July 27, 2009 - Swimming in Languages

The woman sitting next to me on the flight from Chicago to London was from Bangladesh. She had been visiting her daughter in Altanta. Her English made it clear that she only understood the most basic things I might say to her, but with smiles and nods we got along pretty well. She was writing a journal in an alphabet I had never seen before.

At dinner last night in Prague, two table groups who could communicate with each other were speaking a Germanic sounding language I couldn't identify - it wasn't German, Norwegian or Swedish - might have been Dutch or Danish? English was the language they used to communicate with the Czech waiter. I choose not to ask them what they were speaking.

I "passed" at breakfast this morning. A couple sitting at my table at breakfast included me in their German conversation as if I could understand everything. When they left, another family group sat down and again addressed me in German.

In the lobby after breakfast, a woman got off the elevator and addressed her friends waiting there with "Kali mera." It threw me for a bit, but I knew I "knew" was that phrase was. Finally it dawned on me that her group was Greek and she has said simply "Good morning."

The "common wisdom" that English was not known much outside of Prague became clear today on the train from Pague to Ceske Budejovice. I shared a compartment (like in Harry Potter) with an elderly man and a middle-aged woman and her teenaged son. After telling them in Czech that "I only speak a little Czech," I was hoping that the teenager would volunteer to translate for me. No luck - no response from any of them, though the woman did make an effort to make sure I knew which stop was mine.

Entering the pension reserved for me by the guide company I'd hired, there was a bit of panic until we figured out we could communicate with writing and some basic German. The place seems newly renovated, so I'm guessing there hasn't been time to learn the basic English phrases needed to check someone in!

At the internet cafe where I'm writing this, a customer and attendant are using a mixture of English, German and French to communicate! No wonder the Tower of Babel story got created!

It will be a relief to have a translator with me for the next two days. I'm building up a stock of helpful phrases that I wish I knew already in Czech!