What countries have you added since 2016?

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Bluepaint
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What countries have you added since 2016?

Postby Bluepaint » Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:28 pm

What countries have you added to your list since the April 2016 thread about countries you've visited? Any good language moments?
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Re: What countries have you added since 2016?

Postby Elenia » Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:40 pm

I'm not sure, but I think just Germany and Norway. In Germany, I managed to reply to a waiter at a buffet who shocked me with German. Not only did I reply, I also replied grammatically correctly, and he didn't seem to realise that I was so distressed about the whole situation that I was literally pulling at my hair!

In Norway, border control on the train. The lady checking our passports was really nice and friendly, and was talking with us in Norwegian. I understood a good amount of what she said, and could reply in Swedish. She said that I had the accent of the area of Sweden I live in. (Not necessarily a compliment from everyone, but I was happy :D )
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Re: What countries have you added since 2016?

Postby Bluepaint » Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:42 pm

I would say it is a compliment in most circumstances! Well done :)
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Re: What countries have you added since 2016?

Postby eebeejay » Sat Sep 08, 2018 4:13 am

Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

On a train from Barcelona to Nîmes I ended up sharing a compartment with another Canadian and a couple guys from France. I found the Canadian irritating. He worked in national security and was apparently friends with a prominent politician I don't like, and just wouldn't stop talking and talking, mostly in French. I was really tired and wanted to sleep so I didn't really participate much, but at one point in time he said "câlisse de tabarnac" which made the other guys look really confused. So I butted in, told Securitybro that that's not a phrase that's used in Europe. He tried "Pétain" and there was this sudden flicker of recognition in the other two guys.

I spent a bit of time in France and was able to get around without resorting to English, which made me pretty proud of myself. That was pretty much it though. I ended up in a couple conversations with people where I quickly got lost because I didn't have the right vocabulary. One was with an older character in Avignon who people seemed to know - he sat down beside me and started to rattle off what seemed to be a list of the various cases of baggage theft in places around Provence. I stayed in that conversation for way too long because I just wanted some listening practice.

The moment I crossed the border into Belgium though... everyone seemed to know right away that I'm an anglophone and it was all English from then on.
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Re: What countries have you added since 2016?

Postby Serpent » Sun Sep 09, 2018 1:52 pm

Plenty of people have replied in that thread to mention new countries they've been to since their previous post :)

I have visited quite a few countries where my target languages are spoken - Croatia, Montenegro, Portugal (including Madeira), Spain/Catalonia, Austria, Italy (also Vatican and the SMOM building). Also Slovakia for the Polyglot Gathering (only interested in Slovak passively).
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Re: What countries have you added since 2016?

Postby tolgylop » Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:30 pm

I've added: Poland, Brazil, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Gibraltar, too, if that counts.

I also passed through airports in Iceland, Denmark, Panama, and Vietnam since my 2016 post, but can't count those as true country visits.
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Re: What countries have you added since 2016?

Postby Bluepaint » Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:18 pm

tolgylop wrote:I've added: Poland, Brazil, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Gibraltar, too, if that counts.

I also passed through airports in Iceland, Denmark, Panama, and Vietnam since my 2016 post, but can't count those as true country visits.


Gibraltar definitely counts! Airports don't :lol:
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