It seems to me that if one goes to a foreign country, one ought to have a few basic words such as: hello, goodbye, thank you, yes and no. One also needs a ready smile easy after a few tigres, and a willingness to shake hands.. I have but three words of Chineese (I think they are the first three), and I'm still not sure which is which. However, the Chinese and Malasian are smart enough to realise that they have a difficult language, and have few expectations of foreigners learning it. Hence even just trying to speak it is much appreciated.
(I recall going into an office in Kluang, and saying, basically, 'Hello' in Malay. The man called the people in from all the outer offices, to meet this Englishman who could speak Malaysian!!!)
In German, it is etiquette to reply to someone saying 'thank-you'. Thank-you is 'danke' (pronounced 'danker') and the reply is 'bitte' (pronounced 'bitter').
Of course, it is also true that the more of the language one speaks, the more sense one can make of the country and its peoples.
I admit to being a poor linguist. In European languages, after English, I'm best at German then French. I can generally ask for what I want, but I often have difficulty with the reply if it is neither 'Yes' nor 'No'.
I've been told by people who know about these things that the easiest way to learn a language is to (and I quote) "Take a lover who speaks only the chosen language". I don't know that I have ever 'taken' a lover - I've had to work bloody hard for them!!!
To those few people who complain about my lack of languages, I explain that , in fact, I speak a great many - English, American, Canadian, Australian, South African etc. etc. etc.
Hope you enjoyed the saga from magic
Please tune in or click in and leave your Hi and I’m still here chaps. Till next time have a great weekend and when your downing that golden necktar Tiger have one for me.
Magic
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