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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hola Rosina;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>You are not selfish. Don't be defensive about your
efforts to learn other languages. You are doing the best you can with
these hard earned "gifts." You are making enormous contributions to
society and this LIST. Don't listen to criticisms. They are
unjustified. It is so easy to complain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Jim Allen, Seminole, Florida</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=BlaroliaAOL.COM href="mailto:BlaroliaAOL.COM">Rosina Lila</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
href="mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU">GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 28, 2004 5:22
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Translations</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0
face="Palatino Linotype" size=2 FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10">Thank you
Richard,<BR>I've gotten a few messages bemoaning my selfishness; one said that
speaking several languages is a "gift" that as its own reward it should
be shared.<BR>Perhaps.....but, picture this: you are at dinner reading
the menu and trying to decide what to order when you are called upon to
translate the menu for the others..., almost dish by dish; when it seems
that the companions have made their selections you go back to trying to
make your own choice during which process, inevitably, one of the
companions or another interrups you to have you ask the waiter "what
comes with it"? or "how is it cooked"? or etc., etc., etc.<BR>Or, later
in your room, you finally fall asleep and then there's a knock on the
door, or the phone rings, and is one companion or another asking you to tell
the desk that the water is too hot, or it is not hot enough, or that the
wake-up instructions are not clear, and on and on and on. <BR>After a while
you begin to feel like a trained seal, or a low-level employee, and have to
decide between having an out-an-out fight or merely taking off on your
own.<BR>As for speaking several languages being a "gift", well, except for
English and Spanish, the gift of speaking Portuguese Italian and French has
certainly cost thousands and thousands of hours of study, books, records,
tapes, etc. (French was particularly hard; Italian and Portuguese were a
joy).<BR>I will admit, however, that getting a foothold on a language is not
very hard. with a little bit of effort. Before I visited Russia the first time
I made it my business to learn the basics of the language. In my
traveling group I was the only one who could communicate, albeit very little,
and, sure enough, someone woke me up at midnight to have me ask the person in
charge of the floor for boiling water that she needed for something having to
do with her contact lenses!<BR>Going to Africa I studied Swahili as much as I
could which apparently encouraged the guides to come to me more than to the
others and, before I knew it, I was spending all sorts of time trying to get
some of my companions telephone connections to the States. In
Africa! for heaven's sake!.<BR>On the Camino, the word travels up and
down that such and such pilgrim understands this and that; I've been
approached dozens of times by other pilgrims who have asked me to translate
for them because someone somewhere had described my appearance adding
that I could speak this or that.<BR>And no, I don't mind translating for
pilgrims, or travelers, and in Santiago I've spent hours, literally, at the
Post Office helping out the beleaguered employees there who are put upon by
non-Spanish speaking pilgrims and/or tourists, often quite rude, who take out
on the employees their inability to communicate. Sometimes such pills
don't even carry a dictionary!<BR>I am leaving tomorrow evening;
(Hurrah!) quite excited about setting off for Santiago from my beloved
Seville, and have put my companion/relatives on notice of my intent to update
my will when we return sometime in September.<BR>Seriously, if there is
anything that I can do for you while on the Camino, just let me know.
I'll be looking at my e-mail daily. <BR>Warm regards,<BR>Rosina</FONT>
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