Subj : Language Support To : Roon From : AKAcastor Date : Wed Apr 24 2024 10:49 am A> I haven't been to Czech Republic, but I've started to develop an A> appreciation by watching The HONEST GUIDE channel on Youtube. A great A> channel full of information about Prague and its tourist traps, as A> well as scams to watch out for - they have even gotten scammers on the A> street arrested, after catching them stealing from tourists many A> times. R> yeah but it is in every big city. Paris, Amsterdam, R> London, etc... you have to watch out for your pocket. R> Only difference maybe is that the tourist-trap R> restaurants are not so common in the european R> northern&western countries. Yes! I didn't mean to imply that Prague was a hotspot for crime - it's a big city with many international tourists, it's normal. Just that the Honest Guide youtube channel gives such an excellent look at some examples in Prague (because that's where the channel is located). The focus of the channel isn't really on crime/scammers, but as an actual honest travel guide they haven't ignored it. In particular, there are currency exchange scams targeting tourists - guys on the street offering to beat official exchange rates, but they give worthless Belarusian rubles instead of Czech crowns. The Honest Guide has done a series of investigation into these scams, which has been pretty fascinating. The REAL point of the Honest Guide channel is to let us tourists know that we shouldn't overpay for beer in Prague because good beer is cheap! The honest, Janek, is excellent. Speaking of other big cities.... I lost a less-than-two-weeks-old iPhone 7 out of my pocket in Brussels. 2am, drunk, leaving shady bar, the perfect target. It was a bummer, but it's not the city it's just the situation. R> maybe it's because i am from eastern europe i have a R> good eye for these kind of things, so i almost never R> fell to them or exited early from a situation :) I've definitely found it helpful to have friends from different regions when traveling - we can have a different focus sometimes on what kind of details and hints we pick up on. Nice to get a heads up from a friend when I may have missed what's going on. R> where in france? i visit it from time to time, mostly R> the Riviera, Paris, and the alps - Mont-Blanc region - R> for some skiing/snowboarding. The Riviera - I worked in an office in Sophia Antipolis. Spent time in Antibes, Cannes, Nice, etc. I didn't travel to see other areas as much as I should have, the Riviera was too beautiful and kept me there. R> i have some friends from Spain, so i learned spanish for R> 6th months. been in Madrid, Malaga, Granada, the R> southern coast /Nerja/. on our honeymoon we travelled R> from budapest throug austria-switzerland-france-to R> southern spain, spent two weeks there and back. man that R> took a long time, but it worth it. :) That sounds like a wonderful trip! How did you travel? Car/train/plane? I haven't visited much of Spain - one weekend in Barcelona. But, speaking of Madrid, there's a song I have been enjoying a lot lately called "Madrid" by Kuma the Third. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4NMxs8yDQ A> It's helpful that English has such a presence around the world, it's A> not uncommon for SOMEONE to be around that understand at least SOME A> English. Feels like world travelling, on easy mode sometimes. :) R> English is the JOKER. Because it's a wild card that can be played anywhere? Or because it's insane? :) R> my father has friends in Austria, Netherlands, Czech, Italy, so in my R> childhood i heard a lot of different languages, so i R> think this is why i love hearing the different accents R> and to play with the langs. That's great. I think my difficulty with accents stems partly from growing up in a monoculture. R> but funnily my accent is from one valley in Tirol area R> which confuses every other german speaking, because they R> hear that i am not a native speaker but i knew the R> slangs and some weird phrases even they dont hear R> occasionally. :) It's great when you can surprise someone with the combination of accent and familiarity with local slang and customs. The great moment they have of "oh I may have underestimated you!" :) Chris/akacastor --- Maximus 3.01 * Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162) .