until you learn the letter sounds. Being able to say the name of the street where you are staying will make a difference, trust me there! For those of us who took German class, we say the word Einn, just he way it looks, einn, or one. In Icelandic, it would look the same, though the NN has a T sound, so we would need to say Aett, or what sounds like eight.
Big difference between the streets on the map if you are looking for the number one or the number eight!
No one will bother you too much about your grammer, or sentance structure if you are trying to speak a local language, and most will be patient while they try to help you learn a word, if you are truly trying. For travel, be sure to learn the important words that give you a help in being polite, please, thank you, hello, goodbye, yes no, can you speak English? can you help me? That sort of thing.
If they look at you like you are nuts, say it in English, and ask them to help you say it in their language. It is most likely that letter sound thing...again.
I have found that the CD's at the Barnes and Noble, or the Borders Books can be useful. If they do not have the language you are lookign for in stick, ask, they can probably order it for you. Most of the basic sets run about $30 US. No need to get all Resetta Stone or Berlitz super courses that run into the hundreds of dollars, unless you are planning to move and live in another country.
For the truly cheap (ahem) you can even go nline and find translation sites that have a speaking translation to learn how a word sounds as well as how it is spelled.
Don't beat yourself up if you do NOT learn a language before you travel though. Mostly remember that you are in someone elses home. Their country, their language, their rules. Be polite, ask politely, say thank you, which does tend to sound similar in a number of languages, and as my boss Koby used to say, "Don't embarass the team"!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
New year, New market
HOLY MOLY!!!
It is summer of 2011 already and time to get ready for the market in Icelnad again!
Well, actually I booked my airline tickets in January, before the prices shot up due to the oil...
I am planning a couple new bits of story magic to take for the Icelanders, with luck I have them long enough. Last year they said my stories were all too short! Imagine that, an audience with an attention span. In this day and age. Well done Icelanders!
I will also be taking a few things to share about working with leather in the "western" style, tooling and such. I see they have a new plant in the north of the country (probably won't get there this trip) that makes fish leather. I saw a bit of fish leather last year and it is very nice, an interesting surface. Many possible projects come to mind.
It is a hope that one year I will be able to make a little "Market circle" trip and go to the markets in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland, one after the other, badically, most of a summer as a Viking! There are some logistical issues with tentage and such, but nothing too insurmountable. I think the key is to be prepared to wear the viking clothes 24/7, with maybe only a single set of 21st century stuff for laundry day, or passing a customs point. The research into the matter will continue this summer.
Just a late bloomer, as so many of my friends from high school have already been to a number of other countries, I guess I will simply tell myself that waiting means I will enjoy it more, and have a differnt level of respect and appreciation than had I gone as a punk kid out of high school. Not that I would have spent the money on it had I even had that much money, still cheap these days too!
On the plus side, I will get to see New York, the airport at least this trip, another state I have never been to. I am getting around these days, and I mena that in a good way.
It is summer of 2011 already and time to get ready for the market in Icelnad again!
Well, actually I booked my airline tickets in January, before the prices shot up due to the oil...
I am planning a couple new bits of story magic to take for the Icelanders, with luck I have them long enough. Last year they said my stories were all too short! Imagine that, an audience with an attention span. In this day and age. Well done Icelanders!
I will also be taking a few things to share about working with leather in the "western" style, tooling and such. I see they have a new plant in the north of the country (probably won't get there this trip) that makes fish leather. I saw a bit of fish leather last year and it is very nice, an interesting surface. Many possible projects come to mind.
It is a hope that one year I will be able to make a little "Market circle" trip and go to the markets in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland, one after the other, badically, most of a summer as a Viking! There are some logistical issues with tentage and such, but nothing too insurmountable. I think the key is to be prepared to wear the viking clothes 24/7, with maybe only a single set of 21st century stuff for laundry day, or passing a customs point. The research into the matter will continue this summer.
Just a late bloomer, as so many of my friends from high school have already been to a number of other countries, I guess I will simply tell myself that waiting means I will enjoy it more, and have a differnt level of respect and appreciation than had I gone as a punk kid out of high school. Not that I would have spent the money on it had I even had that much money, still cheap these days too!
On the plus side, I will get to see New York, the airport at least this trip, another state I have never been to. I am getting around these days, and I mena that in a good way.
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