Re: [wolfrunners] Languages & SF/F (fwd)

On Sat, 19 Aug 2000, Nik Taylor wrote:

>Marcus Smith wrote:
>> In irritation, I pointed out
>> to her that in most countries you needed to be bilingual.  Her response:
>> "Well, we're in America."  That explained everything.
>
>An Hispanic acquaintance of mine related a personal story about when he
>was speaking in Spanish to a friend of his, and someone actually walked
>up to them and told them something to the effect of "You're in America,
>speak American"!  Personally, I like to hear foreign languages,
>especially tonal ones, something about it just intrigues me, even tho I
>have no idea what's being said.  :-)
Well, just to throw a positive spin on this sad state of affairs:

While waiting for me luch at McDonald's today, the fellow in the
next line ordered his sandwich (no mayo, lettuce only), which the
Spanish speaking cashier proceeded to yell back to the sandwich
makers in back. Rather than berate them for speaking Spanish at
work, he took the time and interest to actually learn the Spanish
words of mayo and lettuce (maiones and lechuga). Not content with
just hearing what the cashier said; he repeated it until the cashier
was satisfied that he had said it right. He had apparently learnt
milk (leche) sometime before. Got a big smile from the cashier,
anyway. There _IS_ hope!

Padraic.