If you’re in a situation where it’s not necessarily common to approach strangers, you’ll probably have to to come up with some “excuse” for talking to them, like “that’s a cool shirt” or “do you know where the library is?”. Then you have to transition that into a conversation somehow. I’m not really sure how to do that part.
Here’s a recent example (with a lady sitting beside me in the aeroplane; translated):
Her: Hi, I’m [her name].
Me: Hi, I’m [my name].
Her: Can you speak French?
Me: Not much. Can you speak English?
Her: No. Can you speak Portuguese?
Me: A little.
Her: Spanish? Italian?
Me: Yes, I’m Italian. But why the hell can you speak all of those languages but not English, anyway?
Her: [answers my question]
from which it was trivially easy to start a conversation.
That gives two explanations for Italian and zero explanations for Spanish, so I’m wondering if one of the Italian explanations was supposed to be Spanish.
I can’t remember whether she told me why she could speak Spanish. Anyway, romance languages are similar enough that if you’re proficient in Portuguese, Italian and French you can probably learn decent Spanish in a matter of weeks.
True; in fact, I would expect her to be able to read it pretty well without any study whatsoever, once she had those three surrounding languages down. Actual study then becomes very cost-effective, and might even be done on one’s own in one’s spare time, once one has decided to do it.
Here’s a recent example (with a lady sitting beside me in the aeroplane; translated):
Her: Hi, I’m [her name].
Me: Hi, I’m [my name].
Her: Can you speak French?
Me: Not much. Can you speak English?
Her: No. Can you speak Portuguese?
Me: A little.
Her: Spanish? Italian?
Me: Yes, I’m Italian. But why the hell can you speak all of those languages but not English, anyway?
Her: [answers my question]
from which it was trivially easy to start a conversation.
Don’t leave us hanging! Why the hell could she speak all those languages but not English?
She had been born in Brazil to Italian parents, had gone to school in Italy, and was working in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
That gives two explanations for Italian and zero explanations for Spanish, so I’m wondering if one of the Italian explanations was supposed to be Spanish.
I can’t remember whether she told me why she could speak Spanish. Anyway, romance languages are similar enough that if you’re proficient in Portuguese, Italian and French you can probably learn decent Spanish in a matter of weeks.
True; in fact, I would expect her to be able to read it pretty well without any study whatsoever, once she had those three surrounding languages down. Actual study then becomes very cost-effective, and might even be done on one’s own in one’s spare time, once one has decided to do it.
Well, you did start with introducing yourself, as opposed to a situational “excuse”.
Edit: Or actually, she introduced her self.