Re: Learn a new language

[Chris <cud -at- telecable -dot- es>]

I've not had to do this on the job, but traveling...

Definitely, you *must* learn the rudimentaries if you plan to travel:

Do you speak English?
Yes, no, please, thank you...
Hello, good day, how are you...
Pleased to meet you, It was a pleasure...
1/2/3/4 coffees/beers/wines/waters

Just those make an enourmous difference.  I live in Spain - when we came 
here I had practically zero Spanish.  Making stupid attempts were all it 
took to get by.  People appreciate the effort - it's human nature.  Even 
in France, so long as you don't butcher the language too badly, and are 
just trying to show good faith (not prove that you are the best 
French-speaking American on the circuit this year), you will generally 
get a warm response to a simple Bon jour!

And one other thing - I don't know about China or India, but in Spain 
you always begin with a Good Day (Buenos dias)...  If not, you have made 
a goof.  These things are important -  For lack of that simple phrase I 
couldn't get a second cup of coffee one day...  I learned my lesson! 
That is to say, you might bother to learn a few of the rudimentaries of 
protocol while you're at it.  Another example - I taught a programming 
course in Sweden.  I began the course with a round of jokes, as any 
self-respecting traveling salesman would.  Later somebody told me - in 
the Nordic countries you should begin with business, and end with the 
jokes.  Needless to say, my jokes fell flat, and the course was more of 
a struggle than it needed to be.  First impressions!

Traveling around, I found that having the above rudamentaries under my 
belt made things so much better.  Even though nearly everybody I met 
spoke more English than I did Portugese or Italian (for example), the 
effort is what mattered.  Do your homework.  It makes a difference.

Besides, learning a new language is good for you.
--
Chris Despopoulos, maker of CudSpan Freeware...
Plugins to Enhance FrameMaker & FrameMaker+SGML
http://www.telecable.es/personales/cud/
cud -at- telecable -dot- es


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Robohelp X3, from eHelp, lets you quickly and easily create 
professional Help systems for all your Windows and Web-based 
applications, including Net.

Buy RoboHelp Office X4 by June 13th and receive
$100 mail-in rebate, Plus FREE RoboHelp Plus Pack.

Order RoboHelp today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.