Egwene's log - Learning languages as an hotel entertainer
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:20 pm
Hi everyone!
I have been lurking around for a very long time on the old and also on the new forum here. I love reading all your logs about your language journeys, but I never really had the courage to start my own. But then I thought: maybe it is interesting to tell you all about my language journey while I work abroad in hotels. I have already been working in the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and Spain. Right now I am in Greece.
Which languages do I speak?
Dutch is my native language. After many years of using it, reading difficult articles and perfecting it during my study (Law) I can say that I have a C2 level.
English is my second language. I come from the Netherlands. Around the age of 10 we start to learn English and this doesn't stop. All the films and series we see on the television are in English with Dutch subtitles. Also the games we play are most of the time in English. It is part of our daily life. I never did an official test for this, so I guess it is around B1/B2. It is good enough for everyday conversations.
German is the last language I would say that I am sort of fluent in. I learned this language during my job as entertainer. When I started 2 years ago, I could only say Guten Tag, Wie geht's?, Gut et cetera. By being forced to speak the language every day I learned it very fast. Even now I am still learning new words and ways of saying things. The level is also around B1/B2. It depends a bit on the subject of the conversation.
What do I want to achieve?
French: we have quite a few French speaking guests in the hotel. Right now I can most of the time understand what they are asking, but I have difficulties giving them a good/fast answer. It also happens sometimes that I don't understand the question at all. It would be nice to slowly improve my vocabulary.
Italian: this language.. I started working abroad in Italy. I fell in love with the sounds, the culture, the food. Sadly I don't have time to focus more on this beautiful language, but I do what I can.
Modern Greek: right now I am working at Kos. A beautiful, small Island with lovely people. This is the language I will focus the most on, when I actually have time to do some studies.
How will I do this?
Most of my study time is in the hotel when I speak with the guests. Some of you will agree that speaking is the best way of learning a language and I can agree with this. But it is also a very tough way of learning, since it is difficult (at least for me) to make mistakes and being laughed at. That's why it is nice to have some time at home too, to focus on words and grammar. Sadly, I have hardly time to do this. My work hours are not the best. Every day, except Wednesday (my day off), I work 10 hours or even more. The little time I have outside of the hotel in my room I must use to relax and rest.
For Greek I have a notebook where I write down words I would like to learn. For example, today I focused on fruits. For me the most important ones are: φράουλα (strawberry), μήλο (apple), ανανάς (pineapple) and ροδάκινο (peach).
I hope to be able to regulary update my log with nice stories about my work, people I meet, new words I learn or sometimes funny mistakes I make while speaking with guests.
What happened today?
Today I am lucky to have an evening off. Together with my Flemish colleague we decided to cook dinner together. We went to the local super market here for some pasta (ζυμαρικά), green and red peppers (πιπεριά, πράσινο, κόκκινο) and pesto (πέστο). It tasted wonderful. I bought some other necessary things too. During the daytime I did my classes in English as usual. There were some guests asking me questions like 'Where can we get towels?' or 'When will ... (name an activity) start?'. These kind of questions I can answer in four languages by now. The hardest thing is guessing what language the guest speaks. We have to say hello to everybody we meet and preferably in their mother language. Unfortunately they don't have a name tag with their language attached on their shirts(I have, so guests know which languages I can speak). Sometimes this can give awkward situations. I can tell you: speaking German to an English guest is not the best way to start a conversation. The other way is alright.
In the evening I watched some YouTube videos from Domtendo, a German "Let's Play.." youtuber. I really enjoy his videos, because his speaking is clear and understandable. He also has good humor.
I have been lurking around for a very long time on the old and also on the new forum here. I love reading all your logs about your language journeys, but I never really had the courage to start my own. But then I thought: maybe it is interesting to tell you all about my language journey while I work abroad in hotels. I have already been working in the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and Spain. Right now I am in Greece.
Which languages do I speak?
Dutch is my native language. After many years of using it, reading difficult articles and perfecting it during my study (Law) I can say that I have a C2 level.
English is my second language. I come from the Netherlands. Around the age of 10 we start to learn English and this doesn't stop. All the films and series we see on the television are in English with Dutch subtitles. Also the games we play are most of the time in English. It is part of our daily life. I never did an official test for this, so I guess it is around B1/B2. It is good enough for everyday conversations.
German is the last language I would say that I am sort of fluent in. I learned this language during my job as entertainer. When I started 2 years ago, I could only say Guten Tag, Wie geht's?, Gut et cetera. By being forced to speak the language every day I learned it very fast. Even now I am still learning new words and ways of saying things. The level is also around B1/B2. It depends a bit on the subject of the conversation.
What do I want to achieve?
French: we have quite a few French speaking guests in the hotel. Right now I can most of the time understand what they are asking, but I have difficulties giving them a good/fast answer. It also happens sometimes that I don't understand the question at all. It would be nice to slowly improve my vocabulary.
Italian: this language.. I started working abroad in Italy. I fell in love with the sounds, the culture, the food. Sadly I don't have time to focus more on this beautiful language, but I do what I can.
Modern Greek: right now I am working at Kos. A beautiful, small Island with lovely people. This is the language I will focus the most on, when I actually have time to do some studies.
How will I do this?
Most of my study time is in the hotel when I speak with the guests. Some of you will agree that speaking is the best way of learning a language and I can agree with this. But it is also a very tough way of learning, since it is difficult (at least for me) to make mistakes and being laughed at. That's why it is nice to have some time at home too, to focus on words and grammar. Sadly, I have hardly time to do this. My work hours are not the best. Every day, except Wednesday (my day off), I work 10 hours or even more. The little time I have outside of the hotel in my room I must use to relax and rest.
For Greek I have a notebook where I write down words I would like to learn. For example, today I focused on fruits. For me the most important ones are: φράουλα (strawberry), μήλο (apple), ανανάς (pineapple) and ροδάκινο (peach).
I hope to be able to regulary update my log with nice stories about my work, people I meet, new words I learn or sometimes funny mistakes I make while speaking with guests.
What happened today?
Today I am lucky to have an evening off. Together with my Flemish colleague we decided to cook dinner together. We went to the local super market here for some pasta (ζυμαρικά), green and red peppers (πιπεριά, πράσινο, κόκκινο) and pesto (πέστο). It tasted wonderful. I bought some other necessary things too. During the daytime I did my classes in English as usual. There were some guests asking me questions like 'Where can we get towels?' or 'When will ... (name an activity) start?'. These kind of questions I can answer in four languages by now. The hardest thing is guessing what language the guest speaks. We have to say hello to everybody we meet and preferably in their mother language. Unfortunately they don't have a name tag with their language attached on their shirts(I have, so guests know which languages I can speak). Sometimes this can give awkward situations. I can tell you: speaking German to an English guest is not the best way to start a conversation. The other way is alright.
In the evening I watched some YouTube videos from Domtendo, a German "Let's Play.." youtuber. I really enjoy his videos, because his speaking is clear and understandable. He also has good humor.