Travel

[yakherder]

(06-05-2015 07:46 AM)Full Circle Wrote:  

(05-05-2015 11:17 AM)yakherder Wrote:  And to add to my previous post, my view on language is different than a lot of Americans or Canadians. In much of America it's learn the language or get out, and in Quebec people are so paranoid about English overtaking French that they've got language auditors who go around passing out tickets for infractions. At a Chinese restaurant I frequent, the owner got a $500 fine for greeting one of these auditors with "hello bonjour" instead of "bonjour hello," because you're supposed to greet in French first. All business signs must also have French in a larger font than, and on top of, any English text.

I just can't bring myself to be emotionally attached to a language. The whole world could convert to Esperanto for all I care. I learn languages because I have a rational reason to do so, but I don't feel bad about the fact that languages become extinct when speaking them is no longer practical.

That is crazy.

Americans can get hung up on language, maybe not as extreme as the Canucks, but still. In more than one instance while I have been speaking Spanish I have heard people numble nearby, “learn to speak English” not realizing that I speak both fluently, English more so than Spanish. I speak it more out of necessity than anything else but I’m glad I know more than one, especially when I travel South of the Border or to Spain.

I find it ironic that a country made up of immigrants has little tolerence for immigrants.

My main reason for speaking Chinese is that sometimes it gets me free appetizers in Chinatown.

[Full Circle]

(06-05-2015 08:01 AM)yakherder Wrote:  

(06-05-2015 07:46 AM)Full Circle Wrote:  That is crazy.

Americans can get hung up on language, maybe not as extreme as the Canucks, but still. In more than one instance while I have been speaking Spanish I have heard people numble nearby, “learn to speak English” not realizing that I speak both fluently, English more so than Spanish. I speak it more out of necessity than anything else but I’m glad I know more than one, especially when I travel South of the Border or to Spain.

I find it ironic that a country made up of immigrants has little tolerence for immigrants.

My main reason for speaking Chinese is that sometimes it gets me free appetizers in Chinatown.

My main reason for speaking Spanish is to order "palomilla, termino medio, con arroz, frijoles y una orden de maduros."

[unfogged]

(06-05-2015 09:21 AM)Full Circle Wrote:  My main reason for speaking Spanish is to order "palomilla, termino medio, con arroz, frijoles y una orden de maduros."

According to Google translator:
"moth, average, with rice, beans and ripe order"

Doesn't sound very appetizing...

[yakherder]

(06-05-2015 10:05 AM)unfogged Wrote:  

(06-05-2015 09:21 AM)Full Circle Wrote:  My main reason for speaking Spanish is to order "palomilla, termino medio, con arroz, frijoles y una orden de maduros."

According to Google translator:
"moth, average, with rice, beans and ripe order"

Doesn't sound very appetizing...

Don't knock moth con pollo til you've tried it.

[unfogged]

(21-04-2015 12:33 PM)Full Circle Wrote:  Who else here is addicted to seeing new places and experiencing new things?

I enjoy seeing new places and experiencing new things. I HATE the actual traveling, staying in hotels, not having my normal stuff handy, and having to find places to get what I'm looking for. If I have to travel I want it to be for at least a month, preferably longer, so that I can actually learn a bit about the area and start to get a feel for living there.

If it is just going to be a short trip then I'd just a soon see a documentary or read about it and avoid the hassles. I don't get enough out of actually being there to make it worth the trouble.

[Full Circle]

(06-05-2015 10:05 AM)unfogged Wrote:  

(06-05-2015 09:21 AM)Full Circle Wrote:  My main reason for speaking Spanish is to order "palomilla, termino medio, con arroz, frijoles y una orden de maduros."

According to Google translator:
"moth, average, with rice, beans and ripe order"

Doesn't sound very appetizing...

Google isn’t much of a connoiseur.

Flank steak, medium, with rice, black beans and fried plantains. Come down to South Florida and I’ll take you out to have some, then a Cuban coffee so you won’t sleep for two days.

[Full Circle]

(06-05-2015 10:27 AM)unfogged Wrote:  

(21-04-2015 12:33 PM)Full Circle Wrote:  Who else here is addicted to seeing new places and experiencing new things?

I enjoy seeing new places and experiencing new things. I HATE the actual traveling, staying in hotels, not having my normal stuff handy, and having to find places to get what I'm looking for. If I have to travel I want it to be for at least a month, preferably longer, so that I can actually learn a bit about the area and start to get a feel for living there.

If it is just going to be a short trip then I'd just a soon see a documentary or read about it and avoid the hassles. I don't get enough out of actually being there to make it worth the trouble.

The packing sucks, I’m heading out tomorrow and already my wife and I are at each other’s throats...once on the plane we mellow out but until then we are pretty uptight.

[unfogged]

(06-05-2015 11:52 AM)Full Circle Wrote:  Come down to South Florida and I’ll take you out to have some, then a Cuban coffee so you won’t sleep for two days.

I drink tea that has some caffeine in it but that's about it. I haven't had coffee in years and can count the number of sodas I've had in the last year on one hand. If I had a strong coffee I probably wouldn't sleep for a week.

[Marozz]

I travelled a lot in my younger days. I lived in Holland for ten years and from there it was easy to travel throughout Europe. I managed to learn to speak Dutch, which came in handy as I work for the Dutch department of a US company here in Ireland. I've been to the US once, and I enjoyed it. It was back in the 90's. Flew into Denver and drove through the Rockies. Amazing. After ten years in Holland I came back to Ireland and married an Irish girl. Travel after that depended on child friendly locations. I must admit that I did enjoy Euro Disney in Paris.

These days I like to travel around Ireland. It's my own country but in my younger days I tended to always travel abroad. This year we're going north for summer. We're going to spend a few days in Iceland. Something different and I must say I'm looking forward to it.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I've lived in Iran (for four years) and Spain (for eight months). Stationed in Saudi Arabia for four months in 1992, and did a month TDY in Roswell, New Mexico, which counts as foreign travel to me.

I'll be spending 9 nines in SoCal this June, but having lived there for so long, I don't really consider it traveling. I'm hoping to visit the UK with my woman (who's from London) next year.