The first part below was actually written because I misread the title line of
another thread - but then I though that I just as well could reuse it here.
I don't try to get involved in conversations from the beginning, so once I do so I can already more or less formulate myself in relatively comprehensible sentences - and then they can hear that I'm foreigner, but they almost never comment on my pronunciation (or correct my grammatical errors). I remember that long ago where my Portuguese still was relatively new some kids said that I speak in a weird way - but since then I have been visiting several lusophoe countries without a single comment on my pronunciation. The problem is more like understanding what the natives say, because I don't feel that they make many concessions to my status as a learner - which is prefect because I prefer listening to natural, but clear speech. But some natives can be difficult to follow. Do I then comment on THEIR pronunciation? Of course not ...
The one time where I got a clear reaction to my speech was in Catalunya, shortly after the death of you know who. I was standing in a long queue at the Montserrat monastery, waiting to buy a couple of Catalan newspapers (Punt and Avui). When it was my turn the lady said something like "but they are in Spanish" (in Spanish or Catalan, I don't remember), and I answered "Es per això" (it is therefore). And then she totally ignored the people behind me and asked how and where and why I had learned Catalan - and that conversation was definitely in Catalan. However she didn't comment on my level, and that suits me fine.
Speaking of Catalan, on my first trip to Costa Brava I also visited Barcelona, and I was sitting on a row of benches with the old folks (mostly elderly ladies), watching sardana dancing in front of the cathedral. Somebody must have asked whether I knew any Catalan and I apparently answered in Catalan because I could hear all the way down to the other end of the row of elderlies "he says he doesn't speak Catalan, but he said it in Catalan".
Both episodes happened long ago before my 25 year long hiatus in language learning, and during that period I also forgot to speak Catalan. But now I have relearned it, and I have visited not only Catalunya proper, but also the province of Valencia and Mallorca, and the only place where I really struggled was on Mallorca, where I spoke in Catalan to the owner of my hotel and his son (it was a small hotel). And the Mallorquí dialect was not something I had prepared for. Among other things the Mallorquí speakers don't use definite article with l's - in their dialect it is s'es. But at least they were polite enough not to comment on my pronunciation.
End of part one.
F0314a04_Sardana_Barcelona.jpg
Since my last rant I have been studying a number of texts, done some wordlist repetitions and read some texts from the Low German Wikipedia extensively. I have mostly been listening to composers from Händel (placed at the end of the H in my system because the Umlaut - and yes, I know how he is spelled in English) through Ibert and myself to Janáček. I did turn on the sound of my TV for a few programs, ...
GER: .. einschließlich einer Sendung im deutschen Fernsehen, in der Herr Plaume (vom Quiz "Wer weiß doch so was") Personen besuchte, die zwei Dinge gemeinsam hätten, nämlich daß sie mindestens 100 Jahre alt waren und noch nicht zu altersgeschwächt um mit ihm zu plaudern. Es war ganz unterhaltsam, aber meine Gedanken gelten jetzt eher diejenige, die sich dem 100. Lebensjahr nähern und
nicht so gesund und putzmunter sind wie die Leute, die Mr. Plaume besuchte. Wir werden älter und älter, aber immer mehr Jahre werden wir uns dann auch in einem erbärmlichen Zustand befinden, und es wird immer weniger junge Leute geben, die uns warten können (oder mögen). Die Lösung wird wahrscheinlich der Einsatz von Robotern sein. Das heißt: Wenn ich in 10-15 Jahren in meinem selbstschaukelnden Schaukelstuhl sitze und "Scheisse" sage, kommt ein Roboter und zieht mich zur Toilette.
EN: And now I had actually planned to review my texts from yesterday, but this message is already long enough so you'll get that later.
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