Today morning, a Russian woman guest was asking something in her language. I asked, "Are you looking for boiled eggs?", She replied, "Da"[Da means yes in Russian], & added "Niet Omliyette"[Niet means No in Russian]. I asked her showing my fingers "Two boiled eggs", She said "Da". Fine...I asked her again for how many minutes? Now either she didn't understand what I said or she thought I am again asking her about omlettes.
I saw a female server passing by--I asked her "Do you understand Russian?"..She said no...n went away..
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My college professor once told me that I should take up a foreign language, as it always helps in long run. I remember he told me this, when I lost a year in college. But I didn't pay any attention to his words---I was fondly learning Italian from a CD though, but without making any notes..
In college we were taught about rudimentary french, but again I was too casual to pick up, except "Je t'aime" or in German "Iche Liebe dich", in English both means "I love you!!"
When I was in Chennai, I had very less usage of any foreign languages, except a French guest Ms.C. She would come every morning for her breakfast & I would ask her "Comment allez-vous?"[How are you in French] & then "Bien" [Fine] & "Oeuf Frite avec Fromage"[Fried eggs with Cheese, the french is incorrect though], but still managed...as long as she was there..
Coming over to Dubai,it was really challenging. Here guests are truly international...from my country to anywhere, however, mostly Russians & Germans. Few Arabic guests are also there..
Understanding Russians have been a bit more difficult. "Lesuniya"--for Fried Eggs in Russian[I dont know whether spelling is correct or not] or "Omliyette"[this is how they pronounce, "I am late" & jokingly a chef replied "No, you are not late."]. "Da" is for "Yes", "Niet" for "No", "Spasiba" for "Thank you" & "Pazhalusta" for "You are welcome".
Germans have been quite flexible, some know English, & for some who doesn't know, can understand English. "Spiegeleier" for Fried Eggs..this is what I have learnt. "Eye" they say when they want fried eggs. Rest...I dont know..
For long I have this fascination to learn "Francaise"[French]. In college I learnt a little, but then became ignorant...thanks to Bernice for re-initiating my learning French.At least, I can speak a little french now, unlike before & still learning...
I remember a couple of months before, a french group checked-in in our hotel, & fortunately I could converse with them in French "Bon jour Monsieur", "Comment ca va?" "Assez Bien", "Deux-oeuf sur le plat" or "Omelette avec jambon, et fromage", "Merci", "Merci Beaucoup", "Parlez tres bien francaise", "De rien". But when they started talking too much in french, I applied the trick Bernice taught me, "Tell "Monsieur, Je comprend un peut"[Sir I understand a little]" & then it worked when I added "En anglais, sil vous plait"[In english please" or sometimes "Comment diton en anglais?"[How do you say in English?].
I remember, one of the guests said "Vous parlez tres bien francaise"[You speak very good French] & I was delighted. It reminds me of Mr. Bean who is travelling to France from London by Eurostar. The waitress asks him "Un cafe?"[One coffee?] & he says, "Oui"[Yes]. She asks him again, "Avec sucre?" & he replies, "No". The waitress appreciates his french saying, "Your French is very good" & Mr. Bean replies, with his usual high pitched voice "Gracias"[Gracias is thank you in Spanish, not in French].
Italian..I have not proceeded after "Buon giorno"...I should take it up seriously with German, Russian alongwith French too!!
Wherever, I have gone, I have always tried to pick up the local language, for my benefit so that I communicate with those who are not aware of other languages. For example, when I was in Chennai, I really had a hardtime in understanding the tamils as they will never speak in Hindi, no matter whether they understand hindi or not. If they dont know English....ohhh!!!
So I had to learn elementary Tamil only for the sake of communication...I am not good in sign languages!!Now trying to grasp as much as I can...you never know...what you need in future...
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