XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: naddy@mips.inka.de   
      
   On 2024-06-08, Peter Moylan  wrote:   
      
   > At various times I have been in places where my command of the local   
   > language was somewhere between zero and negligible. That must happen to   
   > anyone who has done a bit of travelling. How does one deal with this?   
      
   Personally, I bulldoze through in English.  That has worked quite   
   well, but, English-majority countries aside, my travel has admittedly   
   been limited to major cities and locations of tourism and higher   
   education.  I would expect poor results when, say, backpacking   
   through the Andes.   
      
   > My own approach is meek. I avoid saying anything at all. Where that is   
   > not possible, I'll at least make sure to work out how to say "Do you   
   > speak English or French?" in the local language,   
      
   You can shortcut that by simply speaking English (or French) right   
   away.   
      
   > (Special case: I have worked out how to say "I don't speak X" for   
   > a number of different values of X.)   
      
   I once replied "no hablo español" when addressed in Spanish in the   
   street in Miami, but it's pragmatically weird, since it seems to   
   be a self-contradictory statement.  Also, if you don't speak the   
   language, your utterance may well come out unintelligible.   
      
   --   
   Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)