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#61
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On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 14:12:30 +0200, "tim..."
wrote: wrote in message news ![]() On Tue, 8 Aug 2017 19:57:36 +0100 "Michael R N Dolbear" wrote: Fully automatic self service petrol stations appeared in earnest in the 2000s, driven by supermarkets keen to cut costs to provide automatic unattended fuelling at night and reduce staff needed to run the filling station kiosk during the day. 'Pay at Pump' is now a common feature at Tesco, Morrisons and Asda stores, with the latter having a number of completely unattended filling stations, with just a phone to contact the main store if assistance is required. Its been a common feature in France for a long time plus even the manned stations usually have a pump that takes cards so you don't have to go and endure the regulation scowl from Jean-Claude when you try to pay. Just come back from 2 weeks in France and pay at kiosk is definitely a minority sport there now. And evenings and Sundays, often an impossibility (fortunately, the machines offer instructions in 4 languages -though you can just about bluff your way through without translation - unlike the bloody Scandinavian offerings) tim But visiting Nordic countries as an English speaker is embarrassing anyway. It seems like everyone speaks English (and their dogs likely bark in EE). Icelanders are really concerned about the threat to their language... and any attempt to use Icelandic, even simple stuff as in "takk fyrir", will be greeted with huge grins and approval. |
#63
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![]() "Nobody" wrote in message ... On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 14:12:30 +0200, "tim..." wrote: wrote in message news ![]() On Tue, 8 Aug 2017 19:57:36 +0100 "Michael R N Dolbear" wrote: Fully automatic self service petrol stations appeared in earnest in the 2000s, driven by supermarkets keen to cut costs to provide automatic unattended fuelling at night and reduce staff needed to run the filling station kiosk during the day. 'Pay at Pump' is now a common feature at Tesco, Morrisons and Asda stores, with the latter having a number of completely unattended filling stations, with just a phone to contact the main store if assistance is required. Its been a common feature in France for a long time plus even the manned stations usually have a pump that takes cards so you don't have to go and endure the regulation scowl from Jean-Claude when you try to pay. Just come back from 2 weeks in France and pay at kiosk is definitely a minority sport there now. And evenings and Sundays, often an impossibility (fortunately, the machines offer instructions in 4 languages -though you can just about bluff your way through without translation - unlike the bloody Scandinavian offerings) tim But visiting Nordic countries as an English speaker is embarrassing anyway. It seems like everyone speaks English (and their dogs likely bark in EE). It does, doesn't it but a straw poll of asking random people who have just stopped at the same middle of nowhere (by our standards) petrol station shows that it isn't true tim |
#64
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On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 17:19:24 +0200
"tim..." wrote: wrote in message m... I'm very disappointed that you can't understand enough French to deal with such everyday things. Another shameful British habit. I seem to have an inherent inability to remember more than 1 foreign language having (in chronological order) spent 2 years learning Italian, 6 years learning German and 1 year in Sweden since I left school, 40 years ago I have lost all ability that I had to communicate in French As someone who can get by in French I always found written Italian similar enough to understand at least some of it (spoken italian is another matter, I can barely understand a word) so I'm surprised the reverse isn't true. -- Spud |
#65
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#66
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![]() wrote in message ... In article , d () wrote: On Mon, 28 Aug 2017 17:19:24 +0200 "tim..." wrote: wrote in message m... I'm very disappointed that you can't understand enough French to deal with such everyday things. Another shameful British habit. I seem to have an inherent inability to remember more than 1 foreign language having (in chronological order) spent 2 years learning Italian, 6 years learning German and 1 year in Sweden since I left school, 40 years ago I have lost all ability that I had to communicate in French As someone who can get by in French I always found written Italian similar enough to understand at least some of it (spoken italian is another matter, I can barely understand a word) so I'm surprised the reverse isn't true. Indeed It is even more so, both written and spoken, with Italian and Portuguese (and for all I know Spanish). One just has to know the different spelling reforms and go by the sounds. Italian and Spanish are much closer than Italian and French I have never studied Spanish at all, yet I can read it almost as well as I can German (which you will recall I banged my head against a wall for 6 years trying to learn) tim |
#67
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On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 05:00:54AM -0000, Clank wrote:
On 29.08.2017 2:50 AM, wrote: I take French as a bit exceptional because at least in theory almost all of us are supposed to have learnt it at school. It's a bit of a mystery why it's taught in school, given it's about the least useful language to learn. Nah. That would be Welsh. The problem I have with French is that it's too similar to Italian, to the extent that they're so close together in my head that I'll often switch languages half way through a sentence. -- David Cantrell | Nth greatest programmer in the world There are many different types of sausages. The best are from the north of England. The wurst are from Germany. -- seen in alt.2eggs... |
#68
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#69
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![]() "David Cantrell" wrote in message k... On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 05:00:54AM -0000, Clank wrote: On 29.08.2017 2:50 AM, wrote: I take French as a bit exceptional because at least in theory almost all of us are supposed to have learnt it at school. It's a bit of a mystery why it's taught in school, given it's about the least useful language to learn. Nah. That would be Welsh. No, that would be Scottish Gaelic - 57,000 speak this - it is not (apparently) interchangeable with Irish Gaelic (the numbers for which are inflated by people who were forced to learn it at school but have never spoken it in real life - on that basis I speak French, be we have already established that I don't) Welsh has half a million speakers tim |
#70
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On 30/08/2017 14:57, tim... wrote:
"David Cantrell" wrote in message k... It's a bit of a mystery why it's taught in school, given it's about the Â*least useful language to learn. Nah. That would be Welsh. Welsh has half a million speakers But how many don't speak reasonable conversational English and how many people who are not from Wales speak any at all? Whilst I accept the cultural reasoning for trying to keep the language alive the Welsh government take it far too far given the more useful ways they could spend their money (and open up a larger pool of competent staff to employ). The proliferation of Welsh language schools also remains a complete mystery to me - are people that scared of the Severn Bridge? Oh - and yes, I am born and bred Welsh and probably one of the few who has visited Patagonia. |
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