Hi sunflower,
It's a very similar situation in Switzerland where they speak four official languages and, as there are a lot of immigrants and United Nations offices, Portuguese, English, and a whole gaggle of Eastern European languages.
Everybody seems to get on fine.
When I lived in Barcelona in the northeastern part of Spain I was learning Spanish by ear (as most of my other languages). In Barcelona they also speak Catalan and, as I was still learning and couldn't really separate the Catalan from the Spanish, I would start a phrase in Spanish, break in to Catalan, return to Spanish and end the phrase in Catalan! The locals thought it really funny!! I can understand that.
Best regards,
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by sunflower
Here in Quebec we are so accustomed to going back and forth in both languages that we might use whichever language is more suitable for the idea or concept that we might want to convey.
As an example, Montreal ground crew had a meeting on Sunday. Back and forth we went, quick as lightning, but we were all on the same page so to speak, so we really enjoyed our discussion. Great group of people!  |