[CULTURAL EXCHANGE !] Wanna Play ?

Okay, this idea of game came radomly to my mind after playing my unnie bomtokkuri's Tagging Game. This will be a bit different thought, and I want to make it about something.

 

Think about... Someone of your friends here in AFF wants to go to your country for a trip, for holidays or even to live a while ! Which tips would you give ? About food, cultural things... ?

 

Wanna play ? Then, just tag 6 of your friends and make them the same questions I make to you !

 

The countries I choose is Spain and Portugal ( Because I'm really familiar with both, you know ^^ )

 

Spain / Portugal

 

1. How people are ?

 

Spain

People are usually nice, but watch out if you're of another ethnicity and you're ALONE. SPECIALLY HERE IN CATALONIA. Do you remember what happened to Super Junior's Kyu Hyun when he came over here ? Some racist people can tell you bad things - or do them as well -, as, for example: If you're asian, they'll tell you 'Chino' ( Chinese ), or if your you're african american or similar they can call you 'Negro' ( Black ). However, not everyone's like that. I found people of all kinds here. As an stranger myself, I find people very nice. Unfortunately, spanish people have that tendency to be lazy. C'mon, where did you though that the word siesta ( mid day nap ) came from ?

 

Portugal

People are pretty similar to Spain, but slightly different. People in Portugal are less racist - definitely, a good point ! - but, as you know, racism exists EVERYWHERE.

 

2. English level of an average person ? ( In case the languages used or the country's only language are not english )

 

Spain

I won't lie to you. Don't think I'm being too big-headed, but it will be extremely difficult for you to find someone - even in  his/hers 30s - with an english level like mine. Attention, I'm not being big headed or nothing like that - I don't like to think that I'm better than other people, that's awful - but I'm just being sincere to you. It happened to me several times that when I go to Barcelona or Madrid, I find an stranger tourist asking for some help - for example, an british man in Barcelona once asked me where he could get official Barça Merchandise and all -, and, when we finish our talk, they thank me really a lot because they couldn't find NOBODY that could even say TURN RIGHT or TURN LEFT in case they need to find an adress or an street.

Besides, if some spanish people do know a bit of english, in most of the cases, their accent is somewhat REALLY WEIRD.

I think that's an very big flaw in Spain, lack of english awknowledge or level. I will tell you something; if I must thank someone for all the english awknowledge that I have, that would be myself. Because, if I was an average 'spanish' teenager, I would just had learnt PRESENT PERFECT this year. Thing I know how to use for 3 years already. I even get bored in english class. Imagine, even my english teacher knows less vocabulary than me, and he said it in front of all my class. Remember, I'm not being big-headed, I only want to warn you :).

People speaking english in Spain ? Hard to find

 

Portugal

Portugal, however, has, in its majority, quite an good english level. You can easily find someone who speaks english, and the accent - Not saying this because I'm a native portuguese, attention - is very good, due to the language's complicate fonetics - Will explain further about it if you want-. As I found someone saying in internet:

" The way Portuguese speakers pronounce English tends to be closer to native English speakers than the way Spanish speakers pronounce it. This is because the English "neutral" vowel sounds (as in "the", "about", "come") all exist in Portuguese but not in Spanish, as does the "dark" L sound present a\t the end of English words such as "little" "milk" "well", etc. " - Credit to GrahamH in Yahoo! Answers

Finding someone with my level it's not that difficult in Portugal. Lucky you if you go there :)
 

3. Good places to visit ?

 

Spain

Capital Madrid and internationally famous city Barcelona are a MUST GO. Madrid has its interesting points - Puerta Del Sol, famous to have the beggining ( km 0 ) of the radial networks of Spain's road system, and because most madrilian celebrate there the New Year's celebration; Santiago Bernabéu ( Real Madrid's soccer pitch ); Palacio de Cristal; Parlamento Español... - But the most visited place in Spain is indeed La Ciutat Comtal ( The Count City in catalan ), Barcelona, very famous since 1992, year that the city hosted the Olympics. You have there almost all Gaudí's masterpieces and there's beach, sun, classicism and modernism everywhere you go. 

Other places:

- Ibiza, real name ( catalan one ) is Eivissa ( Famous for clubbing )

- Sevilla ( It's an calourous hell in summer )

- Valencia ( 2008's Expo )

 

Portugal

For you information, capital Lisbon is the sunniest city in all Europe. If you want to catch some sun, you already know where to go ! You can go to places such as Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, Torre de Belém, Alfama ( It's an famous neighbourhood, the birthplace of fado ), Estádio da Luz ( SL Benfica's soccer pitch ), Estádio de Alvalade ( SCF Sporting's soccer pitch )

Second most famous city in the country is Porto. It has the northern feeling of the country, and it's an very good place to visit. 

Other places:

- Aveiro ( My birth city keke )

- Sintra

- Évora ( Many roman artefacts and buildings )

- Coimbra ( The best univiersities in the country )

 

4. Food ?

 

Spain

 

Normal food/Snacks

- Jamón ( Ibérico or another else ) - Spaniards really love ham :]

- Tapas

- Paella

- Cocido

- Fab

 

Drinks

- Rioja's wine

- Sangría

- Cava ( Spanish - Catalonia - champagne )

- Sidra

 

Desserts

- Pastas

- Roscón de Reyes

- Pas de Hojaldre

- Mel i Mató ( Catalonia )

 

Portugal

 

Normal foods/Snacks

- Cozido á portuguesa

- Feijoada à transmontana ( From Minho region - not SHINee's Min Ho or Lee Min Ho ¬¬ )

- Bacalhau ( Codfish ) ( Portugal is rumoured to be the country with more recipes for this fish in the world. There's even one different recipe for each day of the year. Imported from Norway )

- Sardinhada ( Lots and lots of sardines )

- Caldo Verde ( Soup consisting of cabbage, potatoes and xouriço ( chorizo ) )

 

Drinks

- Porto wine

- Green wine

- Madeira wine

 

Desserts

- Ovos moles

- Pastéis de Belém

- Queijadinhas de Sintra

- Pastéis de feijão ( feijão is bean )

 

5. Languages ? ( Just like question 2, in case there are other languages different than english )

 

Spanish

Difficulty: 1/5

Oppinion: Spanish is an language well know internationally. However, if you want to learn it, I would recommend you Latin Spanish ( From South and Central America ) rather than Castillian ( Spain's spanish ). The accent is easier for you to learn

 

Portuguese

Difficulty: 2/5

Oppinion: It's my native language, but I consider it quite difficult to learn. Just like spanish, is quite an well known language but the problem in portuguese is definitely the accent and the complexity of pronounciation in some words. Just like the other language, it's easier to learn to Brasilian version. But I recommend you more the european version, not because it's the one I use, but due to that sometimes brasilian people have difficulties to understand spoken european portuguese because european portuguese has an more closed accent. However, portuguese people can understand brasilian perfectly in all situations.

 

Wanna play with me ?

Answer the same questions I answered but for your country !

 

People I tag:

Cissyy

Bungsky_

bomtokkuri

AnneTOP

cimmotabi

allygurl91

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memoriesofus #1
Supporting my dongsaeng's game so I will play! :) I hope it's okay to answer it here, teehee.

♡♡♡ United States / California ♡♡♡

1] How are people?

California is located on the western side of the whole United States and is one of the most populous out of the 50 states. In my point of view, some people are nice and some people are mean, generally though—people are nice here. It depends on who you see or who you meet. Please don’t take the first impression to heart if it’s a bad one because people here are usually really busy or late for their task or they are having an awful day. You can meet someone who gives you warm, friendly smile whereas there may be some that just simply look the other way and ignores you. I would say since it is a busy state therefore, you might feel little or lost but once you get the hang of everything (usually it will take a day to adjust to the most) everything will be okay. It’s surprisingly in my area that it is friendly and you can strike a decent conversation with someone you just met and everything will be okay. It just really depends on who you meet. The United States (California) is different than other countries because being known as the ‘Land of Opportunity’ there is many different cultural and ethnicity backgrounds. You can meet just about everyone’s minor backgrounds from each different country all in California. One thing that I must admit though is that people view you on your appearance and how you handle yourself because everyone is just trying to adjust and adapt to different cultural backgrounds. (This will take like an essay or book to explain but please don’t hesitate to ask me question or clarify on things. I’ll be gladly to help.)
memoriesofus #2
2] English level of an average person?

Again, being that the United States/California is multicultural, the average person level to the knowledge of knowing English is conversation but it will be better to know more and be more advance in English. English is a universal language that is known all across the world so it is a huge advantage to learn English.

3] Good places to visit:

- The Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland.

- Amusement parks: Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Sea World, etc.

- Hollywood Walk of Fame / Hollywood sign / Los Angeles

- Venice Beach / Santa Monica

- Sacramento / San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge.

Basically, everywhere you visit for the first time is amazingly gorgeous. For me, born and raised in California, I have yet to see all of California. The last amazement that I’ve been too and recommend is the Hearst Castle to see the beautiful artifact of historic landscape.
memoriesofus #3
4] Food?

Normal food/ Dishes/Snacks

My goodness, whatever you want to eat (different countries) is all here. You name it; there will be a restaurant for it. Basically, you will not be homesick let’s put it that way. In the United States is really recognized for large food chains of fast food (fried, greasy food) such as: McDonald’s, Jack-In-The-Box, In-N-Out burgers, Kentucky Fried Chickens, Burger King, Carl’s Jr., etc. We have Mexican, Italian, French, Brazilian, Peruvian, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Indonesian, German, (sorry if your country is not listed but there is yours here) etc. restaurants here (depending where you are).

Drinks:

- Starbucks Coffee

- Energy drinks: Monster, Rockstar, Redbull, etc.

- Sodas: Coca Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, etc.

- Any kinds of teas, Gatorade, Snapple, Lemonade

Desserts:

- Ice-cream (Baskin Robin’s, Cold Stones)

- Frozen yogurts serve toppings with candies/fruits.

- Cheesecake, Apple pie, Pumpkin Pie

- Anything sweet: we really love sweets. (You can see the obesity? x__x.)
memoriesofus #4
5] Languages?

The second language that is most known here is: Spanish. Learning Spanish or French (there is two options) is a set requirement in the high school government system. During my high school year I’ve obtained my three years study in Spanish and one year in French.
The opportunities here to learn different languages are the sky’s the limit. You can basically learn any languages you desire. Living and growing up here, I’ve acquired six languages to my knowledge and I am currently studying two more at the moment. There is no limit of languages here but English is absolutely the most important.

- English: 1/5

English is a universal language that everyone learns and speaks on a daily basis. It maybe be a bit difficult in writing since there are a lot of structures of past and present tense but overall conversational speaking is quite easy.

- Spanish: 3/5

(like Marianations dongsaeng) I learn Spanish from the central and South America side. For me, because it is not my native tongue, the difficult level of learning so the difficulty is somewhat in the middle.


I hope I did this right *^ ^* I can probably review on other countries as well but I chose North America / United States / California because I was born and raised here. Please let me know if you have any questions! *^ ^*
AnneTOP #5
I'll do this tomorrow dongsaeng :3
Marianations #6
@allygurl91: No Problem ! Play when you have time ! :)
No, Portugal's education system is done in portuguese. Would you believe if I tell you that in Portugal we learn english later than in Spain and we talk it better ? It seems impossible, but it's true !
allygurl91 #7
Wow! Your English is really good. I wanna play but a little later after my finals, would that be okay? Does that mean the education system in Portugal is in English? Mine changes a lot. I can speak fluently but my grammar is just....let's just say, My English teacher wouldn't admit me as her student once she saw my writing.....XP.....just hate it.
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