,
Almost
fluently conversant in several European languages, I pride myself in the
ability to rattle off the French, Spanish, Italian, German, Swedish and Latvian
translations for the only words that I know and will ever need to utilize when
travelling in a foreign country – red wine, handbags, sale and final
clearance. The phrases “How much does that cost?”, “Do you ship to Canada?”, “Do you offer additional discounts for
foreigners?” and my piece de resistance clincher “If I purchase all of the styles and colours, can you offer me a better
deal?” are basically the only sentences worth uttering when travelling
overseas with shopaholic handbag obsessed who know who.
It therefore
threw me for quite the loop upon my arrival in London, where English is the
official language of the country, as I was forced to speak in a tongue that is
so familiar to me, yet strangely “foreign”
when travelling overseas. Unaccustomed to utilizing my native language on my
sojourns around the globe, eager to practice my newly memorized foreign words
and phrases, I had consequently come to associate overseas travel with having
to brush up on learning the basic vocabulary of whichever country I happened to
be traipsing through. So it was quite
odd indeed that I found myself continually saying either “Mucho gracias”, “Merci
beaucoup”, “Danke” or “Grazie” upon thanking strangers or
shop-keepers for their random acts of kindnesses. Upon entering the shops, the Italian word for
“Buongiorno” or the Spanish “Hola” or “Buenos Dias”
effortlessly rolled off my tongue, as I cheerfully greeted unsuspecting waiters
and shopkeepers each and every day.
It was therefore no wonder then that I endured
countless puzzling and inquisitive glares and stares during my entire 10 day
London stay, as I commenced each phrase with “Parlez-vous l’anglais?” (Do you speak English?) Like, seriously? Where did I think I was? Well, to be perfectly honest, obviously not
in merry old England, home to the sonnets of poets such as William Blake,
Charlotte Bronte and William Shakespeare.
Ordering “une
biere blanche” or a “vino tinto”
in pubs and restaurants didn’t garner nearly as much attention as when I
nonchalantly pointed to that “bella
borsa” (Italian for beautiful handbag) that I was coveting or worse, “De que tamano son esos zapatos?”
(Spanish for “what size are those shoes?”). Yikes!! There was a serious language barrier and it
was most definitely one that was unintentionally caused by me!
Note to self
– perhaps spend a little bit more time travelling in English speaking countries
such as Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, just to
name a few, in order to practice and familiarize yourself with commonly used
terms and phrases! Yikes!! Double yikes!!
Come
practice English language translations whilst traipsing around the checkered
streets of London, clutching an armful of foreign language dictionaries along
the way.
Next week
– where to my pink-sneakered footprints take me? Stay tuned!
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