The Average Traveller Can Read Ten Languages

 ~ I've written before about language learning on this site, and pointed out some of the excellent free resources available online for anyone interested in learning a foreign language before they embark on international travel.

Today, I discovered the Easiest Foreign Languages site, which also provides free access to a wide range of information related to language learning. Easiest Foreign Languages, reveals that travellers have the potential to read 10 languages -- but most don’t realize it. This news is just in time for the upcoming travel season, and will enable tourists to read their way around Europe or Latin America in countries with these easiest languages.

The website has been developed to help more people begin foreign languages as easily as possible. It reveals that many foreign words are similar to English, especially in writing, and shows visitors how much they know about the ten easiest languages just because they know English. This free resource has been developed by Robert Masters, who previously served as a consultant developing Roget’s II Thesaurus.

The website explains that many foreign words are similar to English, especially in writing. So travellers can read a surprising amount in the following languages: Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and even Romanian.

Each of these European languages has over 1,000 travel words similar to English, which are easier to read and remember than 10 foreign words unrelated to English. Being able read thousands of foreign words related to English will help tourists in Europe, even if they are unable to speak much in a foreign language, nor able to understand what foreigners say.

In each language, the words similar to English can be thought of as Easiest French, Easiest Spanish, Easiest Italian, and Easiest German.

Here’s an example of Easiest French, which to my surprise, I was able to translate without too much trouble – no small feat given that my knowledge of French is minimal at best: Mon nom est Paul. J’ai réservé un appartement. Je suis allergique à la pénicilline. Informez ma famille. Où sont des toilettes accessibles aux handicaps? [Spoiler Alert: My translation of these sentences appears at the end of this entry.]

Tourists can read foreign words related to English at their own pace, unlike being forced to keep up when trying to listen to a foreigner speak.

So now travellers can get ready for several or many European languages, with words similar to English and also similar to each other's words, making it even easier. The web site makes the grand claim that “for the first time ever, it is possible to be prepared for up to 10 languages in Europe, in only a few hours.”

Travellers can discover how much they know about easiest languages just because they know English. They will recognize more foreign words than they realize. This will make it easier for them to travel in any countries where these languages are spoken.

The ten languages easiest for English are not the only the easiest languages. In most cases, whatever someone’s native language may be, there are foreign languages which have many words similar to that language. For example, there are easiest languages for each of the five Germanic languages, and also for each of the five Romance languages. Also, foreign languages exist in other families of languages that share many of the same words.

Go to Easiest Foreign Languages to find out all about the 10 easiest languages for English-speakers -- or the 5 easiest languages each for speakers of any Romance Languages or Germanic languages.

My translation of French sentences into English: My name is Paul. I have reserved an apartment. I am allergic to penicillin. Inform my family. Are the toilets handicap accessible?

-o0o-

In Review: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream

~ In 2002, three young Germans, Stefan Kluge, Mathias Eimann, and Gerald Menzel set off on their Great American Adventure, hoping to drive the length of Route 66. Their transportation of choice is a massive 2.3 ton, 1974, red Eldorado Cadillac convertible.

The resulting film: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream, is a salutary lesson on what not to do on your American road trip – or any road trip for that matter. Clearly, these travellers where under prepared for their journey, since it would appear they had no insurance, no AAA cover, and no idea that the car they had paid $2,500 for was barely roadworthy.

The Caddie either breaks down constantly, runs out of fuel, or suffers a litany of other mechanical problems throughout the journey (broken gear box, flat battery, worn brakes, oil leaks, blown tyre and an exhaust pipe that needs to be replaced en route). In fact, the car breaks down before the journey even begins, which surely must have been a portent of the problems to come.

However, the three travellers are saved by their naivety; the assistance offered to them by complete strangers; the friendliness of the people they meet along the way; and the little mechanical knowledge they do share between them.

As you would expect, they meet an assortment of characters, and offer wry observations, such as this gem: “Americans live in their cars, and they eat there. For that, you need cup holders. Nowadays, new cars will be judged by the number of cup holders they have. If you watch advertisements, you will find that the number of cup holders seems to be as important as the number of cylinders or the vehicle load capacity. Modern minivans like the Chevy Venture have up to 17 cup holders. Above all, that could be the reason why our car [is] no longer been seen on the American highways. A missing cup holder! In 1974, even Cadillac wasn’t thinking about cup holders.”

Intriguingly, the credits note that the film is “Based on the book, Route 66 in einem 74er Cadillac”, (Route 66 in a ’74 Cadillac), written by Stefan Kluge and co-authored by Mathias Eimann. Stefan Kluge has also added the following brief plot summary to the film’s entry on the Internet Movie Database, where the film is given the title: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream.

“Route 66: Ein amerikanischer Albtraum (2004) Three German provincials are searching for Hollywood. So they take the most American values they can picture: an absurdly vast car, full of fast food, bottles of oil and camera equipment on the way to California via Route 66. That they never find Hollywood is not the only surprise - on their quest for the American clichés they face unplanned incidents. A documentary drama somewhere between Jackass and Michael Moore, between gloating and satire.”

As Germany’s first Open Source film, you can download and view the film for free from the VEB Film website. You also get a good idea of how technology is being used to today. The creators of Route 66 filmed, edited and produced the film themselves. They are using the internet to ‘distribute’ the film around the world, and on top of that, they include a Creative Commons License which allows you to add to, or reedit the film in any way you choose.

As for the film itself, as already noted, is provides a good lesson in how not to organise and conduct a long road trip. Preparation is the key to a safe, successful journey, and while it is impossible to guard against every eventuality or potential problem, a little planning – as the saying goes – goes a long way.

Along the way we get to see vast stretches of open highway, interspersed with our intrepid travellers eating fast food (McDonald’s seems to be their main diet); repairing the vehicles brakes; visiting the famous Cadillac Ranch with its series of Caddie’s buried ‘nose first’ in the open prairie near Amarillo, Texas; doing the laundry; replacing a flat tyre; get brief glimpses of Washington, DC., New York City, and Las Vegas; more breakdowns; etc, etc.

As the three travellers cross the country, we learn almost nothing about the towns, cities, and country they pass through. If it wasn’t for their encounters with helpful strangers along the way – strangers who essentially save the travellers from themselves; from their own disorganisation and incompetence – we might not have even got to ‘meet’ some of the 300 million people who inhabit the United States today.

At 103 minutes the film is over long, and could easily be edited down to a workable 90 minute version without losing any flow or drama. In fact, apart from a brief encounter with a police patrol car, and watching them deal with constant mechanical problems, nothing particularly dramatic happens. The first 20 minutes of the film is spent waiting for the Cadillac to be fixed, and when the journey proper finally begins they head for New York and the ‘start’ of their road trip.

Because the three travellers presumably talked to each other in their native German, we learn about the details of the trip via a voiceover which, despite the strong German accent is quiet and unobtrusive, and never gets in the way of the unfolding journey. The commentary is filled with wry observations and explanations such as the one already quoted above, as well as others in which we learn about the ‘joys’ of cheap motel accommodations. Where “…every motel has its own individual characteristic, and while you are driving in the dusk, you are already wondering…if the indoor aerial will fall off during the NBA playoffs”; or this, “…the distance between your bed and your car won’t be more than three metres...”

Where the three are filmed talking to each other, subtitles allow us to listen in on their conversations as we ride with them inside the Cadillac.

Finally, excellent atmospheric music is provided throughout by the German electronic group, Valley Forge (note: the website is entirely in German). The group consists of Thomas Bechholds (synths, organ, piano, vocoder), with Michael Seitz (drums, percussion, synths) and Jürgen Winter (guitars).

To sum up, if you are planning your own road trip across America (or anywhere), Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream, is worth viewing for the many lessons to be gleaned from our hapless adventurers.

By the way, the ‘bad’ dream alluded to in the title, is entirely the result of the film makers own lack of care and forethought. As I’ve said throughout this review, and repeat once again, the film is a great lesson in what not to do when embarking on a long road trip, and if viewing Route 66 encourages you to put more thought and care into planning your own travels, it will have been worth the 103 minutes you invest in it.

View the Route 66 trailer…

Top 10 Destinations for Opera Lovers: Part 1

~ As spring opera season approaches, music lovers are seeking ways to experience their favourite classics on the right stage.

Whether paying homage to St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater to experience the Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini classics to taking in the mountainous landscape backdrop at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, audiophiles understand that the authenticity of a performance is often rooted in the theatre’s history and location.

Frommer's has asked the editors of OPERA NEWS magazine, whose European Travel issue hits newsstands mid-April, to come up with the top 10 destinations that should be included on every opera lover's roadmap this year.

Here (in no particular order), are the first five top destinations for lovers of opera. In a forthcoming post, I will list the other five destinations.

GERMANY: International Handel Festival, Göttingen
Home to the world's oldest Baroque music festival, this tiny, half-timbered university town in Lower Saxony fêtes the glories of George Friedrich Handel's artistic output for two weeks each summer. A profusion of top-notch chamber concerts, late-night recitals and oratorio performances make use of the village's fetching historical venues, while opera presentations in the 500-seat Deutsches Theater boast the kind of cosy authenticity that is the stuff of dreams for period-instrument purists.

RUSSIA: The Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg
Named for its royal benefactress, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II, and inaugurated in October 1860 with a performance of Mikhail Glinka's A Life for the Tsar, the Mariinsky Theater remains a crown jewel in the cultural life of St. Petersburg. The beautifully restored welcomes Mozart, Verdi and Puccini favourites as well as once-forgotten operas by Russia's own Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rimsky-Korsakov. During the summer months, the theatre glittering White Nights Festival draws operatic and classical music royalty - along with nearly one million Russians - to St. Petersburg for the motherland's largest public event.

IRELAND: The Wexford Festival, Wexford
This south eastern Irish town's opera festival, which runs through October and November, abounds with a distinctly Gaelic allure. A sense of discovery that's just as potent as the municipality's omnipresent aroma of burning peat proves to be this festival's calling card: emerging young stars take part in little-known operas, presented with remarkable musical and dramatic merits under artistic director David Agler. Away from the festival's presentations, one can find myriad opportunities to revel in Wexford's charms, from poetry recitations in Thomas Moore Tavern to incomparable suppers at Forde's Restaurant and - should the muse strike you – the Guinness International Singing & Swinging Pub competition.

THE UNITED STATES: New York City
From the Metropolitan Opera, to Carnegie Hall, to a thrillingly modernized Alice Tully Hall - and let's not forget about outer-borough venues like the unique Brooklyn Academy of Music - there's a reason New York remains the cultural capital of the world. The Metropolitan Opera, now operating under the auspices of its innovative general manager Peter Gelb, has become an increasingly accessible institution. Likewise, a revitalized New York Philharmonic, led by native-son Alan Gilbert, can tackle symphonic rep ranging from Bach to Schoenberg. Splendid Manhattan-bound classical and operatic fare need not be experienced within confines of the Upper West Side, though: Le Poisson Rouge, a trendy Bleecker Street nightclub presents some of the best jazz, contemporary-classical and chamber music the city has to offer, allows its patrons to quaff hearty hefeweizens or smoky pinot noirs in an atmosphere so easygoing as to make Brahms and Ellington seem like kissing cousins.

ITALY: Teatro alla Scala, Milan
Milan's operatic history - which dates back to the seventeenth century - is no less dazzling than the world-famous fashion houses that make this city one of the modern world's top destinations for cutting-edge design. [Teatro alla Scala has been the city's operatic pride and joy since the eighteenth century: the official opening of the La Scala season is almost always on December 7, the feast day of St. Ambrose, Milan's patron.] La Scala remains hallowed ground on which divas-in-the-making must prove their mettle, and where the world first heard Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Verdi's Otello, Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Rossini's Turco in Italia and Bellini's Norma - and scores of other classics.

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Image courtesy Mariinsky Theater website