On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 06:02:36 +0000, Larry wrote:

Tim wrote in news:feecded3-83cf-467f-9e65-
:

I doubt if you can speak any russian, and I don't' think they could
speak any english, but it seems like "ice cream" is universal!



Most East European kids speak fluent English and have for a long time. A
friend just came back from Prague. I asked if they learned any Czech.
"Why? Everyone in Prague speaks English. They'll stop you on the street
to speak English to you!", they told me.

The Soviets taught all their kids English so when they took over America,
they'd all be able to tell us what to do.....

All Iranian kids spoke, or tried to speak, English when I lived in Tehran.
English meant you got great jobs working with foreigners. In the 70's,
Tehran had lots of foreigners, especially American and English. Hell, we
had our own TV channel and it was the most popular with Iranians.

Even the street kids in Prague spoke English, they told me....begging for
money and selling their bodies.

Belarus is nothing like the Czech Republic. While in Germany, Prague became
a favorite spot to visit. The city is spectacular. The Germans didn't bomb
it, and neither did the allies. The Germans blew up part of the city hall
just to let folks know who was in charge, but everything else in the city
remained whole.

The Czech's loved Americans, at that time anyway. (This was early '90s.)
And many of them spoke English at least well enough to be understood. Most
of the time we camped just south of town, but one night we stayed at an
apartment. Many of the folks in Prague would rent an unused bedroom for the
night to visitors. This was a little illegal, but what the hell. The folks
at the 'America House' on the city market place had a list of people who
would rent rooms.

My wife, daughter, and I stayed in a rented room for what I thought was
about $40 for the night. The next morning the owners were upset when we
paid them. So, they called America House and got someone to translate. The
owners had meant for us to pay $40 PER PERSON! Well, guess what. Their
failure to communicate cost them, because I didn't have the cash and they
didn't take VISA. (Besides, they were trying to rip us off.)

We had one boy from Belarus who could say a few things in English. He was
from Minsk, his parents had money, he was on a dance team that traveled
internationally, and he'd picked up a lot of English in his travels. But he
was the only kid I've seen in the program who could speak any English. They
do, however, all know how to say 'no' and 'Coca Cola' upon arrival!