I'm surprised Spain is so low, but most of my experience is in cities with customer-facing people so it makes sense. That, and up until not long ago the second language taught in school was French. Still, though, try to speak Spanish and if they hear your accent many people will respond in English just for practice. I've found a lot of my conversations over there end up with both people speaking their second language because both people want to practice and there's no hard feelings, until one of them gives in.
it's quite interesting how few Italians speak French or how few Germans speak French or how few Spaniards speak French. Fluently, that is.
But they're all neighbors. And Spanish or Italians learning French is far easier than learning German.
My experience with Spain is that the more I rely upon my limited Spanish the less things work out. Hell, I struggled to order from a Taco Bell in Zaragoza. Before anyone blasts me for ordering Taco Bell in Spain -- or anywhere -- understand that I was starving because the food I ordered at what turned out to be a German restaurant in town earlier in the day was the worst stuff I'd ever seen or smelled (I did not taste). Even my wife, who knows a million languages and is generally able to communicate with anyone, anywhere, resorts to the slow and loud technique in Spain.
Since this has become the language anecdote thread. Years ago I lived in France right after school. Shared an apartment with two Amis who spoke very decent French. Mine was just school French and terrible, so I would only try it out here and there. I decided I would get brave and just give it shot, and as I had to pass the apartment concierge a few times each day, and she was friendly, I decided she'd be my guinea pig. So I tried... and I tried.. and I tried... but nothing. She didn't understand me, I didn't understand her... useless. After a few weeks I was complaining to my apartment-mates that my French was not improving at all - I couldn't even converse with the concierge, and they just fell out: "Dude, she's from Portugal. Her French is worse than yours!" Now you know how bad my French really is.
My lovely Colombian wife once tried to order Racist Chocolate in a movie theater. She also can’t say Peanuts without it sounding like penis. ‘I don’t like penis’ has come up in many conversations. The best had to be just last month in London when we were talking about what to wear out to a nice dinner. She kept saying es Londres. I would reply, yeah I know but I think sharp casual is fine for this restaurant. She’d reply Es Looooooon dres. I’d say well I’m just going to wear a nice shirt and slacks, I don’t care what city it is. There may have been a few Proseccos on my wife’s side and a few Taliskers on mine, but I finally realized she was telling me she was wearing a long dress. And we’ve been married 17 years. Edit: and for any Modern Family fans, my wife’s name is Gloria.
Not to throw the conversation even further off-course, but my girl is Colombian too, and I can completely relate to this. It doesn't help that I'm swiss, so I've got my own accent she has to contend with.
Voice-to-voice translation is advancing fast. In 30 years we'll be able to buy a little collar-like thing that translates what we say to any language and does a good job at it. Self-learning algorithms are also finally getting to the point where they're doing a not-too-terrible job translating poetry. Anyone who has read Hofstadter's Le Ton Beau de Marot will understand the deep link between AI and translating poetry. There's a lot more than just the debate between the literalists, the semanticists, and the sticklers to melody or rhythm.
Still not fully fit (fffffuuu....) "Tyler Adams is still working on adductor complaints and therefore trains individually."😓😓😓 https://t.co/We8Np7IVqr— Yanks Abroad (@usmnt_abroad) July 9, 2019
Thought this was kind of interesting... https://www.aspetar.com/journal/viewarticle.aspx?id=160#.XSS6c-hKiUk But didn't love this part: "Groin injuries account for 10 to 15% of all soccer related injuries. A small number of these become chronic and in some cases groin injury is career-ending. "
Ouch! As someone with zero expertise in medical matters, I would guess that rest is the best medicine (and the most difficult pill to swallow). I would also guess that players (and their employers) often try to accelerate the timetable - as we may have seen with Adams at the end of this past season. Edit: Hasn't a similar injury sidelined George Bello for months?
Dunno specifics but I know a few folks who claim to have great result from stem cell prp for groin/hip injuries - was talking to a guy on the TO plane the other day mentioned it for hockey. It's very new, but apparently as promising as the knee results, but having no specifics on Adams injury no idea if it's even an option.
I did that when I was 12 and it was an amazing experience! The Italians I met then were awesome, if only because they celebrated me scoring the winning goal against them in the park pick-up game.
When I left London to hitchhike to Spain, I asked an English friend how to say "I don't speak French". I'm fairly sure he told me correctly, but I misremembered, and so I traveled through France proclaiming to everyone that picked me up "Je ne pas parler le Francais" in what I thought was a pretty decent accent. Well, I was surprised to find out, once I got near Marseille, that I was supposed to say " Je ne sais pas parler francais". Obviously, everyone quickly understood that I don't speak French, yet they didn't know what I was trying to say. Nonetheless, the French were f*cking amazing. Cigarettes and wine the whole way. I didn't wait for more than 10 minutes to get a ride. I did over 1200 kilometers in less than 24 hours--including sleep on the side of the highway (I woke up covered in escargot).