[Gllug] re: any human language

[Mike Leigh]

I will have to agree with this.

I find that when I attempt to speak french then the person I am speaking
with will speak back to me at a higher than normal speed.  This makes it
very difficult for a non native french speaker to understand.  I once spent
a week in a hotel and had battles with the receptionist while attempting to
understand her.  On my last evening I rang her to inform her that I will
need a wake up call in the morning as I had booked a taxi.  She thought I
was wanting her to call me a taxi.  Calling a taxi was very easy, they had
no trouble understanding my french.  In the end I had to go down to the
reception and tell her in person that I don't want her to call me a taxi as
I have done this.  Instead I want her to ring me in the morning to wake me
up.  Once this was settled she spoke to me in perfect english and told me
she thought I wanted her to call me a taxi.  Of course I was completely gob
smacked by this.  I had spent the entire week struggling with the most basic
of things with her and she understood english perfectly.  Not once did she
offer to help or even teach me the correct pronunciation of the word I may
have been stumbling over.  I did not expect her to speak with me in english
but she could of at least used easier to understand words or spoken a little
more slowly for me.

Needless to say I was not at all happy with her and would not reccomend
anyone staying in the Hotel de France in Toulouse. (the one near the irish
bar)

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Henrik Morsing [mailto:henrik at morsing.cc]
Sent: 02 September 2004 10:37
To: Greater London Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: [Gllug] re: any human language



>
> "t.clarke" writes:
>
>>Ever tried speaking bad french in France and being understood ? :-)
>
> Yep. Seems to work quite well. In fact, you can get away with grunts and
> hand gestures and still manage a reasonable level of comprehension. Human
> communication has a remarkable level of redundancy.

Nope, must be a different country. The french won't accept *any* attempt
to speak french at them. The german  on the other hand, understand pretty
much anything you say to them.

Cheers
---
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