Quote Originally Posted by nomorericepleas View Post
Yeh i made a real effort to learn for a few days, i even asked my gf to help me, which she did for 15 minutes one evening. The rest of the time she said she wanted to speak english with me so she could learn for when she came here. She already speaks and understands perfectly well, so i was a bit miffed she wouldn't help me out so i could fit in a bit better there. some of the family who dont speak any english did make an effort to talk to me, but if you don't understand it's not easy to learn the meanings. hope this time i'll get a bit more help.
Outright translating is very hard work so i can see why some shy away from it. I speak a bit of french and can get a decent idea of whats going on but if asked to translate between the two languages i would find it really tough.
I guess we also have to bear in mind if we speak with brit accents and use british terms and version of words it doesn't help some phills who may just understand better if we say garbage instead of rubbish etc.

For example all the kids in my Wifes family including her, speak or spoke English in School everyday, and in every class they are punshied if they dont. But in front of a native speaker they go to pieces and politely say the accent is hard to understand. Speaking far slower mimicing a phill accent they got me. Without noticing i would speed up and lose the accent which would then most of the time leave them in the same state as before.

Others may say different but sadly with some members you will only have very simple conversations or exchanges neither of you this trip will have the time to learn enough.