Fun because off different languages

[Michael; Camino-addicted]

Hola peregrinos,

I was on the Camino Frances 2012 and after the second day, day by day, a little group was built - at the end with 7 pilgrims from 7 countrys with 6 languages. A communication was only possible in English - with many different levels, I would say, I was at this time the penultimate .

And only because of this, that everybody had to speak in a foreign language, we had so much fun together.

At first I met Gyula from Hungary and Luca from Italy. And when Gyula introduced himself I could reply to indroduce myself in Hungarian - the only Hungarian phrase I know,except "egészségére" (that means cheers or to your health). He was so happy that I pronounced Gyula correctly and then said to me: This crazy Italian is Luca and he calls me Julia all the day.

Ayi is also a friend in this group. He is an indian priest who lives in a german parrish, so he spoke at that time more or less German, but it was so difficult for me to understand him and to hear, if he speaks English or German in this moment, because his accent was incredible in both languages.

Christa is from Holland, Valerie is a french native speaker from Belgium and Betty is a hungarian, living in Transsylvania/Romania.

Luca´s accent was also very strong and we often had funny moments with his kind of English. But at the very end of our Camino, when we had breakfast just in front of the old pilgrim office, he dropped the bomb.

We asked each other: "What was a very special moment on your Camino".

Luca answered: "Yesterday in the cathedral, when I got the hostie from Ayi", but it was more like .....hostiefromasch

At that moment, Valerie spat her coffee across the table and screamed: What, Hostie fromage (french: Hostie with cheese)

Three of us couldn´t stop laughing and could not breathe for two minutes and were therefore unable to explain to the other four why we laugh so much. In the end 7 persons hit the table and shouted.

This group is in contact till now and we still have a lot of fun talking English.

Did you have similar experiences on your way?

Good night

Michael

 

[OzAnnie]

Hola peregrinos,

I was on the Camino Frances 2012 and after the second day, day by day, a little group was built - at the end with 7 pilgrims from 7 countrys with 6 languages. A communication was only possible in English - with many different levels, I would say, I was at this time the penultimate .

And only because of this, that everybody had to speak in a foreign language, we had so much fun together.

At first I met Gyula from Hungary and Luca from Italy. And when Gyula introduced himself I could reply to indroduce myself in Hungarian - the only Hungarian phrase I know,except "egészségére" (that means cheers or to your health). He was so happy that I pronounced Gyula correctly and then said to me: This crazy Italian is Luca and he calls me Julia all the day.

Ayi is also a friend in this group. He is an indian priest who lives in a german parrish, so he spoke at that time more or less German, but it was so difficult for me to understand him and to hear, if he speaks English or German in this moment, because his accent was incredible in both languages.

Christa is from Holland, Valerie is a french native speaker from Belgium and Betty is a hungarian, living in Transsylvania/Romania.

Luca´s accent was also very strong and we often had funny moments with his kind of English. But at the very end of our Camino, when we had breakfast just in front of the old pilgrim office, he dropped the bomb.

We asked each other: "What was a very special moment on your Camino".

Luca answered: "Yesterday in the cathedral, when I got the hostie from Ayi", but it was more like .....hostiefromasch

At that moment, Valerie spat her coffee across the table and screamed: What, Hostie fromage (french: Hostie with cheese)

Three of us couldn´t stop laughing and could not breathe for two minutes and were therefore unable to explain to the other four why we laugh so much. In the end 7 persons hit the table and shouted.

This group is in contact till now and we still have a lot of fun talking English.

Did you have similar experiences on your way?

Good night

Michael

Hi Michael
Yes , I agree completely..
I think on the cf in particular (especially if you start out alone), the opportunities to form a mixed group is greater. You really feel like this is the formula for world peace.

You sound like your group was very welcoming to all and you had a really happy journey.

Yes to keeping in touch with others I’ve met along the way.

Buen Camino
Annie

 

[David]

I agree with all that - I speak Esperanto like a native

 

[Peligro]

Last August we were two Spaniards, two Italians, one Argentine, one French and one American (me). Everyone in the group spoke at least two languages but not the same two languages so it was very dynamic and fun!

 

[Paul McAmino]

Dinner for 10 at a table at the albergue in Mercadoiro (legend has it that the village has a population of one). Gallego, Spanish, French (Belgian), Flemish, English, German, Italian, and Rumanian were spoken at the table, and we got on great, with Tinto and Orujo adding some more fizz to the good-humored gathering.
It was one of my more memorable mixed salads. It’s one of the many reasons I walk: warm outdoor evenings like this.
Cheers,
Paul

 

[Jan_D]

I remember a study came out a couple of years ago, something along the lines of "drinking alcohol makes you better at foreign languages." I always suspected as much. After a couple of vinos or cervezas on the camino everyone seems to become a polyglot!

 

[Paul McAmino]

I remember a study came out a couple of years ago, something along the lines of "drinking alcohol makes you better at foreign languages." I always suspected as much. After a couple of vinos or cervezas on the camino everyone seems to become a polyglot!

I imagine it works the same with singing or dancing. Both activities can be enhanced by alcohol, but perhaps only in the mind of the participant. The loosening of inhibition can be a great social enhancement, only in some cases, though. I’d rather my sister didn’t sing, for example, and I’d rather dance unaided.
Conversation that has been stifled by years of social conditioning can be loosed In good company under the right circumstances, which sometime include, but not always, a glass or two of wine. We still have to walk next day.
Regards,
Paul

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

And only because of this, that everybody had to speak in a foreign language, we had so much fun together.

The I Love Lucy TV show had some episodes where they visited Europe. I'm picturing your camino family communicating somewhat like the following where Lucy is arrested in France for passing counterfeit money. More fun.

 

[Michael; Camino-addicted]

Sometimes it was exactly like this

We splitted on our way to Santiago, because we had a totaly different rhythm of walking, but we kept in contact and me met in the Albergue in La Faba, which is run by a German Society.

And there we have seen, that the first impression of a person could be very bad, only because of the difficulties in understanding and talking.

I arrived last and Betty from Romania told me, that the German Hospitalera was very rude (she called her " El Commandante ) und spoke to her only in single words like "boots here, sticks here" etc. And even to me, every word she spoke in English sounded like a rude order.
Then I took the management for our stay in my hand, and ..... in German, the woman was very nice.
Her English was really very bad, with a strong southwest German accent and she was totaly excited and want to give all the important information to the pilgrims.
It was her first day in La Faba. She was told, that mostly German pilgrims sleep there and therefor her bad English would not be a problem, but I was the first German this day. She was overwhelmed with this situation and just not able to be friendly in English in this moment..

During the evening, she came to our group and talked to us, I translated a lot, and at the end every one said "what a friendly and merry old Lady"

Everybody learns a lot on the Camino and this evening I learned: Do not judge a person if you have experienced him only in one single situation. A penguin can not be elegant in the desert, but wait until he is in the water.

Best regards

Michael

 

[Bumpa]

I imagine it works the same with singing or dancing. Both activities can be enhanced by alcohol, but perhaps only in the mind of the participant. The loosening of inhibition can be a great social enhancement, only in some cases, though. I’d rather my sister didn’t sing, for example, and I’d rather dance unaided.
Conversation that has been stifled by years of social conditioning can be loosed In good company under the right circumstances, which sometime include, but not always, a glass or two of wine. We still have to walk next day.
Regards,
Paul

Saw a poster once that said: "yes you can dance" signed "Gin"

 

[Icacos]

Speaking of different languages, accents and pronunciation ..... I overheard a brief exchange in a dormitorio one evening when everyone was getting ready for bed. An English speaking pilgrim mentioned that he would put a sheet on the mattress before he laid his sleeping bag out. There must have appeared a look of incredulity on the face of the camino friend to whom he spoke because he quickly followed with, "What?! That's a word."

 

[Michael; Camino-addicted]

Yes, sometimes translations are very strange.


The German language is known for being able to express many things very precisely - I often do not succeed so well in the English language. Sometimes, however, there is no suitable word or the construction sounds very strange tor a German.

For example, we have male and female words, depends if the person you talk about is male or female, while in the English language I know only one word for everything.

friend - teacher - nurse - driver....

You have to say something like "my female friend" , because it´s a friend, female, but not my girlfriend.

And sometimes in German only one letter in the article makes a very big difference:

When you introduce someone as "eine Freundin", it´s just a female friend, and if you say "meine Freundin" it´s your girlfriend.

Many times when I hear my english words and retranslate it in my mind, I have to say "Stop, that´s not what a want to say, I have to try it ones more."

My motto using foreign languages is often: How should I know what I think, before I hear what I say

Michael

 

[Delphinoula]

The I Love Lucy TV show had some episodes where they visited ...
That did not happen on the Camino but pre google time pre cell phone time.
We drove from Athens through Jugoslavia and the bus broke down. In that village nobody spoke Greek or English or French. So the got a guy who spoke German. The bus driver did not speak anything but Greek.
I translated the bus drivers Greek into German the local the German into Serbian to the mechanic to see what was wrong and the whole thing went back and forth. Meanwhile worried bus passenger starred at us.
Then with two bottle of whisky and three cartons of smokes the bus got repaired and we could continue towards Switzerland, there they kicked all German off the bus, because they believed that the bus would be stopped in Germany, because of the minor little thing thT on the back seats you could see the tarmac.from a whole in the bus. German police are so sticklers about safety . Tststs
you see learning languages is always a plus.

 

[OzAnnie]

Speaking of different languages, accents and pronunciation ..... I overheard a brief exchange in a dormitorio one evening when everyone was getting ready for bed. An English speaking pilgrim mentioned that he would put a sheet on the mattress before he laid his sleeping bag out. There must have appeared a look of incredulity on the face of the camino friend to whom he spoke because he quickly followed with, "What?! That's a word."

That’s so funny .. still laughing.

 

[David Tallan]

I remember a study came out a couple of years ago, something along the lines of "drinking alcohol makes you better at foreign languages." I always suspected as much. After a couple of vinos or cervezas on the camino everyone seems to become a polyglot!

The study was a lot more than a couple of years ago. I remember hearing about it from a linguistics professor in the early 80s. A little alcohol makes you better at speaking other languages because it loosens inhibitions (it doesn't help reading or understanding). A lot of alcohol, on the other hand, does not help so much.

 

[Sha-Ron]

Hola peregrinos,

I was on the Camino Frances 2012 and after the second day, day by day, a little group was built - at the end with 7 pilgrims from 7 countrys with 6 languages. A communication was only possible in English - with many different levels, I would say, I was at this time the penultimate .

And only because of this, that everybody had to speak in a foreign language, we had so much fun together.

At first I met Gyula from Hungary and Luca from Italy. And when Gyula introduced himself I could reply to indroduce myself in Hungarian - the only Hungarian phrase I know,except "egészségére" (that means cheers or to your health). He was so happy that I pronounced Gyula correctly and then said to me: This crazy Italian is Luca and he calls me Julia all the day.

Ayi is also a friend in this group. He is an indian priest who lives in a german parrish, so he spoke at that time more or less German, but it was so difficult for me to understand him and to hear, if he speaks English or German in this moment, because his accent was incredible in both languages.

Christa is from Holland, Valerie is a french native speaker from Belgium and Betty is a hungarian, living in Transsylvania/Romania.

Luca´s accent was also very strong and we often had funny moments with his kind of English. But at the very end of our Camino, when we had breakfast just in front of the old pilgrim office, he dropped the bomb.

We asked each other: "What was a very special moment on your Camino".

Luca answered: "Yesterday in the cathedral, when I got the hostie from Ayi", but it was more like .....hostiefromasch

At that moment, Valerie spat her coffee across the table and screamed: What, Hostie fromage (french: Hostie with cheese)

Three of us couldn´t stop laughing and could not breathe for two minutes and were therefore unable to explain to the other four why we laugh so much. In the end 7 persons hit the table and shouted.

This group is in contact till now and we still have a lot of fun talking English.

Did you have similar experiences on your way?

Good night

Michael

Wonderful, Michael, I love your story! I read it aloud to my husband and we both had a good laugh. This is what makes the Camino unique and this us what one can't explain to others.

 

[Bob P]

I loved the languages and the group conversations. Amazing how you can pick up pieces of so many conversations that you would NEVER understand at home. I was with proper English, German, French, Australian English, my Texan, Latvian, Korean and Norwegian. Sometimes we could only get the point across in Spanish.
Again, I loved it!