Hello Tom, Nice letter, nice area where you live, a bit exposed to storms, but quite close to El Alamo & River Walk with nice steak houses at reasonable prices.
I learned Hochdeutsch from my mother & clear Austrian colored (vocables) German from my grandma & my father & in school, but learned Latin, Greek (classical) & English in school, but acquired Italian when working in Venice, Torino, Genova, Naples, Catania many, many times, basic Japanese & some Thai by myself, but can also communicate in Castellano & Portuguese (Carioca) (was a marriage related issue) & French & can read German handwritings back until 1500 or so, but I am totally lost with the Slavic languages. Reading: Greek, Cyrillic (slow, very slow, rather decipher), Thai & some chinese characters. That is plenty enough for the moment, but might expect something new in the future perhaps. Ooops, I forgot that I can read trebble, alto - & bass clef plus transposition in any key - fluently. ============================================================ ============================ > Hans, I was luckily enough to live in The Netherlands for almost five years while I was working for my company as a Systems Engineering Manager for a Dutch client. We lived in Schevenigen on the North Sea, which is a popular destination for a horde of German tourists each summer. We had the opportunity to visit much of Western Europe while we were there, and we regularly listened to European radio and watched European TV, both in English (BBC and ITV) and a number of other languages (Dutch, French and German, primarily, although the Dutch regularly broadcast movies in their original language). As a result to all of that exposure, plus the conviction that if I visit another country I shouldn't necessarily expect them to be able to speak my language, I picked up what I call "survival" language skills in a number of languages. I can survive in French (although I am hampered by the fact that my French instructor at the University of Missouri had never HAD to speak French to survive, so I still have remnants of his appalling French accent), Italian (largely self taught through the tapes and CDs that are readily available now), Spanish (due largely to the ready availability of language exposure here from all of our illegal immigrants), and Dutch. At one time (almost twenty years since I was last there!) I was fairly fluent in Dutch, but lack of exposure and daily usage has caused me to lose most of my ability. My "survival" level skills include: being able to order a meal, ask directions, carry on SIMPLE conversations and the like. I will usually do a short review before we leave home. I will usually ask if they speak English, in their language first, rather than impose my poor skills on them. I will only tr their language only if they claim not to understand mine. Of course, several times found in Paris, I found that if I attempted to speak French, they would often switch to English rather than listen to my appalling French accent! I found, interestingly enough, that I could get by in Germany speaking Dutch. I have the impression that they're rather like Spanish and Portuguese: similar, but certainly not the same. Often, the sound is closer than the spelling, e.g., in German "Guten Abend" and in Dutch "Goeden avond". I have never been misunderstood in Germany if I wish someone "Goeden avond!" As is often the case I can understand a language better than I can speak it. I can remember many days when I was first learning Dutch when I would be talking to a Dutch manager in English and he talked to me in Dutch and we understood each other. We both had the same problem, apparently. I also like to cook and I found that with my "survival" level skills and a good dictionary, I can usually read cookbooks in that language, e.g., one I'm reading now is "Wiener Süßspeisen" by Eduard Meyer. Most Americans, me included, have little ability in languages other than English. I attribute it to several factors, but I think the most important is our relative isolation be geography from the rest of the world. I suppose, I could always use the standard American approach to communication: if we speak slowly enough and loudly enough, anyone should be able to understand us!! Regards... Tom (who is starting his third year back as a horn player after a fifty year layoff and who was told by his horn teacher that he was beginning to play again at an age when most have retired!) -- Thomas M. Spillman, Jr. Asst. Professor (retired) Information Technology MBA Program School of Management St. Edward's University Austin, TX _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka. de _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
