BootsnAll Travel Community

...a taxi driver in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico.

He was in the mood to chat, but had almost no English. My Spanish is fair (okay, that's generous, I'm discovering it's awful), but he really wanted to chat. So he started the game of "How many languages can you say 'Thank you' in?"

I got up to about seven or eight, and then he just CRUSHED me. I thought I'd get "exotic" and threw out Japanese and Portugese and then he slammed me with Chinese, and Russian, and Czech (?), and some useless Scandinavian language (kidding!), and then an Arabic schpeak, and then Korean and then.... I think he was up to about 18 or so before he dropped us off.

I felt small.

Hahaha!
Always fun to be put in your place.

Latley I've been mixing up my Arabic dialects. Not just a little...a lot. I met an Egyptian friend of mine the other day who knows I speak Arabic. He asked me how I was in Egyptian Arabic--which I KNOW how to respond to.
But yet I responded with my aquired Maghreb vernacular. Leading him to ask me just "How is the King these days?". So I get haughty (first mistake) and decided to throw him and use some Syrian slang I've learned along the way. Surley an Egyptian living in the US for YEARS wouldn't be schooled in that!

Blech.

He laughed and buried me, mixed in some French and then laughed about how it was that 'a girl like me would only know TWO languages.'as in "Here I thought you where worldly. Where's your fancy travelling skills now?" My only response? "Shut up" Yeah. Witty.
Bah.
Damn smart multi-lingual bastards.