 Poster: A snowHead
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This is what a bloke said to me when ordering a couple of coffees and some donots for his party and continued to speak to the waitress in a loud English voice at a little bar just off the Madeline piste in Val D'Isere today!! Why do some folk behave like that,it's just a bit embarrassing,rant over with. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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On one side I agree, but then again, I really wonder where people get idea, that everyone should be speaking their language... even if it's English.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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On the other hand I ordered a badoit in french from a waitress in L2A and got something completely different. I hadn't realised she was actually dutch with probably less french than me (it was a dutch bar which I hadn't realised).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
I ordered a badoit in french from a waitress in L2A and got something completely different
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I ordered a coffee without sugar in a diner in Alabama 45 years ago and got something completely different. I reckon it was my accent!
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I ordered a Dry Martini in Austria and got three Martinis.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I ordered six and got laid 
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I ordered a French Fancy and... oh never mind.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ordering tarte au citron can go quite wrong as well
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Bode Swiller, or quite right...
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Just point. Nuff said 
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Kiters wrote: |
| This is what a bloke said to me when ordering a couple of coffees and some donots for his party and continued to speak to the waitress in a loud English voice at a little bar just off the Madeline piste in Val D'Isere today!! Why do some folk behave like that,it's just a bit embarrassing,rant over with. |
I'd imagine he got quite a bit of extra spit in his coffees, perhaps worse in the donuts...
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Poster: A snowHead
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| albinomountainbadger wrote: |
| perhaps worse in the donuts... |
So that's how they make the holes  .
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My Dad ordered white wine in Niederau years ago, and stressed in his best English of course, to the waitress Dry - and she came back with three glasses for him.
We saw an English couple here in Les Gets a few years ago going to great lengths to explain that they wanted coffee with milk in it, hot milk, hot milk, he kept saying just getting louder and louder, when the order arrived there was a jug of hot milk and two mugs. No coffee. Wife very affronted - husband said, I did my best, just drink it and lets get out of here. We know the guy who runs the place, very charming, and I think he just did not like being shouted at!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Well, if you want to get a job in Chamonix these days it would be good advice to learn Russian. English is getting just a little passe
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I once asked for the same meal for me and MrHL in France, in French, "deux fois" and I got 1 meal and 2 sets of cutlery so we could partager!
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I was once having breakfast in a hotel in Rome. The waitress poured coffee for the Spanish couple at the next table, then asked "Latte?" No response. She tried three more times, each time louder, all to no avail. Finally she tried "Leche?" and the Spanish couple both said "Ah, si, si". So it's not just the English that assume everyone speaks the same language.
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I once asked a frenchman for permission to kiss his wife- and got a very funny reaction.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
So it's not just the English that assume everyone speaks the same language
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But that was in Italy so it was kind of reasonable to speak Italian in the first instance. Not like an Englishman speaking English in Korea, or France, with no apology and without the courtesy of asking whether their interlocutor speaks English.
I am learning Italian but if it's complicated I ask "Parla Inglese?" and if their English is better than my Italian (which it isn't always) it's easier for both of us if I carry on in English. But absolutely no way could I march into a shop or railway station etc etc and just start talking in English. It's so damned rude and arrogant.
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| Quote: |
I once asked a frenchman for permission to kiss his wife- and got a very funny reaction.
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Was that one of those classic baiser/s'embrasser mistakes? I got a funny look once from a Frenchman trimming mistletoe off his apple trees. I told him what British people did under it but used the wrong verb.....
He did give me a big bunch though.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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If you hate the fact that the UK is expected to provide translators etc for the many immigrants who cba to learn English, DON'T go abroad and arrogantly speak English expecting people to go out of their way for you. This is one of my PET HATES, both people not learning English when they come here, and the other way round.
I speak a very small amount of French and a few words in German but I know enough to go into a restaurant, order stuff and be polite. I am terrible at languages and if I can manage polite basics anyone can.
</rant>
(slinks off to lower blood pressure back to normal)
On a lighter note, the French did find it hilarious when as a 13yr old I asked for 'un frite' not 'des frite' on my own in a mountain restaurant. Evidently having a mother who speaks French like a native doesn't rub off on me 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Kiters, I don't believe you. Someone speaking French in Val d'Isere - never.
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French is a dying language, they'd better start learning English or Mandarin or they're doomed.
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You know it makes sense.
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| johnE wrote: |
| Kiters, I don't believe you. Someone speaking French in Val d'Isere - never. |
I know and on Paris half term too and there was me hoping to improve my French! 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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The funniest bit was with the pick up by the tour operator rep who wanted the driver to go to another hotel, she spoke to him in English,he wasn't having any of it, she got louder in English, telling him he could go that way, she mutters something under hear breath and another punter suggests she ask if anyone on the coach could speak French to translate,just what you want at 5.30am! someone did but he still refused as it was not in his schedule. Not been with a TO for a long time ,but was a late booking must say I prefer DIY just to avoid such an early start,but fully understand why
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Poster: A snowHead
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Kiters, I once arrived with 2 small children in Nairobi airport, after a very long journey including a 10 hour unscheduled stopover in Addis Ababa. The British Development Division driver was supposed to meet us but there was nobody there, so after getting hold of some local currency we caught a bus into town and found the hotel we were booked into. Not a catastrophe but a friendly face to greet us and take us straight there would have been nice. .
Turns out that the man who gave the driver his instructions thought he was very clever because he had learnt to count a little bit in Swahili and did a straight translation of "10 o' clock" which meant a quite different time because in Swahili you start counting at dawn. So he turned up at the time he'd been told, we weren't there, and when it was discovered that we'd not been met he got a rocket. People were shocked - nobody from the British Mission would normally have dreamt of going on a bus. I felt very sorry for him - he was a nice guy. Fortunately, as we had no car until ours had been cleared through Mombasa port he was detailed to take me to and from work each day. I explained about the mix up in the few words of Swahili I'd learnt before I got there and every day he taught me some more useful expressions, including what to say to the annoying street traders who kept bothering you.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Quote: |
I was determined to try and be at least polite and respectful of the language, even if I did keep accidentally using italian
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I do that too - when speaking to a 'foreign person' (French, Italian, even Ugandan!) my default is now German, even before English! My French is terrible, but I used to at least be able to order food and drinks in it, now I just get too mixed up and always end up with 'bitte' rather than sil'vou plais (how do you spell that again?), or 'danke' instead of 'wbale'!
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sun 17-03-13 11:28; edited 1 time in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I had an experience once, in Mallorca three years ago. I hate the fact that i don't speak many languages, especially hate being branded a Brit that doesn't make an effort. I speak fluent French, so my logic, I arrive in Mallorca, pretend to be French, speak English Allo Allo Style and boomio, no more guilt. However, due to being gapingly stupid, I didn't know or realise at the time, that the first bar I would try this in, in the small village where i Stayed would my home for 2 months. I was left being "French Steve and carrying on the charade for the said two months. It did however have it's benefits, the local Amercian Girls Economics College students seemed to enjoy spending some time with my Gallic alter ego. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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CH2O, superb! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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CH2O,
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I was once on a project where we were doing site selection for a centralized European back office, for an American Fortune 100 company.
Whilst in Madrid, the Spaniards were very keen to have everything relocated to Madrid. When I explained that the big negative in their campaign was the level English in their division specifically, but also in Spain in general, they counteracted, that within a few years that would change because it wouldn't be long before the official language of the U.S. would be Spanish~, and at this point, they would be best suited, and choosing them would be a forward thinking decision.
I just took a deep sigh....that's what happens when governments start printing everything in a second language, outsiders soon think it's the official language of that country...
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Sun 17-03-13 17:03; edited 1 time in total
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My friend in France went out one morning to get the bread and came back with a rabbit
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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boredsurfin, you can probably let her off with that one on the grounds that she's Dutch. And she's got a better grasp on the apostrophe than you have, even so.
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FAQ
What did you say, or did you pretend not to understand him? 
