Most useful foreign languages?

[mikereed100]

Mike - in English it's spelled "presumptuous"; I fail to see how your version is cleaner. As for the perfected accent, of which of the several 'Merican accents do you refer?

Kevin

Kevin,

I believe it was Andrew Jackson who said "It's a poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word", but I remain busted. As to which 'Mercan' accent I refer, I suppose it doesn't really matter as they are all equally sonorous. If I may be so presumptuous (see, I'm teachable!) I might even include Canadian as they are so similar, although you guys are a little free with your 'u's (harbour?)

Best regards,
Mike

[Ex-Calif]

I've lived in Japan, Malaysia, The Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand and the US.

I can order beer in Japanese, Bahasa Malaysia, Tagalog, and Thai, Mandarin and perhaps English - that's about all you need really.

Seriously though. I have learned Tagalog and Japanese well but to be honest unless used daily it goes away for me. Some people have an affinity for languages, I have to study.

For cruising in SEA I would learn Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia. No matter where you land you should learn a few phrases. A few words goes a long way towards breaking the ice.

On a circumnavigation I'd agree with Gord and go with Spanish and French.

The reality is that English is the common language. We have a very international club and the Dutch communicate with the Japanese in English. The Latinos communicate with the Chinese in English. The Americans communicate with teh Brits in English. The French just sit around looking disgusted - LOL...

[Whimsical]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

The French just sit around looking disgusted - LOL...

So true

These days the electronic translators are wonderful. I have one that does Vietnamese, Mandarin, Thai, french, German and others. I speak quite a lot of Vietnamese but my pronunciation is bad and most people can not understand me untill they get used to my flat pronunciation style. The electronic book fixed that though.

Mike

[Lancerbye]

Whimsical
I was just looking at getting one of those. I hadn't tried one and was wondering how good it was. What make and model do you recommend. I was looking at one the size of a calculator, said it could voice translate 22 languages. About $300

[Whimsical]

I have had 2 of them, the first was dropped on the road and about 4 million scooters run over it before it could be rescued. Can't remember the brand but its Vietnamese speak was very good, English so so, French not bad and chinese is just garbled gobeldy gook to me. The current one while having a better vocabulary is not as good at pronunciation. I bought them is Saigon and they just have some strange word for a brand. The ex has the new one now, I think it is called a diamond. Vietnamese versions are impossible to find outside Vietnam.
I think it would be wise to see it in person before buying as I have heard some shockers. I did listen to one that the european languages were good but it didn't have Viet so I didn't bother, cant be sure of the brand but I think it was a Franklin

Mike