Stephen Farrow wrote:
Janet Wilder wrote:
Stephen Farrow wrote:
Janet Wilder wrote:
Stephen Farrow wrote:
Janet Wilder wrote:
I just picked up all of my documents from the travel agent today.
We will be doing 3 flights within Europe. One from Paris to
Budapest, one from Amsterdam to Seville (with a change of plane in
Madrid) and one from Seville to Barcelona.

They are all e-tickets. I won't have a printer so I can't get
boarding passes. Do we just go up to the check-in counter and show
them the copies of the schedules the TA gave us? I'm assuming
that they will not speak English.

The check-in agents will almost certainly speak some English.

Of course, if *you* had any manners, you'd try to learn at least a
few phrases of French, Spanish, Dutch and Hungarian before your
trip. You are visiting their countries, so it behoves you to at
least try and speak a little of their languages.


I do have manners.

That's debatable, given that you didn't appear to be prepared to meet
people in the countries you plan to visit halfway by learning a few
words of their languages.

I also have a program on CD with French, Spanish, German and
Italian, and I've been trying to learn from it for 6 months.
Unfortunately, I'm not very good at remembering what I've learned.

Then buy a phrase book and refer to it as you go, rather than
fretting over the possibility that people in other countries won't
speak English (which, at airport check-in desks in Europe, they most
likely will anyway). You don't need to be fluent in each language.
You just need to make some effort. All you need to remember are a few
simple words and phrases. It's *incredibly* arrogant and rude to
visit a country without learning at least a little of the language -
and "I'm not very good at it" is no excuse.

So sorry I disappoint you. I do speak a little French and my DH
speaks a little German and Spanish, but we aren't comfortable enough
to try conversing in it. That's why I wanted to get our boarding
passes ahead of time.

It's possible you were so interested in flailing me for being an Ugly
American that you missed my initial query about getting boarding
passes printed while traveling.

I didn't miss it. In fact, I did point out that check-in agents in major
European airports will most likely be able to speak English (which means
you wouldn't necessarily need to get your boarding passes printed out in
advance). Perhaps you were so intent on taking offense that you missed it.

And the rest of your (overly defensive) response misses the point: you
will have a better time if you try and speak a little of the local
languages. You will get better service. People will be friendlier if you
make the effort to speak a little of their language. You don't need to
be fluent enough to hold a complete conversation. You need to learn a
few words and phrases, stop worrying about making mistakes, and jump in.
For a start, the best way to learn a language is to *use* a language - I
promise you that you will learn more trying to speak even very limited
French or Spanish or whatever while you're on vacation than you will
studying the language in abstract from a CD-Rom. And if you make
mistakes, you make mistakes. The world won't come to an end if you try
ordering a coffee or a meal in French or Spanish and you get it slightly
wrong, and people will appreciate your making the attempt. But to
perpetuate the "ugly American" stereotype by making no attempt at all to
speak the local language while you're in a foreign country is, yes, both
arrogant and rude (which I guess, since your response to me was to tell
me to STFU, probably fits you like a glove).


Nice diatribe. I'd say you're the one who's sounding arrogant. I've
made speeches like that myself, back when I thought (1) I knew it all,
or (2) what I did know was important. The years have served to disabuse
me of both notions.

Louis