Re: OT: semi-OT: bilingual communication

Danny Wier wrote:
>Is it possible, or practical, for this to happen in the real world for
>speakers of two more different languages? Like I was speaking English to a
>Spanish speaker and he'd be speaking Spanish to me....
That's a little different, it implies (to me) that both parties are familiar
with both languages.

In cases like your Chechen/Ingush ex.-- would it be simply that both
languages are so similar they understand each other without ever actually
having studied or much used the other's language-- or could it be that both
speakers are actually bilingual, having grown up with both languages?

Probably more like the Chechen/Ingush situation:  Spanish and Portuguese.
I've  had it from both that Spanish is no problem for the Port., but
Port.(unless spoken slowly and very clearly) is a problem for the Spanish.
But despite gaps and unfamiliar words, communication is possible. Even I got
along reasonably well in Brazil speaking Spanish; (and I doubt the average
shop-clerk in Rio ever has studied Spanish)-- they'd answer in Port., though
if they knew any English at all, they would answer in it. (Brazilians are a
little touchy about being spoken to in Spanish; and seem not to want to
speak it.  I don't know if European Portuguese are).

Milanese vs. Sicilians? I think both claim it's possible, though difficult.
(As much a social clash as a linguistic one.  Some of us in the northern US
have occasional difficulty with  heavy Southern dialect)