I gave my talk today on tree thinking at the local science museum for kids and the general public, which is amazingly popular. The Portuguese seem to hold science and knowledge in high esteem. Which is great. The Ciências Viva helped pay for my ticket, so I hope they liked my presentation. It will be online as a podcast, and they apparently simulcast it at the time, too. I didn't let you know that because I want to check it before I tell my loyal readers about it. Oops...
I am overwhelmed by the hospitality and food here. If I could learn another language, or they all spoke English, I'd happily live here. I have to thank Nathalie Gontier of the Faculdade de Ciências of the Universidade de Lisboa, who has gone above and beyond the call of hosting visiting Australians. I hope she gets well from her unfortunate dose of flu, which I deny having brought with me.
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So did you have to speak through an interpreter? And are there many Portuguese interpreters who speak Strine?
Nobody speaks Strine, not even in Austraya. We are submonoglots.
We are submonoglots.
Thank you John for giving me the best laugh to start the day for a long, long time ;)
or they all spoke English
IME they do, for values of 'all' such that you can always find someone who does.
The first time we visited Lisbon, we walked past a picket line outside a factory and, being nosy, wondered what was up. So I spent about five minutes researching my phrase book and came up with something which I hoped meant "Excuse me, do you speak English or French?" I tried this out on the shop steward.
He replied in perfect BBC accents, "Certainly, which would you prefer?" What a great country.
Hey, I know how to say thank you and ask for coffee. What more do you need?