SHITALIA - worst place on earth!! (and still going down)

[NadiaInside]

Originally Posted by pinknic38

2.I hate when English speakers (I want to say Americans but maybe others do too, I just see Americans do this more) travel somewhere and get pissed when folks there don't speak any English! Travel to the UK or Canada or Oz if you have such an aversion to language barriers. I am a language barrier-phobe and I was able to have coffee with this 80 year old man in Germany who thought my tattoo was cool. He didn't speak a lick of English and I don't even know conversational German but we had a nice visit and convo thanks to hand motions and a ohrasebook. You have to make the effort. This is part of the reason why everyone thinks Americans are such assholes. We go places and get pissed when things aren't like back home. Well, that's the point of travel. NEW things, people, culture. If you don't want that, save your money and stay home. Don't blame an entire country of people!

Its funny - but the "speak my language thing" is bigger in bigger countries. Italy, France and well USA. In Denmark we KNOW you don't know our language - its freaking impossible for foreigners to learn - which is why we constantly try to teach you to say "rødgrød med fløde" - because no one really can unless they are either great at hearing the differences in pronouncations or just plain lucky. So it'll be a bunch of danes standing around smiling and joking about new phrases to teach you - in a kind manner that is.

In Denmark if you approach a person speaking english and they are well.... 10-55 yrs old - there is a great possibility of them being able to understand and respond to what you want.

In Germany I've met a lot of germans who are willing to respond in any way possible, from sign language to gestures... but in France you can enter a bakery, asking for "deux baguettes" (two long breads) in french (learned some in school) and get the killer ye for you way of speaking. VERY ANNOYING. But this was a small town with like a 40.000 population - I don't know how Paris would be.

[joe7f]

Dansk er ikke mye vanskjellig laerne. Vilkommen til ReisePunk

--Joey

[NadiaInside]

Tak skal du have. Even though you mix Danish, swedish and norweigian in that sentence But I was more pointing towards the part of pronouncing.

[NadiaInside]

Originally Posted by joe7f

Dansk er ikke mye vanskjellig laerne. Vilkommen til ReisePunk

--Joey

Tak skal du have. Even though you mix Danish, swedish and norweigian in that sentence But I was more pointing towards the part of pronouncing.

[joe7f]

As if they are different languages... come on

--Joey

[Vincent]

I'm just planning to wear my Totti jersey all over Rome. They gotta be friendly to me then, right? :D

[Rhine]

Italy, Italy, Italy.... Italy is the first country I ever got alcohol poisening in within the first 13 hours of being there. The first but not the last. I blame the cheaply made Raki, and the Greek taxi drive from the airport to my hotel for that one.

Besides that, ive had nothing but good things to say about Italy and the Italians. Ive never been to any real big cities though. Just Siena and the Amalfi Coast.

[jorgino]

Thank you so much guys, for all your wonderful replies, TPunk is definitely the best forum ever! I've been so busy with my last year of school that I haven't checked TPunk in over a year, that should be considered a crime!!
Now, I re-read my post and yes I was definitely sour, even though I can laugh about it now; I can assure everyone though that I went to Italy with the best of intentions. I actually grew up around Italian descendants and I'm very familiar with words like grazzi, prego, etc. I'm also familiar with a little bit of their culture and food and really looked forward to visiting the place. However, when I got there, many of the things that they told me growing up weren't true. I guess they painted the picture a little "prettier" than what it is. As far as the monuments, what I meant was, when you buy a postcard of the Colosseum, it shows it all nice and stuff (digitally recomposed I guess) but the actual monument had graffiti on it, which hurt my soul, to see that somebody would have the guts to do something like that to a building from the 13th century! Same thing with the Pantheon, where hardly any columns have the roman leaves yet, and they're all dark and filthy, but in the postcards, all the leaves are there, and they show nice and "shiny", but seriously though, I think that dealing with the people there was the hardest part. Some lady pushed my wife so she could have the seat in front of us at the vaporetto (which was extremelly overcrowded), but my wife is puerto-rican from NY so....
Anyway, I don't have any intentions on going back to Italy and I do give my honest opinion when somebody asks, but you're right though, each person has a different experience. I was just very disappointed because to me it seems like they're very prejudice against Americans and I didn't understand why. I also visited Spain, Germany, France and Austria in that trip and I'll cherish the memories forever! Oh and a little thing to think about, I work at a casino in Las Vegas and everytime I meet a person from Italy, guess what language we communicate in??? yes.... SPANISH!!!! And they're very well fluent! So, I'm sorry but I can't but wonder if they pretend not to speak it just to give you a hard time, beside, I speak french and portuguese and all these languages are close together, to a point that I knew and understood even when they were calling me: "il americano maledetto" so that argument is pointless.

Thanks for your thoughts!!

[Gewher]

Wow. I didn't even know you COULD Have a bad experience in Italy.

I've been there... well, once in the year 2000, I was only 8 or 9 then... then I think... 4 times since? My mother has planned pilgrimages for mothers and daughters sporadically over the years. Annnd since I'm a big history buff it was my job to give tours of museums and historical monuments etc, with the payment of getting to tag along. And what a job for a teenager! I love putting that one on my resume.

I've never been in Italy in the summer, only once at Christmas and the rest at Easter. And we usually stay close to Rome. Visiting Assisi, Orvieto, Nettuno, and then with my family I've been to Ortona and San Giovanni Rotundo. I honestly love Italy as a second home, and have never had a problem as far as rudeness goes. I find as soon as we would mention we we're Canadian, they would freak out and go out of their way to help us. It may or may not have to do with Canadians helping during WWII. Some of the older people would hug us and kiss us with tears in their eyes, telling stories of the Canadians they met then. Let me tell you it's a humbling experience. But honestly, they loved us. All we would have to do is mention it, then give them pins from Canada, and they would want pictures with US! I'm really proud of the reputation me and my countrymen have for our niceness!

And as for the monuments falling apart. I've never seen more than the usual wear and tear that several hundred or thousand years can do to a place. And the cathedrals and churches have always been spotless, the weather never too hot. I got soaked on Easter, standing in the rain in St. Peter's Square, but it was totally worth it for the smiles. I was literally squelching and dripping wet, and I just grinned my head off in a sort of deranged way at everyone. I made a couple Swiss Guards shake their heads in amusement, and a couple nuns laugh, so it was totally worth it.

I've never been short of completely blown away by Rome, and by extension the rest of Italy as well. But I'm an exceptionally positive person who is completely in love with everything on this planet anyway.

Oh, and I'm Catholic. So if being a history buff wasn't enough, I get to see places where the founders of my faith lived and died. Not to mention incorrupt saints, relics, and the gorgeous architecture dedicated to Christ that I'm sure can only be surpassed in heaven itself.

[Swag]

I realize this thread is a couple years old, but just decided to add my two cents. I've been in Italy for 2 weeks now without knowing a word of Italian. However the first thing i did when i got here was pick up an English to Italian Phrasebook for about 10 euros and it has made a world of difference. Just some simple phrases like "Parli Inglesi" and "Il conto, per favore" when at a restaurant got me some of the best service i've had in forever.

[pinknic38]

Good tips, Swag. It just goes to show, a little consideration for cultures outside our own goes a LONG way.

[katybar]

jorgino, about "speak another language", read my experience: when I was in Barcelona I studied in an international class with Spanish, Italians, French, Russian, Swiss, German, English and Americans. We all speak spanish except... try to guess? Yes, the Americans... they pretend all of us to speak English. At that time I was very angry with them for that reason, we were in Spain! Why should we speak English?
Now I'm sure that I should have try a contact with them, because maybe they were scared about living there with people who speak Spanish very well... because now I believe in this:

Originally Posted by travelpunk

if you appear to have a chip on your shoulder, then you will attract negative energy.

If you let one thing affect you in a negative way and don't resolve that mentally, you will carry that energy subconciously and it will affect the way you think, feel, and act.

I worked in Rome 4 years, I loved that people!

[Dig]

-Katybar Not all Americans are the same. I loved Espana and have a poor grasp of the Spanish language (although I use it todo dias).