The next NCFC Head Coach

That is so true. My wife had a French Dad and an English Mum. She was born in the UK but moved to France when a baby until she returned to the UK to go to Uni. Because of that I have always had a better than basic understanding of French but admit that I have only become completely fluent in the language since moving here permanently last year. In the small town near to where I live I am aware of 2 Belgians, an Italian, a German, a Pole, a Swede and 3 other Brits. Guess which 3 of them can't speak French and at times seem to be quite proud of themselves about it? The Swede only moved to France about 6 months ago and couldn't speak French. He originally approached me for assistance as he could speak English but 6 months later he has no problem with the language unlike one of the Brits who has lived here for 18 years and still cannot string a sentence together. What is the matter with us Brits?

 

The assumption that everyone else will "know a bit of English."

 

How true you are sir!!
Not long back from my holiday in Croatia and everyone there is taught English from about the age of 6.
I have an older brother who can speak - Spanish, Italian, French and Dutch.

 

Many Croatians also speak Russian, JMF, and probably other languages as well.

 

Insular by geography - insular by pig ignorance.
As FML says, let's assume they'll speak English and tut-tut if they don't
I've not spent a great deal of time in any one particular country but have made the effort in
French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Croatian (just about!) Italian, etc.
Enough to show I'm making the effort - and the rewards for doing so are immense in terms of the smile / handshake / glass of rakija you get in response.
Must say I struggled a little in Bulgaria where they use the Cyrillic alphabet
But still here to tell the tale

 

Is the language thing that surprising? When my daughters were younger, we had a girl stay from the troubled Yugoslavia region as part of a group of schoolchildren (Norwich is twinned with Novi-Sad) on a break from the awful things happening over there. Her English (she was 14) was impeccable as she was taught it from a young age. Our Serbo-Croat was hurriedly cobbled from a dictionary borrowed from the library (oh, those pre-internet days).

People in many parts of Europe are taught English because it’s seen as the universal language, whereas we have to want to earn (and most say why bother). The onus to reciprocate is not very strong. I’m not convinced it’s pig ignorance, it’s how it is.

I know French and a smattering of Irish, but like Cromer, I do try to use some ‘local’ words when I’m abroad. It gets you a long way.

 

Fair comment gandy, that was unfair of me. Bone idle perhaps.
But there is this assumption that they'll make the effort to learn or
speak our lingo so we don't need to bother with theirs.
That attitude hacks me off big time - Brits basically saying if you want to
communicate with me you make all the effort - even if we're in a foreign country

 

Yes, I get what you are saying, and that annoys me too.
One of the things I love about foreign travel is having a go at the local language, and as you say, too many don't have the decency to bother.

 

Just one of the many reasons I avoid "resorts" like the plague. Wouldn't dream of jetting off anywhere to spend a week / fortnight by the pool / on the beach all day and necking cocktails all night.
When I went to Bulgaria, there was a hideous (?) Benidorm-style resort not far from the historic town (Nesebar) I stayed in called Sunny Beach. Four girls got on the same flight as me at Stansted all wearing identical t-shirts saying "tits on tour" on the front. I rest my case, yer honour

 

Makes you proud. doesn't it?

I also try to search out the quieter spots, they tend to be the most interesting.

 

Errrrrrrr I don't suppose you got any of their numbers did you?

 

38-26-36!!

 

So this wasn't you and your mates at the airport that day then Cromer?

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Despite what Juncker might think, English is the International language that's why so many other European Countries prioritise the learning of it at school. However that's no excuse for not at least trying to communicate in another language when travelling abroad.
I know a little German so that might come in handy very soon

P.S. My future son in law's first language who was born in Angola is Portuguese. You would never know this because he has been here since he was a young boy and has no accent at all.
I asked him once which language he 'thought' and 'dreamt' in and he said that it was English until he stepped off the plane when visiting relatives in Portugal. He would then automatically change to Portuguese even if he hadn't spoken to anyone, fascinating eh?

 

Apologies for getting this thread back on track, as I've enjoyed reading about posters experiences with foreign languages, but I've just seen this on the EDP website - "Webber set himself a timeline of appointing a new head coach “within two or three weeks” of the end of the season and should deliver on that promise after Daniel Farke agreed a two-year deal at Carrow Road.
Negotiations are ongoing with Borussia Dortmund as technically the 40-year-old is under contract with the German giants until the end of June.
The Canaries will be keen to extract him from Germany as soon as possible so that Farke can get to work on assessing a squad that reports back for duty on June 26."
So, it's all agreed and it's just a case of dotting the I's and crossing the T's before Farke (pronounced similar to Farquhar {Michael Bailey in particular please note}) and hopefully he'll be in post either when the squad comes back from their hols or very shortly afterwards.
Some interesting facts in the full article as to who was and who wasn't in the frame and at least I got it right in saying that we would have a German in charge.

So SW has delivered on his first promise and I've got my 'Priority Membership', so I can get to as many home games as I want and save £2 on the ticket price.
I'm really looking forward to seeing who he manages to recruit to fill the void and ineptitude in our defence.

Bring it on!!!!

 

you'd have to be a silly Farquhar not to be excited by this

 

A couple of Deutsche defenders top of the shopping list bitte Mein Herr. Danke.

 

With one of ours rumoured to be going the opposite way.
Which would leave us seriously thin on the ground!
http://readbundesliga.com/2017/05/24/hamburg-keen-move-norwich-defender-timm-klose/

 

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Is he a plumber who can get into the tightest of spots?

Bah!

 

Have we got a new head coach yet?

Bah!