Language barrier

WE’VE DONE it! We’ve booked our holiday at last! Two weeks in Pompei (no, I’ve not misspelt it – the modern town has a single “i”, the ancient ruins double “ii”).

The only thing that concerns me about this holiday is that I speak no Italian at all and I need to be able to communicate that My Good Lady is disabled and that she might be in need of assistance.

(It would also be useful to understand an Italian menu, too!)

Of course, I’ve still got a couple of months to learn a few words – just hope that’s enough.

I’ve talked about language courses before in these blogs, especially my trusty old Linguaphone French course – quaintly dated and obsolete in vocabulary, it nevertheless actually works!

There’s another possibility though: maybe I’m just getting too old and lazy to learn languages.

Now, there’s a depressing thought!

One thing I am sure of is that having some words of a language is the best way of getting to know local people – and the world over, I’ve found people to be friendly and helpful and generous, if you can communicate with them.

Being an English speaker, of course, spoils you, makes you complacent. Australia, Canada, the West Indies – all speak English after a fashion.

It’s only here, in Europe, that there as many languages as there are countries.

Anyhow, I’ll just have to knuckle down and learn a few phrases.