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Isiskhan
Gnostic Misanthropy
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Posted - 2008.07.07 16:08:00 -
[1]
The article talks about tourists and their issues of dealing with foreign languages in foreign nations... but how about tourists having issues with speaking their own language while visiting their own country?
It happened to me twice while vacationing in southern Tenerife (Canary islands, Spain): I entered a shop / restaurant and they didn't speak Spanish, only English. But then, that's southern Tenerife, the newest de-facto British colony
Apparently there's a similar situation in some eastern part of Mallorca, but with Germans: I've heard there's so many of them there they've even formed their own political party.
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Isiskhan
Gnostic Misanthropy
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Posted - 2008.07.08 19:26:00 -
[2]
Originally by: Slade Trillgon Well that is good to know if I ever make it to the UK. Now I need to know about some of the other European countries, because if this is similar in most of Europe that may explain why the European tourist do not tip well or at all. I will stop with that.
Yes, that's the general case in European countries. Here in Spain tipping is 5%, and then not seen as "mandatory" as it is in the US, since waiters are paid a higher salary and not expected to make up for it with tips.
In the US you as a customer are effectively paying for part of the waiter's wages, whereas over here the tip is just meant as a little reward for good service. That explains why European tourists tend to undertip when they go over there.
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Isiskhan
Gnostic Misanthropy
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Posted - 2008.07.08 21:55:00 -
[3]
Originally by: Imperator Jora'h Just like I doubt any Brit would get their panties in a twist when a Yank says "trunk" instead of "boot" and so on.
There's a particular word usage difference between Spaniards and Mexicans that seems to provide the latter with an endless source of amusement when around the former.
"Coger" means "To take" in Spanish, and while in Spain it is a word used as commonly as its English counterpart in the US/UK, in Mexico for whatever reason it became long time ago a slang word for "F*ck", and it's not usually used otherwise - they use the synonym "Tomar" instead.
So when a Spaniard goes to Mexico, even though many locals may be aware of the cultural difference regarding that word, they can't help but to contain a chuckle as the first thing their brains register are phrases such as "I'm off to f*ck the bus" or "Please f*ck that zucchini and pass it on to me".
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Isiskhan
Gnostic Misanthropy
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Posted - 2008.07.09 00:50:00 -
[4]
Top tip for tourists coming to Madrid: aside from what's been mentioned already regarding tipping, if you ever go to the tapas terraces in the popular and very touristy central plazas of the city (such as Plaza Mayor), do try to look and act as little touristy as possible and do check your bill carefully.
The more touristy you appear in these particular places, the higher the possibility they may make an innocent mistake in your bill that will invariably be on their favour. If you happen to be Japanese, the odds rise up significantly too.
As far as I know that's only been reported in those particular places, outside of the obvious tourists traps I haven't heard about this peculiar phenomenon, though.
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