Speak the language
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I can make myself understood in French, Spanish and Italian and Mrs M has pretty good German. We enjoy using the language of any country we're visiting and, although in most hotels and city restaurants you get answered in English, when you're in more remote
places it's good to be able to speak the lingo! Last year we went to Croatia and Montenegro, staying in hotels where English was widely used. But the smile on the receptionist's and waitress's faces when we said "Good morning" or asked for a particular item
made the small effort involved in learning those phrases well worth while. (Of course, they could have just been smiling at a broad Wiltshire accent attempting "Dobre Vecer"!
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Its polite and respectful to at least attempt to converse in the language of the country you are visiting.
No doubt there will be some languages in which we are limited but it is appreciated if expressions like please, thank you, hello, goodby, etc are used.
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In the Czech Republic last year our satnav packed up and maps were next to useless and despite having the directions to the site we couldn't find it. After a while I pulled into a garage and ask the lady behind the counter if she could help, no she couldn't
but the guy behind me said wait he would help. Anyway he said he would lead us to the site, some 30 k's on we arrived. When I offered him money he just wouldn't take it saying enjoy your holiday. We found the vast majority of Czech people delightful with
good command of English0 -
Good one Cath.
We had our old favourite Chikin Gordon Blue followed by Crap Suset on the English menu at a beach bar in Thailand - you know, those pancakes soaked with orange liqueur and then set alight.
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For visitors to Portugal, it's worth knowing the correct pronounciation of the letter combination 'ão'. The sound is a bit like 'awn' as in 'lawn' buy with a hint of a 'g' at the end, Examples are
Pão = bread; Não = no. Similarly for place names such as Portomão ( not Porto Mayo!) ;Armação de Pera, and Olhão.
The latter is not 'Olly Oh' but the 'h' makes a 'y' sound so its a bit like 'All yawn'. We know this because we asked at the campsite Recepção
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Esperanto would be useful
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I am enjoying this thread. If you've ever stood in a French pharmacy trying to explain what you need for any variety of ailments knowing a few body parts is also helpful.
Apologies for the repeat but the BBC has some useful on line courses in many languages. Just go to their language section and have a go.
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I hurriedly put this together for my son when he took his dog to France (where I lived and worked for 9 years). It may not be perfect pet French (I never had to visit a vet in France!) but good enough if needed and it could come in handy to a stressed owner or in an emergency. As it happened he didn't need it. Not unusual, as with most things when one prepares, but it's here in case anyone's interested. (Approx phonetics given in italics where I could be bothered, for some words)....
We are on holiday from England with a caravan / motorhome
Nous sommes en vacances (pron. vakonce) d’angleterre avec caravane / camping car.
Excuse me Sir/Madame, my dog is ill. Where is the nearest vet?
Pardon Monsieur / Madame, mon chien (shan) est (ay) malade (mallarde). S’il vous plait (seelvooplay) ou (oo) est (ay) la veterinaire (vetterreenair) le plus (ploo) proche (prosh) ?
His name is Bobby. He is 5 years old.
Il s’appelle Bobby. Il a cinq ans.
We have lost him since 1 hour / 2 hours / this morning / yesterday.
Il est perdu (pairdew) depuis (derpwee) une heure / deux heures / ce matin (mattan) / hier (ee-air).
He/she has been castrated / spayed.
Il (elle) est (ay) castre (castray) / sterilise (sterryleezay)
He is a terrier, white, hair a little curly, short / long, quite small. He weighs 12 kilos with quite a long tail.
Il est terrier (terreeay), blanc, cheveux (sherveur) un peu (per) boucle (booklay) / courts (coor) / long, tout (too) petit (pertee) . Son poids est de douze (dooze) kilos avec la queue (cue) toute (toot) longue (long).
My mobile number is on his collar
Mon numero portable est grave (gravay) sur son collier ( kollyay)
I think he has swallowed something poisonous / distasteful / sharp / hard / a piece of bone / a stone
Je pense ( ponce) qu’il a avale (avverlay) quelque chose ( kelker-shows) toxique / degoutant
( daygooton) / tranchant (tronshon) / dur ( dure) /un morceau (moreso) d’os (d’oh) / une pierre
He is vomiting
Il a vomissments
Yellow / brown / blood /
Jaune (schjorn) / brun / sang
After eating - occasionally / frequently
Apres (appray) manger (monshay) - quelquefois (kelker fwar) / souvent (soovornt)
He has difficulty swallowing food / drink
Il a difficulte (difficultay) avec l’absorption d’alimentation / boissons (bwarsson)
He has not eaten / drunk today / for two days / since Monday / Tuesday …..
Il n’a pas mangé (monjay) / bu (bue) aujhord’hui / pendant (pondon) deux jours / depuis (derpwee) Lundi / Mardi….
His paw is cut / sore
Sa patte (patt) est coupe (coopay) / irritee ( irreetay).
He was bitten by another dog / cat.
Il etait mordu (mawdoo) par un autre (ortrer) chien / chat (shar)
He has a problem with his mouth / teeth / bottom / diarrhoea / ear / eye / tail / nose
Il est mal a la bouche (booosh) / les dents (dornt) / le derriere / diarrhee (deearray) / l’oreille (lorray) / l’œil (lay) / la queue (kue) / le nez (nay)
He has bad breath
Il a halitose (allietoze)
He needs some flea powder / ointment
Il a besoin (bezwann) de poudre (poodrer) / creme (krem) antipuces (anti-pyousse)
He scratches / bites his ear / tummy / nose / paw / leg / bottom
Il griffe / mord souvent son oreille / ventre / nez / patte / jambe / derriere
Does he need antibiotics ?
A-t-il (arhteel) besoin (bezwain) de traitement antibiotique?
Please may I have a copy of the bill? We have pet insurance.
S’il vous plait une copie de la facture. Nous avons assurance chien.
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I hurriedly put this together for my son when he took his dog to France (where I lived and worked for 9 years). It may not be perfect pet French (I never had to visit a vet in France!) but good enough if needed and it could come in handy to a stressed owner or
in an emergency. As it happened he didn't need it. Not unusual, as with most things when one prepares, but it's here in case anyone's interested. (Approx phonetics given in italics where I could be bothered, for some words)....We are on holiday from England with a caravan / motorhome
Nous sommes en vacances (pron.
vakonce) d’angleterre avec caravane / camping car.Excuse me Sir/Madame, my dog is ill. Where is the nearest vet?
Pardon Monsieur / Madame, mon chien (shan) est (ay) malade (mallarde).
S’il vous plait (seelvooplay) ou (oo) est (ay) la veterinaire (vetterreenair) le
plus (ploo) proche (prosh) ?His name is Bobby. He is 5 years old.
Il s’appelle Bobby. Il a cinq ans.
We have lost him since 1 hour / 2 hours / this morning / yesterday.
Il est perdu (pairdew) depuis (derpwee) une heure / deux heures / ce matin
(mattan) / hier (ee-air).He/she has been castrated / spayed.
Il (elle) est
(ay) castre (castray) / sterilise (sterryleezay)He is a terrier, white, hair a little curly, short / long, quite small. He weighs 12 kilos with quite a long tail.
Il est terrier (terreeay), blanc, cheveux (sherveur) un
peu (per) boucle (booklay) / courts (coor) / long, tout (too) petit (pertee)
. Son poids est de douze (dooze) kilos avec la queue (cue) toute (toot) longue (long).My mobile number is on his collar
Mon numero portable est grave (gravay) sur son collier (
kollyay)I think he has swallowed something poisonous / distasteful / sharp / hard / a piece of bone / a stone
Je pense (
ponce) qu’il a avale (avverlay) quelque chose (
kelker-shows) toxique / degoutant(
daygooton) / tranchant (tronshon) / dur (
dure) /un morceau (moreso) d’os (d’oh) / une pierreHe is vomiting
Il a vomissments
Yellow / brown / blood /
Jaune (schjorn) / brun / sang
After eating - occasionally / frequently
Apres (appray)
manger (monshay) - quelquefois (kelker fwar) / souvent (soovornt)He has difficulty swallowing food / drink
Il a difficulte
(difficultay) avec l’absorption d’alimentation / boissons (bwarsson)He has not eaten / drunk today / for two days / since Monday / Tuesday …..
Il n’a pas mangé (monjay) / bu (bue) aujhord’hui / pendant (pondon)
deux jours / depuis (derpwee) Lundi / Mardi….His paw is cut / sore
Sa patte (patt) est coupe (coopay) / irritee (
irreetay).He was bitten by another dog / cat.
Il etait mordu (mawdoo) par un autre (ortrer) chien / chat (shar)
He has a problem with his mouth / teeth / bottom / diarrhoea / ear / eye / tail / nose
Il est mal a la bouche (booosh) / les dents (dornt) / le derriere / diarrhee (deearray)
/ l’oreille (lorray) / l’œil (lay) / la queue (kue) / le nez (nay)He has bad breath
Il a halitose (allietoze)
He needs some flea powder / ointment
Il a besoin (bezwann) de poudre (poodrer) / creme (krem)
antipuces (anti-pyousse)He scratches / bites his ear / tummy / nose / paw / leg / bottom
Il griffe / mord souvent son oreille / ventre / nez / patte / jambe / derriere
Does he need antibiotics ?
A-t-il (arhteel) besoin (bezwain) de traitement antibiotique?
Please may I have a copy of the bill? We have pet insurance.
S’il vous plait une copie de la facture. Nous avons assurance chien.
Looking back at this thread, and your suggested phonetic pronunciation, we're a bit puzzled by the inclusion of 'r' in many examples. Eg arhteel. Ah teel - surely? Or are you using the intrusive 'r' found in some English regional accents?
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Och. I dina ken pas this language stuff. But polite responses are appreciated such as 'please', 'thank you' etc wherever you go. Don't worry too much about grammar, just 1st person singular will do when ordering a beer/wine.
PS. And I lived in France for 6 years!
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I (Chas) went to reception at our campsite in Croatia to ask for help. I told the receptionist that I had lost a filling and needed to see a dentist. She phoned the local dentist and made an appontment for me that evening at 6.30pm.
When I arrived at the dentist, I thanked her for seeing me so quickly. She smiled and said that she thought it was an emergency because I had "lost all feeling".
'Feeling' is a euroword from popsongs and films,apparently. 'Filling' is not a word generally taught in English studies
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Och. I dina ken pas this language stuff. But polite responses are appreciated such as 'please', 'thank you' etc wherever you go. Don't worry too much about grammar, just 1st person singular will do when ordering a beer/wine.
PS. And I lived in France for 6 years!
Like Comeyras, having just bought a little house in France, we've just experienced life in France (not just caravanning) - and have managed perfectly well with one (or maybe two incorrect) tenses! We 'banter' with the local hunters, (who joke with us about how bad our French is), we enjoy 'conversations' at the bread van with our neighbours, and we have a great time.
I didn't even do O level French, but enjoy chatting to the ninety-odd year old village 'Matriarch' and even managed to give her my recipe for Seville orange marmalade, after we'd given everyone in the village a pot as a 'Thank you' for making us so welcome. She understood perfectly, used the recipe, and gave us pot of what she'd produced with oranges from her daughter's tree! It took a long time, and a lot of 'thinking time' but we managed to have a perfectly understandable 'conversation'.
We've also discussed the Scottish referendum, with two Frenchmen who invited us to play Boules - they explained the rules of Boules, and the techniques, and we had to explain our feelings about Scotland devolving from England - all without much of each other's language - but again we managed!
You may be surprised just how much 'school' French comes back to you - and not of 'La Plume de ma Tante...........' variety. And you may be amazed at how tolerant the French are if you just attempt to speak to them, however badly.
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So right ValDa - if you try to speak French it helps - although I have found annoyingly that they much prefer to practice their English on me. Its the first attempt they appreciate - many years ago I once travelled with a very arrogant Englishman who thought
that if he shouted loud enough in English he would get what he wanted - WRONG - I had to rescue him from several awkward situations because I speak a little French - I also got some very sympathetic responses because they were sorry for me travelling with
such an idiot!With phrase book or apps it is quite easy to at least show willing. I had a rather bizarre situation in the Vendee arriving on site - they couldn't find my car reggo or my address but it turned out they were searching for me on the Dutch Database! It was
the only site where I actually could practice my French - rather than have them practice their English! We all had a good laugh about them thinking I was Dutch though!0 -
I was amused when in the Flemish speaking part of belgium about 12 years ago. We were in a Christmas market. I speak a little french. Very rusty now. What amused me was that when my poor french was used I was able to make myself understood by the locals.
When some French people tried to converse they pretended not to understand.0 -
I was amused when in the Flemish speaking part of belgium about 12 years ago. We were in a Christmas market. I speak a little french. Very rusty now. What amused me was that when my poor french was used I was able to make myself understood by the locals.
When some French people tried to converse they pretended not to understand.When in Flanders, where they speak Flemish, a form of Dutch, you normally get the short shrift if you speak French
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I was amused when in the Flemish speaking part of belgium about 12 years ago. We were in a Christmas market. I speak a little french. Very rusty now. What amused me was that when my poor french was used I was able to make myself understood by the locals. When some French people tried to converse they pretended not to understand.
When in Flanders, where they speak Flemish, a form of Dutch, you normally get the short shrift if you speak French
I know but they are more tolerant of an English man speaking French than a French man
That is why I found it amusing0 -
I (Chas) went to reception at our campsite in Croatia to ask for help. I told the receptionist that I had lost a filling and needed to see a dentist. She phoned the local dentist and made an appontment for me that evening at 6.30pm.
When I arrived at the dentist, I thanked her for seeing me so quickly. She smiled and said that she thought it was an emergency because I had "lost all feeling".
'Feeling' is a euroword from popsongs and films,apparently. 'Filling' is not a word generally taught in English studies
Write your comments here...gives a whole new angle on that song . Feelings. OHHOA Feelings, ........obvious, now someone with a toothache.
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In practice I have never worried about not knowing the language and this is from someone who didn't go abroad until the age of 50. I have visited Austria x 3, Hungary x2, Spain, Germany x 7, Italy x 2 and even had to pass through France and Belgium all without
being able to speak any of the languages. So given The last time I looked Europe consisted of more than just France, how about some discussion about other languages?!0 -
" how about some discussion about other languages?" Here's a true story from Italy way back in the days of Lira and when you had to pay at the till for a drink before being served.
We were in a campsite bar. There was a heated argument going on between an Italien customer and the man behind the till. The man kept offering the customer a telephone token, and the customer kept saying "geene tonic". Eventually he got his drink - it must have been an accent problem.
(in the days of lira, a phone call would have cost thousands of lira, and so tokens were used. Look up the Italien word for token)
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I bought a medical phrase book on the ferry last time en route for France - then I went back and bought another for my brother and his wife who have had a few health problems and now are resident. They chat very well indeed - but the medical seems to catch
them out. My brother was chatting to a waiter in French and an englishwoman called him to her table - saying she had lived in france for 14 years and had never felt the need to speak French - shame on her say I!0 -
whem we were in France At Gien we met a couple who had been going to france for the last ten years ot so yet could not order a cup of coffee in french, they told us they could not speak any french at all . mine is very basic but i try when over in france
most of the French can speak english but will not unless you try to speak french then they suddenly speak english0 -
Shame on the people you met for not making the effort - say I! It isn't difficult to try! My annoyance is that if (in France) I try to say something that the French don't understand - they repeat what I have said and it sounds exactly what I said (to me) but to them it's clearly different! I remember being on a French site and some German visitors greeted me with "Guten Tag" - since I was beside my brit car - I did think they might have done better! Bonjour would have been more acceptable. I have a feeling it is being tall that gets me mistaken for German but it does annoy me - people shouldn't ASSume what nationality others belong to.
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