This made me laugh..........harsh but true !!!

Worst Tourists news link

Dave

Doh ! Cant spool in teh tittle........

strange how is it every countrymen i speak (falteringly at first in their own tongue)universally loath the Germans including the Austrians.
Try a skiing holiday sometime in the alps and see how "curteous" the Germans and French are when queing for a ski lift
Unfortunately this is again about perceptions put upon us by the tiny minority of the tiny brained football hooligans et al

I come across numerous downright pig ignorant Americans tourists who although admittedly not as inebriated as the brits still seem to be as loud as possible and as demanding as possible.

The tourist trap program was excellent and didnt show us in any where near as bad a light as this "survey".

Matt

This is why I try and avoid other Brits when I go away :rolleyes:

Think it's fair to say most Brits when they go away don't even make an effort to speak the lingo - they expect everyone in the world to speak english :rolleyes:

And when you do go away, WTF is there an English pub everywhere? ;)

Is that Brits as in English or Brits as in Scottish, English, Irish and Welsh.....:p

D

The British way of talking a foreign language is to talk really slowly, accentuating mouth movements and make sure whatever you say, you say it F**KIN LOUD OK ?

CAN I HAVE FISH AND CHIPS MERCI ? Lol.

Sorry, in my experience there is an IRISH pub in every place on the planet.

Curiously, my friends opened an English RESTAURANT in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Quote "Keith Betton, of the Association of British Travel Agents, said it was more difficult to speak foreign languages abroad because most other nations speak English".

Sums it up really, as that makes NO SENSE at all and is a lazy ignorant xenophobic cop-out.

Blowing the own trumpet time, but since I bothered to learn to ask for a 'large glass of red please' in a few languages, I get noticed from the crowd, respected for giving respect and often get a free one with the owner! It may be easier as I grew up speaking two languages, but it is not beyond anyone!

It is surprising what has sometime been said to me privately by the locals about my English neighbours, but I must say all the predominantly English in Kefalonia recently were nice, polite and well behaved people. "Oi Spiros, Donner Kebab now and none of that poxy thin local ketchup" was never once heard there! The Greeks however consider the Brits on the next rowdy island mostly as scum, and who can blame them. Think you need to make sure you are not lumped in the same class as these!

D

OK, Diesel, which language should I learn then? In the last 3 years I have been to Germany/Austria, Holland, Belgium, France and Italy. I can't possibly learn all of these languages and am in each country for such a short time that I wouldn't get much chance to use the newly learnt language anyway. Having said that, I do speak a bit of French and can order food/drink in German.

Having a good attitude is far more important than speaking the lingo. When in Italy I ended up in a Mexican restaurant (don't ask!) and we spoke no Italian, and the staff spoke no English. We still got exactly what we wanted and had excellent service (more than I can say for the mostly English speaking Italian eateries).

We have the "Euro" to make things simple.. So why not a single european language???


Hate Just about every tourist I see... They are all muppets

"Full English Breakfast"..........

can you remember that program tourist trap, they put groups of people from one country in different situations,in a mock hotel
The british just got on with things having a laugh
The germans and yanks winged and moaned
The japs came out well in it also

Remember what happened when the hotel staff burnt the American flag?

Much crying, wailing and gnashing of teeth... at the end they asked if they could have to dispose of it properly.

Jerome

Doesn't sound like they are talking about you mate as you seem to have an open friendly attitude towards bloody foreigners ;)

However you asked "OK, Diesel, which language should I learn then"? Well just the one relevant to where you are, maybe on the plane over, via the book you bought at the airport? I have had a stab at a few dozen words in Thai, Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Hungarian, Finnish (bloody hard!) and am pretty good in Welsh and Greek.

I travel a bit with work, and I tell you what mate, if you have the confidence to say 'nice to meet you' at the opening meeting you too are elevated from the immediate rank of a monoglot 'bloody foreigner'

Have a go!