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Old 06-21-11, 08:24 AM   #12
Herr-Berbunch
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Join Date: May 2010
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I'm ashamed to say only English

I can understand some French, German, Italian, Spanish, but not enough to get by with.

All I learnt at school was that in France or Germany there is always a railway (or bus) station within three streets in any direction!

My wife can speak fluent French, and can get by well in Spanish and possibly Italian. She also learnt some Russian at school and when she applied to be a military translator she had to learn some several hundred military words in Russian in a weekend. She did, but then never continued down that career path, nor did she find a use for them in civvy street and so they've disappeared down the years.

Fortunately the kids like to speak French and Italian (stepson's just been to Northern Italy), so will not be anywhere near as ignorant as I am.

When I do visit another country, I do try to pick some key words, but they stay in my brain for about a week and then just vanish - including Arabic, Albanian, Spanish, German. Now I work for a Nordic company I'd like to think I'd pick up some of their words, but which language and dialect?

Finally, it amazes me how good other nationalities can speak English. I appreciate it. I just wish more of us could return the favour.
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