Re: French proverb : “A man who knows two languages is worth two men.” --- is this really a French proverb ?

On 09/06/24 22:53, jerryfriedman wrote:

Peter Moylan wrote:

On 09/06/24 11:56, jerryfriedman wrote:

Peter Moylan wrote:

The only time I was in Italy I had a more practical approach. I
had purchased a bus ticket at the railway station, but when I
came out of the station I couldn't see any sign for a bus. So I
approached a small group of men, held out my ticket, and said
"Dov'è?". One of them pointed to the ground and said "Qui."
Perfect communication!

>
And without any risk of your Italian being overestimated.  But
are you sure you didn't say "Dove"?

>

I'm not sure how I learnt that word, but I did know that it had
two syllables.

>
What word?  As far as I know, Italian "dove" is pronounced exactly
like "Dov'è".

OK, I didn't (and still don't) know enough Italian to understand your
point. But, as Silvano pointed out, it didn't matter anyway.

As a student at Melbourne University, I was living right next to
an Italian-speaking area, so I picked up a few Italian words by
osmosis. In fact I needed some of those words for shopping. The
shop doors said "Si parle inglese", but they lied.

>
That's remarkable.  They couldn't hire somebody, maybe a younger
family member, who spoke English?
>
Also an "English spoken here" sign would have been more convincing.

Yes, that always amused me. They apparently didn't know enough English
to be able to write the sign in English. And most of the time it didn't
matter, because so many of their customers understood Italian.
Your mention of a younger family member reminds me of a time I was
driving around an agricultural part of California, basically just to get
a feel for the country. (Actually, that was the trip when I got a kick
from discovering Cannery Row.) When it was time to have some lunch, I
found a cantina in the middle of nowhere, but discovered that nobody
there understood English. No problem. The owner sent for his daughter,
and she explained to us how to order a meal.
--
Peter Moylan       peter@pmoylan.org    http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW