ryan
Full Travel Member
Posts: 30
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Post by ryan on Jul 3, 2003 9:32:20 GMT -5
After reading a lot of posts where people encountered locals in Europe that spoke English most of the time, I must ask where they are!? I have been in Spain for over 2 weeks now and find it rare that a Spanish person know´s English. Better yet, the people in my school group have been going to a particular travel agent to arrange weekend trips and what not, and the entire time he always spoke Spanish. Personally I spent about 3 hours with this guy. Eventually, two of the girls in the group started talking about how good looking he was and whether or not he was married because he had what appeared to be a wedding band on his right hand, but not on the left as is the custom in the US. In perfect, and I mean grammatically perfect even, English he said that he was flattered that they found him attractive but he has been happily married for 3 years now and its the custom in Spain to wear the wedding band on the right hand. What´s up with that!!!
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Post by CuriousToronto on Jul 3, 2003 12:43:03 GMT -5
411 on the wedding band............. I don't know why but in pretty much all of the hispanophone countries the wedding band is worn on the right hand. I don't know why actually? I asked my parents and they don't know either. When we first moved to Canada they were kind of surprised to see people wearing them on their left hands.  |
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Post by Kim on Jul 3, 2003 13:15:15 GMT -5
This is very interesting!!
So I found this about the left hand..
The Romans, also were the ones to start wearing the wedding band on the third finger because they believed that the vein in your third finger in your left hand connected directly to the heart, the center of all love. It was also worn there to symbolize the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The left hand was used because it is the right hand which generally does all the work, and gets the dirtiest, leaving the left hand virtually clean, and therefore a better, and more sacred spot for a wedding band.
Couldn't find much on the right hand though..only this:
In Spain, both partners wear identical rings except for the size. The Spanish wear their rings on the right hand, instead of the left. Sometimes a bride will get a fancy engagement ring, and in that case the engagement ring is worn on the left hand and the wedding ring is worn on the right hand.
As far as English speaking countries.. Spain is one of the ones that we found not many people spoke English, Portugal is another. In places like Germany, Switzerland etc., it was rare to not find people that did. In Scandinavia, they spoke better English than I did.. absolutely flawless with barely even an accent. Incredible.
Kim
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Post by me on Jul 3, 2003 22:13:29 GMT -5
We found that fewer in Spain speak English, Spanish being also a world language, they don't need to speak much English. However, i think i could count the people in Portugal, with whom i wanted to speak but couldn't speak English, on one hand! there were some bus drivers in Lisbon, but not too many others! Almost all the young people speak English! - d As far as English speaking countries.. Spain is one of the ones that we found not many people spoke English, Portugal is another. In places like Germany, Switzerland etc., it was rare to not find people that did. In Scandinavia, they spoke better English than I did.. absolutely flawless with barely even an accent. Incredible. Kim |
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Post by Patrick on Jul 3, 2003 22:39:21 GMT -5
Exactly... same deal here. I found most didn't speak english in Spain at all, or very well if they did.
And yes, as you mention Kim in Scandinavia they almost all speak english and if it isn't as good as yours is they're very eager to practice with you. Try speaking a phrase in Swedish or Norwegian and see how the locals answer you ;D
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Post by Kim on Jul 4, 2003 1:08:07 GMT -5
Lord help us, please do not bring Quebec into this or it could get ugly around here again!
Kim
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Post by jennifer on Jul 4, 2003 13:38:00 GMT -5
Wow, Kim!
Haha! Not everytime someone talks about my place that I necessarily disagree...quebec people have problems too trust me on this, weirdos are everywhere!
xoxo
Jen
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Post by CuriousToronto on Jul 4, 2003 14:09:16 GMT -5
I remember the very first time I visited Tadoussac in Quebec. We were there to go whale watching. I was really young and back there it wasn't as developed as it is now. I remember arriving in town and asking around and being told that there was only 1 person that really really spoke English in the entire town. The daughter of the lady who ran this little restaurant. I was making due with my HORRID middle school French. My parents (poor parents) had to make due with Spanish and hand gestures. They did surprisingly well though!  |
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Post by me on Jul 4, 2003 14:31:23 GMT -5
Lord help us, please do not bring Quebec into this or it could get ugly around here again! Kim Oops!  |
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Post by jennifer on Jul 4, 2003 15:42:32 GMT -5
Curioustoronto, it's pretty funny you are mentionning that, in little villages around the province, english is nearly completely unknown, when you get to Montréal or Québec City, it's completely the opposite...funny thing!
Tadoussac is mostly a quiet place and doesn't do much international business, i guess that's why they don't need as much. Funny YOu'd probably get the same response if you went back!
xoxo
Jen
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Marie
Senior Travel Member
Posts: 114
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Post by Marie on Jul 6, 2003 16:33:37 GMT -5
The whole language thing is, well, complicated! I live in Montreal but in the west part of the island which is mostly english and when my cousin who lives in very small town visited she was practically outraged that you were served in english and not french!!
It's a bizarre situation but hey at least we can get around in England AND in France (but the latter tends to want to correct us when we speak beacause they think it is not proper french or they jsut switch to english to make it "easier" for us!!)
Just my 2 cents!
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Post by me on Jul 6, 2003 17:01:22 GMT -5
Well, Marie, et al, there are some older folks here, in Dallas, who are upset that Spanish is becoming more & more the lingua franca. unfortunately, some of them are trying to respond by making English the "official" language. that won't help, it'll just balkanize our population in to the English-speaking haves, and the non-English-speaking have nots, which is really a fait acompli. Besides, this plan would just give the left wing crazies an excuse to holler "culture war!" - d The whole language thing is, well, complicated! I live in Montreal but in the west part of the island which is mostly english and when my cousin who lives in very small town visited she was practically outraged that you were served in english and not french!! |
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Post by me on Jul 6, 2003 17:50:12 GMT -5
btw, those who are raised speaking two languages have a demonstrable increase in language skills! standardized testing shows it. (there are a few exceptions, but most bilingual kids do better in school, all else being equal)
- d
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Post by CuriousToronto on Jul 6, 2003 18:02:27 GMT -5
The last time I went to Tadoussac you found A LOT more people who spoke English. BUT I think that's 'cause the number of tourists had increased (it was ridiculous how many there were and how little whales there now seemed to be). That and when I first went you were forced to board the whale watching/fjord tours on the Tadoussac side. But the second time I went you boarded on the other side of the Fjord. So as such you had limited contact with the people in the town. Unless you were staying overnight -- which we didn't that time. As far as Montreal -- I studied at Laval (the University) during the summer before I started Uni. I was in this special intensive French program. Anywayz, we had to sign a contract saying we wouldn't speak English or Spanish (lots of us there who spoke the language). On the way back home at the end of the summer we stopped in Montreal. The difference was MARKED!!! I mean no one around us was speaking French and when we attempted to speak French to people many of them couldn't. French went out the window at that point and we switched backed to English!  Oh and in terms of Spanish used in the States -- that's a PRETTY BIG pet peeve of mine! It bothers me a lot when I have relatives in the States who have lived there the majority of their adult lives and don't speak the language. The REALLY OLD ones can be forgiven but I feel the other ones should learn the language!! Now I don't know if their lack of English has anything to do with their oft-illegal status..........but that's a whole other problem that bothers me! One btw, in which I don't necessarily blame the illegals! But 'nuff about that! |
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Post by CuriousToronto on Jul 6, 2003 18:05:55 GMT -5
I thought I should add to my last post. I just realized it seemed to imply that all of my relatives were illegals -- which they're not!
Granted a couple of them probably were.........but we come from El Salvador for God's sake! Some of us had no choice but to get out or be killed!!!!
Oh and before anyone asks my arrival in Canada was perfectly legal.
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