French people ... Swiss French people, and I found that if I wanted
   to communicate with all . . . all the people that I met , then I
   had to learn French, and I think it's the best method of learning
   because you're in the situation. It's very hard at times - you
   can sit through dinner parties and not understand what ... what's
   going on and you think everybody thinks you're stupid because you
   can't communicate with them, but it's ... it's the hard way but I
   think it's the best way to learn.
　
 
MATTHEW:   Elfriede, you come from Austria and yet you've been living in England
   now for the last three years. Has having to learn and speak another
   language created great problems?
ELFRIEDE:   Um ... At the beginning, yes, it was rather difficult for me to get
   the right job . . . um. after you've lived here for one or two years
   you get to know the system and then that's quite good. You know how
   to use libraries and oh .. . you get to know where to um... call
   in emergencies; um ... you get to know ... er ...trying to get a
   radio and understand the radio and all the . . . programmes they
   have . . . um and when they're on and the little stories.
　
 
MATTHEW:   What about English humour on the radio?
ELFRIEDE:   Um . . . I think that takes a very very long time to understand and
   I'm sorry to say that I haven't managed yet to understand it
   completely, but er... I find it very interesting to speak other
   languages um ... because English people have different er ...have
   a different mentality, and have a very different character and a
   different temperament and it is fascinating for me to talk to them um...
   and also for myself to be able to express myself in a different
   language and to communicate with them.

                           Additional Information

    Sometimes, I can't help thinking how magic languages are. They are like bridges joining islands - connecting people's minds.
    Now, whenever I am in the classroom, at lectures or practising Engl;sh or French. I often think of my experiences at the llth Asian Games held in Beijing last autumn.

    I was assigned interpreter to the sports delegation from The Maldives, a small island countrv in the Indian Ocean. When I met the delegation at the Beijing Airport    I was greatly surprised to find they all spoke English fluentIy,We were so excited when we realized that we were talking to each other in a language that was not native to anv of us.

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