Re: TOOOOO FUNNY FOR WORDS

by Parker Thu Aug 25, 2011 12:39 am

M&M wrote:Well we are not in the US so what is the excuse for not studying Spanish every day and speaking it after 3 or 4 years when you live in Mexico?
I know age, tell me I sometimes cannot remember my name.

We have lived all over the world and have normally found there is someone that speaks English. In the rural areas not as much, so I carry a 2/6 inch calculator (with different chips for different languages) that has, in the most part, worked for us. If someone was to ask me what the “Universal” language will be, I would have to say English. English is the financial language. ( follow the money Very Happy

)

by M&M Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:44 am

[quote="Parker"][quote="M&M"]Well we are not in the US so what is the excuse for not studying Spanish every day and speaking it after 3 or 4 years when you live in Mexico?
I know age, tell me I sometimes cannot remember my name. Very Happy

[/quote]

We have lived all over the world and have normally found there is someone that speaks English. In the rural areas not as much, so I carry a 2/6 inch calculator (with different chips for different languages) that has, in the most part, worked for us. If someone was to ask me what the “Universal” language will be, I would have to say English. English is the financial language. ( follow the money Very Happy

)[/quote]

It all depends what part of the world you are in, I just came back from an International conference and English was not sufficient to communicate with most participants, you also needed Spanish, French ans some Russian.Arabic was also useful.
I said to a Pakistani who lived in NY and was with people from Mongolia "well with English, French and Spanish you can pretty much comunicate in most countries", his answer was "it depends in what part of the world you are."
In our little work group we had a man from Cameroon, a woman from Cambodia, a man from Haiti, a man from Mexico, a couple of Spaniards, a Berber from Algeria and a woman from Ukrain, I can tell you English was not sufficient .
There is no such a think as Universal language, it all depends where you live.

The interesting part of this is that the Mexican man I was with who did not speak anything but Spanisih came back from the conference and is now taking English classes, He told me " I realize now how important it is to learn another language". He did not say well I am going to get a translator as he knows that these things are useless if you really have to communicate.
He was blown away to see how many people from all backgrounds from vailed women to savy business people were speaking several languages and saw how isolated the ones who could not communicate were.
English may be the busisness and financial language in many people eyes but when you start going outside of cities , the universl language is whatever language people have in comon in that area.

by locogringo Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:00 am

martygraw wrote:No, not much incentive at all, unless of course you wanted to travel, and or, live in a country that does not have English as it's first language.

Actually, I studied Spanish in high school, two years of Castillian Spanish (the only "foreign" language offered) that no one speaks. At the age of 15, I was not thinking a lot about wanting to live in other countries and was too poor at that time to travel much past Ensenada where speaking Spanish is not necessary for communication. In the course of subsequent business travels I did not find it necessary to learn Portuguese, Spanish, French, or Gaelic for that matter. I suppose that when I was in Vancouver, BC. I should have learned Mandarin, or Pakistani, when I worked in Toronto.

by M&M Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:10 am

[quote="locogringo"][quote="martygraw"]No, not much incentive at all, unless of course you wanted to travel, and or, live in a country that does not have English as it's first language.[/quote]
Actually, I studied Spanish in high school, two years of Castillian Spanish (the only "foreign" language offered) that no one speaks. At the age of 15, I was not thinking a lot about wanting to live in other countries and was too poor at that time to travel much past Ensenada where speaking Spanish is not necessary for communication. In the course of subsequent business travels I did not find it necessary to learn Portuguese, Spanish, French, or Gaelic for that matter. I suppose that when I was in Vancouver, BC. I should have learned Mandarin, or Pakistani, when I worked in Toronto.[/quote]

You do not need to go to Mexico to learn Spanish and I can tell you that if you speak Castillan Spanish you can communicate in Spanish with a few million people. That excuse of speaking Castillan or Parisian French or the Queen´s English and therefore having learned a useless language is BS from people who do not speak a language. French Canadian speak a different French from the Parisian French and they can communicate, Spaniards and people from Latin America can communicate although their Spanish is different.
Your statement about not having to learn another language reflects your attitude which to other people who took the time to learn other languages look very arrogant and ignorant .
There is no such a thing as Pakistani language, The main language there is URDU but many other languages are spoken in Pakistan.

by espíritu del lago Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:42 am

English may be the busisness and financial language in many people eyes but when you start going outside of cities , the universl language is whatever language people have in comon in that area.

Very true so do your research and learn the basics for thru travel and the common where you decide to reside..

by simpsca Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:53 am

I don't remember Jim saying that his wife doesn't speak Spanish. I do speak the language and have also be asked for bribes - once for a scam a motor cycle police and truck were in together in Chapala, and several other times when I used to have a US plated car. Stopped for no reason and told if I wanted my drivers license back I would pay the amount he asked.

So I don't think the payment she made had anything to do with her language skills. Only the police taking advantage of and 86 year old mother and her daughter in law. Why would you want to bash the victim?

by Parker Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:57 am

M&M wrote:
Parker wrote:
M&M wrote:Well we are not in the US so what is the excuse for not studying Spanish every day and speaking it after 3 or 4 years when you live in Mexico?
I know age, tell me I sometimes cannot remember my name.

We have lived all over the world and have normally found there is someone that speaks English. In the rural areas not as much, so I carry a 2/6 inch calculator (with different chips for different languages) that has, in the most part, worked for us. If someone was to ask me what the “Universal” language will be, I would have to say English. English is the financial language. ( follow the money )

It all depends what part of the world you are in, I just came back from an International conference and English was not sufficient to communicate with most participants, you also needed Spanish, French ans some Russian.Arabic was also useful.
I said to a Pakistani who lived in NY and was with people from Mongolia "well with English, French and Spanish you can pretty much comunicate in most countries", his answer was "it depends in what part of the world you are."
In our little work group we had a man from Cameroon, a woman from Cambodia, a man from Haiti, a man from Mexico, a couple of Spaniards, a Berber from Algeria and a woman from Ukrain, I can tell you English was not sufficient .
There is no such a think as Universal language, it all depends where you live.

The interesting part of this is that the Mexican man I was with who did not speak anything but Spanisih came back from the conference and is now taking English classes, He told me " I realize now how important it is to learn another language". He did not say well I am going to get a translator as he knows that these things are useless if you really have to communicate.
He was blown away to see how many people from all backgrounds from vailed women to savy business people were speaking several languages and saw how isolated the ones who could not communicate were.
English may be the busisness and financial language in many people eyes but when you start going outside of cities , the universl language is whatever language people have in comon in that area.

by SnowDaddy Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:07 am

There is no such a think as Universal language.

Grammar cops are onto this one...lol

by Sponsored content