So, I need to begin with properly saying
"I'm deaf. Could you write down what you’re saying."
IN:
Dutch – Ik ben doof. Kunt u opschrijven wat u zegt.
German – Ich bin taub. Könnten Sie aufschreiben, was Sie sagen.
Italian – Sono sordo. Potrebbe scrivere quello che sta dicendo.
Spanish – Soy sordo. Podría escribir lo que está diciendo.
Icelandic – Ég er heyrnarlaus. Gætirðu skrifað niður það sem þú ert að segja. 
Dutch and German are similar enough (and close enough to English) that I can, generally, get from one to the other. Same with Spanish and Italian. Icelandic? Fahgeddaboutit!
Considering that Iceland is undoubtedly the first place I’ll go once travel is possible and safe again (yeah, a couple years from now, at best), that should be tops on my list of languages to learn to limp along in BUT, oh please, I can’t even begin to guess how any of these words are pronounced. Lucky for me and Jen, English is commonly spoken there (in the schools, it’s taught as a second language)
Even more lucky – I just tried out one of those groovy voice to text translation cell apps – Google Translate. It’s not as good as DeepL but it’s FREE and pretty damn awesome – SO Star Trekkian! Of course, I’ve not tried it out in a real life situations YET – I will though.
Still and all, it’s faster and easier, when I’m looking for the can (man), to be able to ask/say ‘which way to the bathroom? Please point – I’m deaf.’
Dutch: Welke kant op naar het watercloset? Wijs aan, ik ben doof.
German: Wo geht's zum Wasserkloset?. Bitte zeigen Sie - ich bin taub.
Italian: Da che parte è il bagno? Si prega di indicare - sono sordo.
Spanish: Por qué camino al baño? Por favor, señale - Soy sordo.
Icelandic: Hvaða leið að loo Vinsamlegast bentu - ég er heyrnarlaus.
No, I’ll never be able to say that in Icelandic. Probably.
I’m 95% deaf in my right ear. I’m the founder of Americans with Hearing Disabilities. Our motto: “Could you please repeat that?”
ReplyDeleteNow That I've found the voice to text translation app, mine will be " please repeat into the phone mic, thanks.' :-)
DeleteMy middle-school Espanola (yeah, they did that in LA county in the sixties) es suficiente para mantenerse fuera de los problemas, enough to stay out of trouble. I use it more to be friendly with those who speak it better than I.
ReplyDeleteThe French I learned at my grandmother's knee, Cajon, decidedly not the couple of years I had in high-school Parisan, es suficiente para meterse en problemas, bad enough to get into trouble.
And what the hell good is three different (legacy) computer languages anyways?
Copy that, DA. We might think of expanding our lines of communication.
More language understanding is always good. The bad thing is that very few teachers focus on conversation – it's all word memorizing and grammar. Good but not enough for real world use.
DeleteEveryone in Iceland speaks excellent English, so I wouldn't worry about learning to speak Icelandic :)
ReplyDeleteI thought that was just because we were near or in Reykjavík – it's everywhere though. Cool but, at teh same time, I feel linguistically lazy.
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