Michael; Camino-addicted
Take your time to enjoy a beautiful moment
- Time of past OR future Camino
- A few Caminos
Next plan - Camino de Baztan
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Hi MichaelHola peregrinos,
I was on the Camino Frances 2012 and after the second day, day by day, a little group was built - at the end with 7 pilgrims from 7 countrys with 6 languages. A communication was only possible in English - with many different levels, I would say, I was at this time the penultimate.
And only because of this, that everybody had to speak in a foreign language, we had so much fun together.
At first I met Gyula from Hungary and Luca from Italy. And when Gyula introduced himself I could reply to indroduce myself in Hungarian - the only Hungarian phrase I know,except "egészségére" (that means cheers or to your health). He was so happy that I pronounced Gyula correctly and then said to me: This crazy Italian is Luca and he calls me Julia all the day.
Ayi is also a friend in this group. He is an indian priest who lives in a german parrish, so he spoke at that time more or less German, but it was so difficult for me to understand him and to hear, if he speaks English or German in this moment, because his accent was incredible in both languages.
Christa is from Holland, Valerie is a french native speaker from Belgium and Betty is a hungarian, living in Transsylvania/Romania.
Luca´s accent was also very strong and we often had funny moments with his kind of English. But at the very end of our Camino, when we had breakfast just in front of the old pilgrim office, he dropped the bomb.
We asked each other: "What was a very special moment on your Camino".
Luca answered: "Yesterday in the cathedral, when I got the hostie from Ayi", but it was more like .....hostiefromasch
At that moment, Valerie spat her coffee across the table and screamed: What, Hostie fromage (french: Hostie with cheese)
Three of us couldn´t stop laughing and could not breathe for two minutes and were therefore unable to explain to the other four why we laugh so much. In the end 7 persons hit the table and shouted.
This group is in contact till now and we still have a lot of fun talking English.
Did you have similar experiences on your way?
Good night
Michael
I imagine it works the same with singing or dancing. Both activities can be enhanced by alcohol, but perhaps only in the mind of the participant. The loosening of inhibition can be a great social enhancement, only in some cases, though. I’d rather my sister didn’t sing, for example, and I’d rather dance unaided.I remember a study came out a couple of years ago, something along the lines of "drinking alcohol makes you better at foreign languages." I always suspected as much. After a couple of vinos or cervezas on the camino everyone seems to become a polyglot!
The I Love Lucy TV show had some episodes where they visited Europe. I'm picturing your camino family communicating somewhat like the following where Lucy is arrested in France for passing counterfeit money. More fun.And only because of this, that everybody had to speak in a foreign language, we had so much fun together.
I imagine it works the same with singing or dancing. Both activities can be enhanced by alcohol, but perhaps only in the mind of the participant. The loosening of inhibition can be a great social enhancement, only in some cases, though. I’d rather my sister didn’t sing, for example, and I’d rather dance unaided.
Conversation that has been stifled by years of social conditioning can be loosed In good company under the right circumstances, which sometime include, but not always, a glass or two of wine. We still have to walk next day.
Regards,
Paul
The I Love Lucy TV show had some episodes where they visited ...
That did not happen on the Camino but pre google time pre cell phone time.
We drove from Athens through Jugoslavia and the bus broke down. In that village nobody spoke Greek or English or French. So the got a guy who spoke German. The bus driver did not speak anything but Greek.
I translated the bus drivers Greek into German the local the German into Serbian to the mechanic to see what was wrong and the whole thing went back and forth. Meanwhile worried bus passenger starred at us.
Then with two bottle of whisky and three cartons of smokes the bus got repaired and we could continue towards Switzerland, there they kicked all German off the bus, because they believed that the bus would be stopped in Germany, because of the minor little thing thT on the back seats you could see the tarmac.from a whole in the bus. German police are so sticklers about safety . Tststs
you see learning languages is always a plus.
That’s so funny .. still laughing.Speaking of different languages, accents and pronunciation ..... I overheard a brief exchange in a dormitorio one evening when everyone was getting ready for bed. An English speaking pilgrim mentioned that he would put a sheet on the mattress before he laid his sleeping bag out. There must have appeared a look of incredulity on the face of the camino friend to whom he spoke because he quickly followed with, "What?! That's a word."
The study was a lot more than a couple of years ago. I remember hearing about it from a linguistics professor in the early 80s. A little alcohol makes you better at speaking other languages because it loosens inhibitions (it doesn't help reading or understanding). A lot of alcohol, on the other hand, does not help so much.I remember a study came out a couple of years ago, something along the lines of "drinking alcohol makes you better at foreign languages." I always suspected as much. After a couple of vinos or cervezas on the camino everyone seems to become a polyglot!
Wonderful, Michael, I love your story! I read it aloud to my husband and we both had a good laugh. This is what makes the Camino unique and this us what one can't explain to others.Hola peregrinos,
I was on the Camino Frances 2012 and after the second day, day by day, a little group was built - at the end with 7 pilgrims from 7 countrys with 6 languages. A communication was only possible in English - with many different levels, I would say, I was at this time the penultimate.
And only because of this, that everybody had to speak in a foreign language, we had so much fun together.
At first I met Gyula from Hungary and Luca from Italy. And when Gyula introduced himself I could reply to indroduce myself in Hungarian - the only Hungarian phrase I know,except "egészségére" (that means cheers or to your health). He was so happy that I pronounced Gyula correctly and then said to me: This crazy Italian is Luca and he calls me Julia all the day.
Ayi is also a friend in this group. He is an indian priest who lives in a german parrish, so he spoke at that time more or less German, but it was so difficult for me to understand him and to hear, if he speaks English or German in this moment, because his accent was incredible in both languages.
Christa is from Holland, Valerie is a french native speaker from Belgium and Betty is a hungarian, living in Transsylvania/Romania.
Luca´s accent was also very strong and we often had funny moments with his kind of English. But at the very end of our Camino, when we had breakfast just in front of the old pilgrim office, he dropped the bomb.
We asked each other: "What was a very special moment on your Camino".
Luca answered: "Yesterday in the cathedral, when I got the hostie from Ayi", but it was more like .....hostiefromasch
At that moment, Valerie spat her coffee across the table and screamed: What, Hostie fromage (french: Hostie with cheese)
Three of us couldn´t stop laughing and could not breathe for two minutes and were therefore unable to explain to the other four why we laugh so much. In the end 7 persons hit the table and shouted.
This group is in contact till now and we still have a lot of fun talking English.
Did you have similar experiences on your way?
Good night
Michael
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