Dear LPG

I live alone and, as a result I usually don’t bother with holidays.  I know that many people are quite happy to holiday alone, but the thought of not knowing anyone around me for more than a day is quite daunting for me.  About nine years ago I broke with my personal habits and went on holiday alone.   Just after I retired, my children booked a short break to France for me and, because sunning myself on a beach would not be my first choice of holiday activity, they sent me off to a language school in Nice, France.  They thought that I should spend a week utilising what I could remember of my schoolgirl French.  

This would not have been my first choice for a retirement present but I threw myself into it, and having looked up the location on Google I decided I was going to find my way to the hotel using what little French I could remember and without the use of a taxi.    I got off the plane and used my best French speaking skills to ask which bus stop I needed in order to get the number 23, which my preparatory research told me was what I needed, and I was pointed to a bus stop.  The person I asked then applauded me for using my best French to ask my question in English, followed by his translated instructions.   He pointed at the stop and mentioned the ‘freeshutter’.  I did not understand that but went to the bus stop anyway while glancing at him doing his work and waiting.  I waited for about an hour during which time many buses came but no number 23.

My adviser then came over to me to explain that I needed to get the ‘free shuttle’ which would take me to the bus stop, where I could get the number 23 bus to my destination.   It was interesting how much I learnt that week because I felt that I had no choice but to speak my best French in order to do the simplest of things successfully, and two other things really surprised me.  I was amazed at how accommodating and patient the French people I met were when trying to understand me as I talked, and that so many of the other students were able to cheat a bit and talk to me in English.

They say that learning a language is a really good way of keeping the brain cells ticking over.  Even though I was cheating, having studied at school I did have to work at communicating and remembering, but the experience has spurred me on to continue my studies. 

If there are any readers who are as reluctant to go on holiday alone as I was I would recommend a couple of weeks learning a new language.   I also made a couple of really good friends, with whom it takes relative ages to communicate with because of the time we spend looking up things we want to say, the computer has a solution.  I often email, and when I cannot work out how to write something down I use Google Translate which now works for so many languages.  It is not perfect but effective enough to get most messages across.  

PA, Lewisham Park

LPG has found a little information about Google Translate…

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