A language learners’ forum

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

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 )

I would say it is a compliment in most circumstances! Well done

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.

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).

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.

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