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Jun. 8th, 2011 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesDo any of you know a good way to learn enough of a foreign language to be a tourist (aka read signs, ask for directions and where the bathroom is, etc.)? Specific book (series) or programs are always helpful -- name names!
I'm going to Nantes, France for a conference in the fall. Now the two times I've been to a non-English speaking part of the world when I was old enough to speak in complete sentences*, most of the tourist-interacting parts of the country were Anglophones. But both were Spanish-speaking parts of the world (Spain and Puerto Rico), and I actually do speak Spanish, so even if I was confronted with someone who didn't speak a lick of English, I could resort to Spanish. Granted, on the trip to Spain I had one year of Spanish, and to Puerto Rico, I hadn't spoken Spanish in almost a decade, but it was better than nothing. But I know very little French beyond 'Hello, how's it going? My name is Rebecca!'. Even 'how do I get to the hotel X?' and 'please speak slowly' would be something.
Plus, my dad told me of one of his travel stories. He was attending a conference in Japan. Not in Tokyo or one of the big cities, but in some town off the beaten path which didn't get many tourists. Dad had hoped to do a little bit of tourism while he was there, but turns out his flight left just enough time to take the train to and from the conference site.
Now, at the end of the conference he and some Well Known Scientist happen to be both trying to get to the train station at the same time. They might have been talking, because I remember Dad telling me that WKS was giving him a hard time about not spending more time in Japan. So they get into the cab, and WKS tells the driver repeatedly (in English) to go to the train station. Unfortunately, the driver doesn't speak English because, well, he drives a taxi in small town Japan in the 1980s. Dad didn't speak Japanese, but he did learn a few words while on the plane out (thanks to a book for tourists), so he quickly said 'eki' (train station), to let the poor driver off the hook. I don't even think Dad could manage a complete sentence like 'I want to go to the train station, please', but it was enough to get him to Tokyo in time to catch his flight.
* I spent some months living in Germany as a toddler. While Mom reports that I spoke both German and English equally well by the end, learning two languages at once is not really relevant here. I am sad that we didn't hang around long enough for me to remember any of the German, though it does make me wonder if I'd have a better 'ear' for it than other non-English languages.
I'm going to Nantes, France for a conference in the fall. Now the two times I've been to a non-English speaking part of the world when I was old enough to speak in complete sentences*, most of the tourist-interacting parts of the country were Anglophones. But both were Spanish-speaking parts of the world (Spain and Puerto Rico), and I actually do speak Spanish, so even if I was confronted with someone who didn't speak a lick of English, I could resort to Spanish. Granted, on the trip to Spain I had one year of Spanish, and to Puerto Rico, I hadn't spoken Spanish in almost a decade, but it was better than nothing. But I know very little French beyond 'Hello, how's it going? My name is Rebecca!'. Even 'how do I get to the hotel X?' and 'please speak slowly' would be something.
Plus, my dad told me of one of his travel stories. He was attending a conference in Japan. Not in Tokyo or one of the big cities, but in some town off the beaten path which didn't get many tourists. Dad had hoped to do a little bit of tourism while he was there, but turns out his flight left just enough time to take the train to and from the conference site.
Now, at the end of the conference he and some Well Known Scientist happen to be both trying to get to the train station at the same time. They might have been talking, because I remember Dad telling me that WKS was giving him a hard time about not spending more time in Japan. So they get into the cab, and WKS tells the driver repeatedly (in English) to go to the train station. Unfortunately, the driver doesn't speak English because, well, he drives a taxi in small town Japan in the 1980s. Dad didn't speak Japanese, but he did learn a few words while on the plane out (thanks to a book for tourists), so he quickly said 'eki' (train station), to let the poor driver off the hook. I don't even think Dad could manage a complete sentence like 'I want to go to the train station, please', but it was enough to get him to Tokyo in time to catch his flight.
* I spent some months living in Germany as a toddler. While Mom reports that I spoke both German and English equally well by the end, learning two languages at once is not really relevant here. I am sad that we didn't hang around long enough for me to remember any of the German, though it does make me wonder if I'd have a better 'ear' for it than other non-English languages.
