September 12, 2010 at 10:00 am
· Filed under Chinese, Observations, Pronunciation, Travel · Posted by Wendy
I usually don’t have a problem getting around in taxis and having basic conversations in Chinese. Apparently my pronunciation is generally pretty good, even though I sometimes still have problems with differentiating the tones. So I was kind of surprised to find a street name that taxi drivers almost never understand when I tell them. It’s not a small street, and it even has a subway station with the same name. It also happens to be the street that I now live on.
I said the street name over and over again in my head, looked up the tones to make sure I was getting them right, but no matter how much I practised (in my head and out loud), as soon as I say it to a taxi driver, he has no idea what I’m talking about, and I get really flustered. Maybe I’ve just started saying it with a sort of hopeful lift at the end, which is definitely not the tone I’m going for. Even worse, they understand it when my boyfriend clarifies, and he barely speaks two words of Chinese.
I know I’m just going to have to keep at it until I get over the mental block I’ve now put in front of the words, but in the meantime, it’s a bit of a struggle to get home. Maybe I’ll just have to start taking the bus.
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June 26, 2010 at 10:00 am
· Filed under Hints and Tips, Italian, Language acquisition, Travel · Posted by Wendy
…or, by being around other people who are doing.
During my short visit to Milan, I got to have the fun experience of being in a small car with three Italian girls who weren’t 100% sure where they were going. Typically, Italians are exuberant in their speech, and talk a lot with their hands, and these girls were no exception. Although they spoke almost entirely in Italian, I managed to work out quite a few words just by what we were doing. We made a lot of left turns (yes, we got a bit lost), so I learned that sinistra means left. It took me a while to work out that Magenta was a town, not a colour, but I managed. When we finally reached our destination, I had a few more direction terms under my belt. The girls apologised for speaking entirely in Italian, but I didn’t mind at all. I got to learn a few new practical words, and also got to see Italians waving their arms and yelling ‘Papa Giovanni!’ multiple times (no joke – I think it was the name of a road).
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June 18, 2010 at 10:00 am
· Filed under Italian, Observations, Travel · Posted by Wendy
I was watching a group of Chinese people operating a train ticket machine in Milan today, and they were struggling a little bit. Oddly, they kept choosing Italian as the language, when there was also English, German, and a few other languages (although not Chinese). They managed to operate it in the end*, but I wondered why they didn’t choose English as the operating language. It’s very possible that they didn’t know much English either (and maybe they did know more Italian then English, although I think it’s unlikely). But it brought up the question – if all of the languages are mutually unintelligible, do you just pick one at random?
I know that if English wasn’t an available option, I would probably choose Italian, Spanish, or French over, say, German, because I am slightly more familiar with them and they tend to sound a bit more like English. But if the machine gave me scripts I couldn’t read (say, Russian, Thai, Japanese), what would I do?
The Chinese tourists had the destination stored on their mobile phone, which was a good idea. It’s always good to have something to compare the options with. If I was going somewhere without a Romanised script, I’d probably copy and paste to my phone or iPod too.
Have you been in a situation like this? What did you do?
*The machine wasn’t that difficult to work out, but the delay made me miss my train! Luckily there was another train an hour later, and I could use the extra time to write this blog post.
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June 7, 2010 at 10:00 am
· Filed under Observations, Travel · Posted by Wendy
I didn’t know much about Hungarian food before I arrived in Budapest - just that there was goulash and sausages to be eaten in large amounts. On the way from the airport, my friend briefed me on a few words - hello (szia, pronounced a bit like ’see ya’), thank you (köszi), and a few other words which I forgot embarrassingly quickly.
Once we’d arrived at the markets, I learned quickly that paprika is very important in Hungarian cuisine. You can even buy it in strings as a souvenir. Sour cream and sausages are also used a lot, which was good news for me.
After a few meals I got a bit more familiar with the Hungarian words for food items, and quickly worked out which ones I liked (which was basically all of them). Here are a few:
gulyas - goulash, meat stew or soup
kolbász - spicy sausage
gombóc/Knödel - bread or potato dumpling, often boiled
szendvic - sandwich
torta - cake
palacsintak - thin pancakes, like French crepes, served sweet or savoury
Because all of these things were pretty delicious foods, and/or memorable words, I didn’t have much trouble learning them so I could ask for them again. If only all words had such motivational properties!
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June 3, 2010 at 10:00 am
· Filed under Hints and Tips, Observations, Travel · Posted by Wendy
I’m on holiday this month, and travelling through six different countries (with six different languages) in less than three weeks can be a bit confusing when it comes to speaking*. I’ve talked before about the things I think it’s necessary to learn when travelling to new places, but I’ve come to the conclusion that you really don’t need much besides hello, thank you, and a smile on your face while you point at things. Of course, a bit more than this is useful, but politeness will get you by, especially if the other person speaks a bit of English too.
I guess this post is just to preface the travel/communication related posts coming up, and to make an excuse for my very irregular posting!
*Thankfully a few of them use Euros so at least the money was slightly simpler.
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