Alonso said...

Wish, now, 40 odd years later (!), I'd have paid attention in my French classes. Lived in Germany for a couple of years and got so I could pretty much follow the conversation but being English never really had the confidence to speak much.

Could really use a little Spanish where I live now, but am terrified of starting out at my advanced age!

Did you learn primarily in school, or more like the Scandinavians via Sesame Street and the like? Most shows up there are subtitled, and I guess it's easier for kids to learn the language than learn to read! For sure, pretty much everyone speaks great English.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Geez, another couple of **** ups in my last post!!! Fixed it...
Biggest probem is that i don't have the patiente to carefully read everything again so, since i'm posting and working at the same time, **** happens!!

 

I guess i learnt a bit both ways.....here, everything is subtitled, so it really helps.
When i was litle, we caught the spanish chanels, and for a portughese , latin languages are relatively easy, so i learnt spanish from a young age without never studied it. Also when i was about 9, i had some french cousins, and they used to come to our house for a whole month every year, so i started to learn French with them (because it was the only way to play with them), so when i started to have french lessons in school (between 12 and 14 years old), i already spoke it, but learnt how to write at school....then in university i had a french guy living with me, and he had all sort of french comics...and i learnt a lot from that......As for English, i started at school with 10 years, i had 5 years and a great teacher....later on i had 2 extra years but by then i already knew as much as my teacher.....i think the movies helped a lot also, tehn i started to read la gazzetta dello sport because of Ferrari, and a couple of years ago i went to Rome (My french buddy from university lives there now, married to a roman girl and we stayed with him), so one day we were at a coffe with a couple of his friends and i was talking italian with them (pretty crude italian but understandable...i remenber i was talking crap about Alonso who had just joined Ferrari) and the guys were asking:
Were did you learn italian?
I said i didn't, it's my first time here, i'm learning as we speak, lololo

 

I wish I paid more attention when I had Spanish when I lived in the Caribbean. Spanish class was done 100% in Spanish, no other language allowed to even ask a question so I was done pretty quickly in my opinion back then...

When I eventually moved to spain there where so many internationals around, I didn't bother learning spanish, since I knew enough to order beer.

I've decided I don't like living in Holland very much (to cramped and liberal, no real fun roads, and when you do find a fun road you're scared ****less that the car behind you may be an unmarked police car, too much tax for a country I don't consider myself very free). Really enjoyed living in the UK and Spain, and weather wise Spain was great. I'd love to move back to either. Not knowing Spanish does work against me a little, no contact with anyone I knew there anymore, and I know now that for it to work you do need to know the local lingo to an extend.

 

...And if you don't speak spanish in spain you're screwd because they suck at speaking other languages.....they do try to speak english but 90% of the time you won't understand squat!!!

 

Ahh, what the hell, we've well & truly hijacked the thread, so may as well continue!

+1

However, my ex lived in Torrevieja (sp?) for quite a few years; May as well have been "Little England" where she was! [And not just the language, but the food shops & restaurants etc were all "tailored" to the Brits. [Easier to get an English breakfast than a Spanish one! ]

I guess the ex-pats tend to clump together, and certainly she never learnt much Spanish while there! The EU has certainly made moving around a lot easier.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I know...I lived very close to Barcelona and they rattle that Catalan...when you ask for them to slow down because you don't speak the lingo, they, if anything, talk even quicker!

What's it like in portugal? At least you guys have decent waves .

What I like about Spain/Portugal/Italy etc is that you buy a dirtbike and just ride it in rural places etc. For me to do that here, I'd need to put it on a trailer, drive 2.5 hours, and then there's only a track. 5 hours driving to play on a dirtbike...gets old quick.

That's just one of the small things. A sense of freedom.

 

I thought you rode the dirtbike "all over" the track at Zandvoort? Would have thought there'd be some decent trails thru those dunes?

Do you surf much?

 

When I grew up in Zandvoort I had a quad which I rode all over. Made many tracks. All of them are gone now, and my big one has been taken over by bloody cyclist. No motorized vehicles allowed. Blasphemy. They even have the audacity to call it theirs, and their work...they followed my exact tracks!!!

Can forget the rest of the dunes these days, or the beach, or anywhere. Red tape everywhere. If you get caught, they will seize your vehicle and massive fines.

Bodyboarded a lot when in the caribbean etc, occasionally surfed when I could borrow a mates' board.

 

Here it´s relatively easy to find places were to ride bikes...i have a cousin that is crazy about bikes and he is always in the woods riding the damb thing....(lolo, the other day he got a wrong turn and went trough some bushes, he ended up in the hood of a car with a couple inside playing some other kind of "riding"!!!) I live in a rural small vilage (15min away from a big city (big for us) and we have lots of trails were you can mountainbike or use something else.....POrtugal is a great place, nice wether, beautiful landscape, nice beaches, quiet, probably the best food in the world....up here in the north rains a lot, we have lot's of mountains, all is very green, but it's also very hot in the summer, if you go to Alentejo or Algarve the weather is nicer, but it's not so beautifull, less green, more plain, i like it for vacation......But it's a great country for surfing...only bad thing around here are the politicians.....

 

You can tell when Alonso is lying when his lips are moving and sound is coming out.

Last is the same as 2nd....


Right.
I'd bet after every race he walks to the pits and sprays the happy crew with Champagne.

 

Politicians are bad everywhere, no?

Spain/Portugal all seem great for riding. When I lived in Botswana I could get on my quad, and drive straight onto the trails. That was really great...loved it. Same went for Spain, and presumably Portugal (obviously not when you live in the middle of a city ).

Hows the english? Like you said, many people grew up watching english tv with portuguese subs (same as the Dutch) which probably helps a great deal. In Germany/France etc this isn't (wasn't?) the case hence why so few Germans/French actually speak a lick of english (The amount I meet at work and about that don't speak English is alarming, especially some young ones still...but the ones who do speak english speak it very well). Perhaps some pride is involved too...

 

So you're definitely not a fan then?

 

Hilarious

 

English around here is normaly good, most youngsters speak it very well....many people above 40 also speak french very well, the new generation not so much, but most people with a normal education can speak decent english.....My daughter is 9 and she started learning last year already......by now i think she's already better than 90% of the spanish and 50% of the french..!!!

 

Truer words were never spoken!!!

 

Seb - won races this year. He wasn't just racing for third every race...

 

good to hear...Very good.

 

More importantly, he won races on merit. Not through inheritance due to a merc **** up.

 

+1

I am glad Ferrari chose Vettel. He is very good.

I started to like him as soon as he left Red Bull!! (did I say that?)

 

I'm yet to be convinced that he won't turn back into the same annoying prat he was at RB as soon as he has a competitive driver alongside

 

Don´t worry, it happens to a lot of us!!!