Problems
You are going to a country and want advice from a local person. You watch a film with subtitles and miss part of the plot.
Answers
1 Friends
List your friends. You'll be amazed how many people you know, relatives, friends, colleagues, even acquaintances. As soon as you develop an interest in a country or language, you will find other people who come from that country, have parents or family from there, or are learning the language.
2 Restaurants and Offices
Visit the restaurant, tourist board office or visa office or embassy. Don't just eat the restaurant food, or collect your visa. Ask for advice on the best landmarks, hotels, restaurants, and how to learn the language. If the person you are asking is British, or doesn't know, they will often call a colleague who is happy to tell you.
3 Workers
When your builder, electrician, gardener, plumber, neighbour, calls, ask them a quick question about what to see in the country they have just visited.
4 Q and A in a Queue
Any time you are waiting, in a queue (Americans call it line-up) you have a chance to speak to the person at the desk and the person behind or ahead of you. Where? Bus stop. Plane. Train. Waiting for the Toilet at the station or the theatre. Waiting for tickets at the station or theatre. Neutral, non-controversial topics for speaking to the person beside you on the plane.
Here's my list:
Albanian
A builder and a plumber.
American
Friends from working in the USA, people from the American Club and American Association and magazines I write for in Singapore. People met on climbing groups.
Australia
UK friend who now lives in Australia.
Czech Republic
Colleague.
Danes, Finns, Scandinavians
Ex-colleagues from Singapore, their families on Facebook and members of a group playing b a l l u t.
Chinese and Hong Kong
Numerous friends on Facebook, mostly met in Singapore, but some returned home. Neighbours in Singapore.
Filipinos
Members of the Philippine Toastmaster Club in Singapore.
French
Members of the Francophone toastmasters in Singapore. An ex teacher from my school.
German
Member of a writers group. Former neighbour.
Italians
Restaurants owners and waiters in my area who have known me for years.
Malays and Malay speakers
Members of a bilingual Malay club in Singapore. I found out my best friend's
Persian speaking (Iranian)
One current. From Toastmasters in the UK. (Previously another person.)
Portuguese
A gardener. The part owner of an Italian restaurant.
Romanian
Receptionist at gym. Two ladies in my sauna at the gym.
Spanish
Member of a London Toastmasters Club. Friend on Facebook.
Vietnamese
Members of a Vietnamese Toastmasters group in Singapore.
Total
That's fifteen countries where I have a friend or acquaintance who can answer questions.
Lunchtime May 10th. I shall update this.
Plus people I met at travel trade shows and food exhibitions.
If you are going on holiday you can watch films about the country you are visiting.
You can also use your mobile to photograph articles in airline magazines and email them to yourself and store them in a file of emails of that country called, for example, American Attractions; Business Trips to Belgium; FAQ on Florida; Finland Food Festivals; Holidays in Hungary; Hong Kong & Hotels; Russian Routes; Singapore Shops, Food, Restaurants; Taiwan Tours; Travel to Turkey; Walking Hols and Wales. Alliterative titles are easier to file and find and remember.
Print out a list of the world's countries. Each time you meet somebody who comes from a new country add them to your list under the country. Write the number at the end.
Ideas For Your list:
Family ...
Neighbours ...
Friends ...
Business (current colleagues) ...
Business (previous) ...
Carers and Cleaners ...
Clubs ...
Doctors and dentists
Gym staff and members ...
Sports (golf, tennis etc) ...
Studies ...
Reading and writing groups ...
Restaurant and shop staff ...
Studies students/ teachers ...
Social Media:
Languages Spoken
British English ...
American English ...
Arabic ...
Australian ... / NZ vocab ... / Maori ...
Chinese (Mandarin) ...
Czech
French ...
Gaelic ...
German ... Austrian ... Swiss German ...
Greek ...
Hebrew ...
Irish N ... S ...
Italian ...
Malay / Indonesian ...
Maltese ...
Persian ...
Portuguese ...
Russian ...
Scottish ...
South African / Afrikaans ...
Spanish ...
Tagalog (Philippines) ...
Tamil ...
Turkish ...
Urdu ...
Vietnamese ...
Welsh ...
Countries
Wiki has many pages of country names. the one I enjoyed most was the one giving the origins of country names, named after people or legendary figures.
Here's a good one with national flags.
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/countries_of_the_world.htm
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share posts.
You are going to a country and want advice from a local person. You watch a film with subtitles and miss part of the plot.
Answers
1 Friends
List your friends. You'll be amazed how many people you know, relatives, friends, colleagues, even acquaintances. As soon as you develop an interest in a country or language, you will find other people who come from that country, have parents or family from there, or are learning the language.
2 Restaurants and Offices
Visit the restaurant, tourist board office or visa office or embassy. Don't just eat the restaurant food, or collect your visa. Ask for advice on the best landmarks, hotels, restaurants, and how to learn the language. If the person you are asking is British, or doesn't know, they will often call a colleague who is happy to tell you.
3 Workers
When your builder, electrician, gardener, plumber, neighbour, calls, ask them a quick question about what to see in the country they have just visited.
4 Q and A in a Queue
Any time you are waiting, in a queue (Americans call it line-up) you have a chance to speak to the person at the desk and the person behind or ahead of you. Where? Bus stop. Plane. Train. Waiting for the Toilet at the station or the theatre. Waiting for tickets at the station or theatre. Neutral, non-controversial topics for speaking to the person beside you on the plane.
Here's my list:
Albanian
A builder and a plumber.
American
Friends from working in the USA, people from the American Club and American Association and magazines I write for in Singapore. People met on climbing groups.
Australia
UK friend who now lives in Australia.
Czech Republic
Colleague.
Danes, Finns, Scandinavians
Ex-colleagues from Singapore, their families on Facebook and members of a group playing b a l l u t.
Chinese and Hong Kong
Numerous friends on Facebook, mostly met in Singapore, but some returned home. Neighbours in Singapore.
Filipinos
Members of the Philippine Toastmaster Club in Singapore.
French
Members of the Francophone toastmasters in Singapore. An ex teacher from my school.
German
Member of a writers group. Former neighbour.
Italians
Restaurants owners and waiters in my area who have known me for years.
Malays and Malay speakers
Members of a bilingual Malay club in Singapore. I found out my best friend's
Persian speaking (Iranian)
One current. From Toastmasters in the UK. (Previously another person.)
Portuguese
A gardener. The part owner of an Italian restaurant.
Romanian
Receptionist at gym. Two ladies in my sauna at the gym.
Spanish
Member of a London Toastmasters Club. Friend on Facebook.
Vietnamese
Members of a Vietnamese Toastmasters group in Singapore.
Total
That's fifteen countries where I have a friend or acquaintance who can answer questions.
Lunchtime May 10th. I shall update this.
Plus people I met at travel trade shows and food exhibitions.
If you are going on holiday you can watch films about the country you are visiting.
You can also use your mobile to photograph articles in airline magazines and email them to yourself and store them in a file of emails of that country called, for example, American Attractions; Business Trips to Belgium; FAQ on Florida; Finland Food Festivals; Holidays in Hungary; Hong Kong & Hotels; Russian Routes; Singapore Shops, Food, Restaurants; Taiwan Tours; Travel to Turkey; Walking Hols and Wales. Alliterative titles are easier to file and find and remember.
Print out a list of the world's countries. Each time you meet somebody who comes from a new country add them to your list under the country. Write the number at the end.
Ideas For Your list:
Family ...
Neighbours ...
Friends ...
Business (current colleagues) ...
Business (previous) ...
Carers and Cleaners ...
Clubs ...
Doctors and dentists
Gym staff and members ...
Sports (golf, tennis etc) ...
Studies ...
Reading and writing groups ...
Restaurant and shop staff ...
Studies students/ teachers ...
Social Media:
- Facebook ...
- LinkedIn ...
- WhatsAp ....
- Other ...
Languages Spoken
British English ...
American English ...
Arabic ...
Australian ... / NZ vocab ... / Maori ...
Chinese (Mandarin) ...
Czech
French ...
Gaelic ...
German ... Austrian ... Swiss German ...
Greek ...
Hebrew ...
Irish N ... S ...
Italian ...
Malay / Indonesian ...
Maltese ...
Persian ...
Portuguese ...
Russian ...
Scottish ...
South African / Afrikaans ...
Spanish ...
Tagalog (Philippines) ...
Tamil ...
Turkish ...
Urdu ...
Vietnamese ...
Welsh ...
Countries
Wiki has many pages of country names. the one I enjoyed most was the one giving the origins of country names, named after people or legendary figures.
Here's a good one with national flags.
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/countries_of_the_world.htm
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share posts.
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