Overseas visitors

[ausfire]

I get a lot of overseas visitors coming by the forge, and it does make life interesting. Some don't speak English too well and it's sometimes a bit difficult to explain what's going on with the demo.  Japanese visitors especially are very keen on photography and nothing escapes the long lenses of the Nikons and Canons. I was making some hooks out of spanners recently and forged one from a spanner that had Japanese writing on it. I had no idea what it said so I presented it to the Japanese fellow for his assessment.  His face lit up and he exclaimed, "Ah, Makita!". It was one of those router spanners.

Today we had some people from England, straight out of Northumberland's snow into our 40 C degree summer heat. They were not doing too well. It's often easy to guess where people are from by their accents. My other overseas tourists today were from Vancouver, Canada.

Last week we had a group from Utah and they were very interested in the demo. I heard one of them explain to his young companion, "He's going to get the metal hot and pound it on the anvil." I didn't need his accent to know he was American. We would never say 'pound metal'.

Yes, overseas tourists make life interesting!

[Daswulf]

About all I've had was an Italian kid that was a friend of a friend hang out in the shop once. He spoke English fairly well. 

Other then that my Canadian friends but they aren't considered " from over seas" here.  

Sounds like fun and you get to learn a bit while teaching/ showing. 

[ThomasPowers]

Well until fairly recently folks crossed back and forth across the border down here pretty freely.  A lot of folks have kinfolk on both sides so it makes it hard to tell where folks are from.

[ausfire]

Had a real mix of visitors today: A couple from Austria who told me the word for blacksmith is the same in Austria and Germany; a couple who were on holiday from Budapest, Hungary; a guy from Portland, Oregon, from whom I learned that Portland cement has nothing to do with Oregon, and a young man from Calgary, Canada who knew of Koutenay Forge - a place I visited some years ago. Visitors make demos interesting ... but you can spend too much time talking!

[VaughnT]

Why would you never say "pounding metal"???  That's what you're doing after all.

I do get a kick out of how foreigners talk.  Those little idiosyncracies are what make things fun.  Found out from a friend in Holland that they think Americans are very loud and brash.  Of course, then I thought of how I must come across.... and that seemed like a apt description.

 

 

[Marc1]

19 hours ago, ausfire said:

Had a real mix of visitors today: A couple from Austria who told me the word for blacksmith is the same in Austria and Germany;

No one says Schwarzschmied in german. Just Schmied or Kunstschmied.  

1 hour ago, VaughnT said:

Why would you never say "pounding metal"???  That's what you're doing after all.

Sure, but we would need to say Kiloing and it doesn't sound right

[ausfire]

Vaughn:  Yes, I know we pound metal, but 'pound' is just not a word Australians use in that context. We might strike, hammer, forge or just hit the metal. Get it hot and hit it hard!

As far as Americans being loud or brash, occasionally yes, but no more than any others. And I have no idea what impression people get of Australians overseas. We are not all like Crocodile Dundee.

Marc: Yes, just Schmied in both places according to the visitors. We had only a few visitors today and all Australian.  A couple from down your way - Wollongong.

[John McPherson]

Ausfire, any waiter in the US can answer that. "What is the difference between an Australian and a canoe? Sometimes a canoe will tip."

[ausfire]

7 hours ago, John McPherson said:

Ausfire, any waiter in the US can answer that. 

Ha Ha, yes, that's something we are not used to. Maybe we pay our waiters a reasonable wage!

[SLAG]

Aus. & John,

It's the same in Canada. The tips are low %.

But waiter's wages are below the minimum wage for most other U. S. workers. (Marg tells me that it is often as low as $3.00 an hour).

There is no universal healthcare in the U. S. as there is in Canada and Australia.

And now the new Federal budget gives more power to employers in handling that tip money.

That's why the discrepancy in tip generosity.

SLAG.

 

[JHCC]

This thread is getting dangerously close to violating the forum's prohibition on discussing politics. Let's get back to blacksmithing.

[Marc1]

No such thing as tipping in OZ. And no such thing as customer service either, ha ha. I went to have a feed at a pub not long ago down the south coast. I ordered what I wanted at the counter and asked about drinks and if they bring it to the table.  The answer was. Here is a number for your food, we call your number and you pick it up, the drinks you go to the bar and get it yourself.   All said as a matter of fact and perfectly acceptable.  Would you tip? I felt like asking for a discount ... my answer was ... I don't work here! 

But it made no difference.

[Mark Ling]

Hey, well we got two Australian kids at school who just moved here and they are something! quite fun to ask them about Australia and hear how different it is, and also some of the things that are the same. I had quite a few questions about Australia, but he said he didnt have any questions about America, that most people already know all about the US, which I thought interesting.

                                                                                                                                                        Littleblacksmith 

[ThomasPowers]

I've run into that overseas; Folks who think the USA is like Miami Vice or other TV and Movie portrayals .  When I did work in Indonesia in Jakarta a city larger than NYC the engineers I worked with asked if I lived in a gated community with guards due to the crime and violence back in the USA..I lived in the inner city of Columbus Ohio and we didn't even have an alarm system on the doors and windows----only people who steal your books are your friends!

[rockstar.esq]

I used to travel for my work.  The company was international and the group I worked for would go to our local offices and install equipment for their clients.  A Texas Instruments facility outside of Munich was expanding so quite a few people from my group were there to install various pieces of equipment.  At lunch we were all together and the locals decided to rank the American dialects present according to which were easiest for them to understand.  Michigan won, then Arizona, Texas, Southern California (San Diego) and last was North California (San Francisco).

It was very interesting to see how those accents were viewed by another culture.  I'm always self-conscious in a foreign country because I never learned a second language so I try to be quiet in order to pick up on whatever I can.  A lot of people assumed I was a local and spoke German to me. 

One notable exception was when I went into a musical instrument shop.  They mostly sold accordions but they had electric guitars which had signs in English that said something to the extent of "Play me".  I hooked a Gibson Les Paul Custom up to a Marshal JCM amplifier as a salesman came up.  He said he knew I was an American by that combination alone.  We talked a little while and I played a few Guns N' Roses-ish licks per his request.   After a bit he came back around and turned up the amplifier and said "We need to make you a loud American!"

 

[John in Oly, WA]

2 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

he knew I was an American by that combination alone.

You could've been British. Aren't Marshall amps made in England?

[Marc1]

 

6 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

After a bit he came back around and turned up the amplifier and said "We need to make you a loud American!"

Generalisations are inevitable and just like other people picture our cities with mobs of kangaroos running amok, and Australians wrestling crocodiles, "Americans" are viewed as loud and not very polite. Of course what is an American? Who is the stereotype? Probably 30 different versions in people's minds. 

If you ask Australians that have been overseas on tours, they will tell you as a matter of fact that he worst that can happen to you is to get an American on the tour. Justified or not, that is the story. And I am sure you guys have similar stereotype for Germans, French, English etc. 

I have a lot of fun when I am in a touristic place and there is a bus load of overseas visitors that all speak that secret language no one can understand, very loud and have a head honcho that knows everything, ignores local rules and queues, and gives them his version of the history of the place in that secret language. i happen to understand 5 secret languages so have a lot of fun with the different google versions of the local history that are dished out  

[ausfire]

You can't generalise. Today I had only two visitors to the forge, an American couple from Atlanta, Georgia. Lovely people who were very interested in the demo. The lady collected small items from wherever they went and she left with the small gold Frederick's cross pendant I did for the demo. Her husband jokingly described himself as long-suffering, having to put up with her collecting.

We had a good chat about tornadoes and cyclones and tropical rain. I have just been putting together a display of cordials and soft-drinks (sodas) t our museum and he was telling me that his home town of Atlanta is the headquarters of Coca Cola I didn't know that. Learn something every day from visitors.

[rockstar.esq]

On 2/23/2018 at 5:09 PM, John in Oly, WA said:

You could've been British. Aren't Marshall amps made in England?

John, 

See I would have thought that too.  I think it was because I'd chosen the same guitar and amp combination that Slash from Guns N Roses uses.  The salesman was a big fan of theirs.  If I'd used a different model of Marshall Amp, it'd be close to a combination that Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin used.

Marc1,

You reminded me of something I heard when I was at Yellowstone National Park.  The lady conducting our tour once had a group from Australia.  She said they pronounced geysers as  "Geezers".  They called themselves "Geezer Gazers",  she told them that was funny to an American because a "Geezer" is a slang term for an old person.  Apparently that suited them just fine as the old guy's were admiring older single ladies as much as anything else!

[Smoggy]

I help organise a overland travel show each year, part of the task is getting the trade, clubs and display pitch participants pitched up on the day or so prior to the weekend show. They come from all over the world and the numberplates usually gives me a clue to who is from where, thankfully most speak very good English. Once the task is completed I'm free all day Saturday and Sunday to help the Iron Dwarf on his stand and demo's. That's when we get the public visiting and we do get a few from foreign parts that happen to be visiting Stratford upon Avon for other interests and take the show in while there. Yes the Japanese do like to document everything on film (or digitaly these days ) and although I can manage a few word of Spanish, French and other European languages, my only claim to any fluency in a second language is British Sign Language......and yes I've had long technical conversations with BSL users at shows! However I'm not too good at working out where a BSL user may be from by their dialect, no that's not comical quip, there are regional variations in signing.

[ausfire]

13 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

The lady conducting our tour once had a group from Australia.  She said they pronounced geysers as  "Geezers". 

I say 'geezers' . But I have never seen one.  So you guys say 'guysers'?

[Marc1]

14 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

Marc1,

You reminded me of something I heard when I was at Yellowstone National Park.  The lady conducting our tour once had a group from Australia.  She said they pronounced geysers as  "Geezers".  They called themselves "Geezer Gazers",  she told them that was funny to an American because a "Geezer" is a slang term for an old person.  Apparently that suited them just fine as the old guy's were admiring older single ladies as much as anything else!

Ha ha, yes, we all have our peculiarities. My wife calls old timers "veterans" to the horror of our daughters who tell her to no avail that a veteran is related to service in the armed forces. 

[ausfire]

3 hours ago, Marc1 said:

Ha ha, yes, we all have our peculiarities. My wife calls old timers "veterans" to the horror of our daughters who tell her to no avail that a veteran is related to service in the armed forces. 

...or cars made before 1919.

[rockstar.esq]

Ausfire, yes, most Americans say geysers like; Guy-sers.  

I've seen some British TV shows where characters called someone uncool a "geezer".  It didn't seem to be related to age.  We're three countries separated by a common language.

[VaughnT]

One that caught me off guard way back in the day...  I was working with a bunch of Brits, young guys and girls in their early 20's.  One of the guys kinda sidled up to me and real quiet like asked where he could find a druggist so he was prepared for his evening date with one of the girls there.

I just about popped him in his head for even thinking I'd know where he could score some drugs for his date.

Apparently, a "druggist" is what Americans would call the corner pharmacy/store where all manner of over-the-counter medicines and other things are available.  Who knew?!?!

I do like running into foreigners and comparing colloquialisms.  As someone outside of the south "how's yer momnem?" and they'll look at you like you've just stepped out of an asylum.  Just good manners down here, though.

Still trying to find a Brit who can explain the difference between a git and a twit.  Neither seems like a good thing to be, but I wonder if there's a time/reason to use one over the other.