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would you mind if it's not too much trouble?
Do you know what? My internet connection is still shitty. I haven't phoned up nthell for a while but it seems to be almost impossible to convince them that it's something wrong with the connection or the modem. What do they think it is? Magic internet destroying pixies?
The rest of the course today was ok and no one had to sing which was a bonus. The last section was about understanding cultural differences and the French woman I work with was wetting herself laughing at the following point about communication style (and the Germans there seemed to find it pretty amusing too) because it's so true:
British: If it's not too much trouble it would be awfully nice if you could consider the possibility of thinking about...
American: We really need to do this by...
German: You must do this by...
There was also something about the way that meetings are run in various countries and the UK bit mentioned small talk involving the weather, TV and sport. Scary, scary lady who was running it (who is Italian by birth, grew up somewhere in Latin America and lives in the US - her accent is mental) said that when she goes back to the US after being here for a while she gets people asking her why on earth she's talking about the weather. Because it's true - you almost can't make small talk here without mentioning the weather. I remember there being nearly a whole chapter in Watching the English about weather small talk and all the unconscious rules we follow while doing it.
In another comedy moment, I spotted that the German guy had a man-bag! A small, leather pouch type affair with a long, over the shoulder strap. Heh. I'd never actually met him before, only communicated with him over email, and he was surprisingly pretty. Tall with longish blond hair and thick black framed glasses.
The rest of the course today was ok and no one had to sing which was a bonus. The last section was about understanding cultural differences and the French woman I work with was wetting herself laughing at the following point about communication style (and the Germans there seemed to find it pretty amusing too) because it's so true:
British: If it's not too much trouble it would be awfully nice if you could consider the possibility of thinking about...
American: We really need to do this by...
German: You must do this by...
There was also something about the way that meetings are run in various countries and the UK bit mentioned small talk involving the weather, TV and sport. Scary, scary lady who was running it (who is Italian by birth, grew up somewhere in Latin America and lives in the US - her accent is mental) said that when she goes back to the US after being here for a while she gets people asking her why on earth she's talking about the weather. Because it's true - you almost can't make small talk here without mentioning the weather. I remember there being nearly a whole chapter in Watching the English about weather small talk and all the unconscious rules we follow while doing it.
In another comedy moment, I spotted that the German guy had a man-bag! A small, leather pouch type affair with a long, over the shoulder strap. Heh. I'd never actually met him before, only communicated with him over email, and he was surprisingly pretty. Tall with longish blond hair and thick black framed glasses.