At 12:03 AM 1/27/2006, Vinit Bhansali wrote:
Here's something to cheer you up ... --- Q. Whats a person who knows many languages called? A. Multi-lingual. --- Q. Whats a person who knows two languages called? A. Bi-lingual. --- Q. Whats a person who knows only one language called? A. American ;-)
Too true, alas, too true. We've so long taken an arrogant attitude that we often believe that what Marie Antoinette said was, "Let them speak English." In English, of course. The first effort my schooling made to introduce me to another language, I was 13 -- well past the prime age for learning new languages. Today, I can manage to speak a sentence or two in several languages (mostly "Sit down!"), but I'm nearly incapable of understanding any but the simplest sentences in any of them, especially when spoken at normal speed.
Working today at a company that feels compelled to publish employee manuals in four languages (and that's just for *my* location), I get to overhear a lot of conversations that are beyond my comprehension. Because my appearance doesn't suggest I'm fluent in any of these, I don't get into the sort of situations described in this thread.
Did have that happen once at another workplace. A gaggle of Japanese businessmen came in, chattering about the place, describing it as tacky (it was), the staff as incompetent and slow (we mostly were), and pointing at me with observations that even the man in charge couldn't speak a few simple words of Japanese (I chose not to). For some time, they chattered away as I smiled blandly back. After concluding several transactions with them using primarily sign language, the spokesman for the group gave a very brief nod of his head and muttered, "Domo!"
My deep bow and response of, "Dou itashi mashite. Mata kite ne," froze them all in their tracks. I thought it a most appropriate way to punctuate the encounter. <G>
I'd have felt much better yet had those two phrases not come so close to exhausting my entire knowledge of the language.
Bruce Metcalf, Lake Buena Vista, FL
