Dear blog friends and followers, be prepared to be amazed. Today I am going to share with you my many talents in the foreign language department. Perhaps you should have a seat before you read farther.
Now then, let me begin by saying how important it is, in my humble opinion, to continue learning new things each and every day. Learning stimulates the mind and keeps you on your toes. Or so the “experts” and Clay say. Therefore, I make a concerted effort to learn at least one thing new every day.
Of course, I also should let you know that I probably forget at least 2 things every day so I’m actually losing ground in the mental sharpness department. But, I digress.
Since becoming an innkeeper, I have met many, many people, some from far away lands who speaketh in unknown tongues. This being America and all, most of them at least try to communicate in English and most do very, very well. There are the occasional guests who I find myself speaking in this strange hand pointing, arm gesturing weird sort of body language communication thing, but that’s not worth mentioning.
Because I’ve met so many folks from foreign countries, I’ve taken it upon myself to learn at least 1 word of their language. Good idea right? Keep the mind as sharp as possible. I think it’s important to make the effort even if nobody else does. I mean I think it’s cool that people all over the world learn English, when a lot of Americans never bother to learn any foreign language at all. So, by making the effort, I feel like I belong in their world. Or something. Besides, having a new word to remember gives me something to chant around the house all day.
Anyway, I’ve picked up quite a few words in quite a few languages over the 18 months that I’ve been here. I’m actually rather proud of myself for being a – let’s say, middle-aged – woman who’s never attempted to learn a foreign language before. Not even in school. It’s gotten to the point where I can welcome a lot of foreign guests in their native tongues. Or, in someone’s native tongue if not their own.
You see, I can say the words, but I sometimes forgot which nationality goes with which greeting. I tend to say things like: “Bonjourno mon amis. Willkommen em Baer House.”
Sounds cool right? Impressive to the foreigners to be greeted in such an unexpected manner? And by unexpected I mean, truly, unexpected. Nobody – anywhere – greets people like that. Except maybe Switzerland, where everyone speaks at least 4 languages. Then that statement would make perfect sense. Well, no, probably not even to them.
So, while I’m beaming like the Cheshire cat, really proud of myself, thinking, “Yeah you go girl. You’ve got this language thing down. You. Are. A. Rock. Star.” My guests look at me like I’m an idiot. In response to my ear-to-ear grin, I get a puzzled look of – perhaps horror – from the folks coming in. In their minds they’re probably thinking, “Should we turn around and leave? This woman’s nuts. Does she know she’s in Mississippi?”
That’s because I’ve just greeted them in Italian, called them my friends in French, and welcomed them in German. Say what? I should probably just stick with this:
And, while I can say goodbye in 10 languages, I have to remember which one is appropriate for which guest. I might say adjö to guests from the Netherlands; however, I haven’t said goodbye in Dutch, their native tongue, I’ve said it in Swedish. Sounds the same to me. I usually get the au revoirs and auf wiedersehens right, but I almost always forget arrivederci for the Italians. Fortunately for the Portuguese and Italians “chow” works even though they spell it differently. Good thing I’m not giving them a written send off. The Italians spell it ciao, while the Portuguese spell it tchau. Don’t even ask me to attempt to say anything in Dutch.
And then there’s the whole breakfast conversations with all the guten morgens, bon appetites, guten appetites, dank jes, dankes, je vous remercis, and whatnot. It gets ugly people. Let’s just shut up and eat okay? S’il vous plait amigos? (Damn, I did it again.)
And when y’all are leaving I’m going to say, “Adieu, auf wiedersehen, adios, aloha, ciao, sayonara, zài jiàn, adjö, arrivederci, and good-bye,” all in a row. That’ll impress the hell out of them! Well, it’ll get ’em leaving mighty fast anyway.
And they think English is confusing. Sheesh.
I think it’s time for me to give up learning foreign words and still with good old fashioned English. What say you?
Do you speak a foreign language? How do you communicate with someone who doesn’t speak English? Do you think my multi-lingual mash-up welcome greeting sounds cool?
Word of the Day: gimcrack
Fun fact about me: Foreign language was never a required class when I was in school.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt April 2017. Photos courtesy Google Images.
All those visuals are awesome! I took 4 years of French in high school (not that I remember much of it beyond la salle de bains…because it’s really important to know where the bathroom is in any country, right?). I’m a horrible communicator with people who don’t know much English. I pretty much nod my head and smile and hope they don’t expect a response. Jack’s TKD master is Korean, and I always dreaded it when he stopped me to talk. I’m pretty sure he thought I was an idiot most of the time. You’re doing way better than I am in the language department!
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It’s challenging, but fun, too. I just sort of throw in a word or two now and then then laugh and tell people I have no idea what I’m saying. It’s all good. I love it when I get it right though.
I don’t think I’d be able to learn Korean. Every word sounds the same.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great rest of the week.
Patricia
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I must say I’m impressed with your gimcrack lingual skills. When I was younger I could speak Spanish almost fluently, and I could do reasonably well in French, but I needed speakers of both languages to slow down. Lack of use has greatly reduced my ability in both languages.
Lack of interest has reduced it even more. With 8.3 billion Hispanics in Texas who refuse to learn our language, I don’t try to speak theirs. Of course, I’m not an innkeeper. I suppose you need to communicate with your guests. Or, when someone calls with a heavy accent to try to make a reservation, you could keep a few handy phrases to say “I don’t understand” in some language you’re pretty sure is not theirs.
BTW, most of your ‘words of the day’ seem like foreign languages to me.
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Forgot to say how much I enjoy your posts. Perhaps you should write a bunch of them ahead of time if you intend to continue forgetting two things for each new thing you learn. lol
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Yeah, I never learned much Spanish either for that very reason. In California we had lots of Hispanics and they rarely spoke English. It was annoying. Sometimes I knew what they were saying, or could figure it out, but they didn’t know that. I refused to speak Spanish to them. However, when I went to Mexico, I tried.
Thanks for appreciating my gimcrack skills. Only you would go to great lengths to use that word in a sentence. And I appreciate you for that.
Patricia
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This is wonderful. Don’t give it up. Even if you’re not getting the nationality and language correct, you’re making the effort, which is totally awesome! I learned french in school (it’s Canada’s second language) and put my boys into french immersion. I remembered enough from school to be able to read them bedtime stories, but after, I’d have to get them to tell me what the story was about, lol!
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Yeah, we’ve had some French Canadians who tried to teach me a thing or two about French. I didn’t tell them I already knew the 2 words they “taught” me. What they don’t know won’t hurt them ‘eh?
Bedtime stories in French? How cool would that sound? It’s cool that you did that. I hope your children have fond memories of that.
Thanks for stopping by.
Patricia
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LOL at least you’re trying! I learned French in school (5 years of it), and can still read it to some extent, but try to avoid speaking it, even when in France!
Never met anyone – here, or in China, or France – who knew NO English at all. If I did, I’d be in trouble!
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I do think it’s interesting that people EVERYWHERE speak English. What does that say about America? Hmmmm? Oh, wait, I guess the English spoke it first right? Silly me.
Have a great week, Jennette. I hope the house plans are shaping up well.
Patricia
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You are a woman of many talents! 🙂
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Unfortunately linguistics is not one of them.
I’d rely on you heavily should I ever travel to France with your writer’s retreat get-away. That would be a real learning the language experience fully immersed in the country.
Good to see you Patricia!
Patricia
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I understand they now have translation phone apps but my phone doesn’t understand me when I speak English so I guess that wouldn’t help
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That’s probably ‘cuz you speak that funny southern English.
Thanks for visiting Morgan.
Patricia
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How in the world did I miss leaving a comment? I read it… darn – the memory is going. I am duly impressed. I remember when I was in hospitality business and speaking Spanish in the back of the house and attempting to speak French (I took two years of French in college and 2 in high school) in the front of the house – it was a French bakery and cafe. In our school district we have over 100 different languages spoken at home. Last year I had a young lady who spoke Portuguese – she was from Brazil, this year I have a girl who is from Portugal, a boy from Finland, and another boy from India who speaks Hindi (I think). French is similar to Portuguese, but Finish is not related to any of the European languages and Hindi – I am lost. They speak enough English to survive, but need help understanding the deeper concepts. it’s a delicate balance – but they work hard and put forth 101% effort. Au revoir until tomorrow. Have a great week.
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Wow – that’s a bundle of different – not only languages – but cultures to have to be sensitive to. Kudos to you my friend.
Thanks for coming back and commenting. Nice to know you’re thinking of me.
Have a great week. “See” you soon.
Patricia
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