Observant Jews don’t play sports because so many games are held on Saturday, which is their Sabbath. Years ago there was an Israeli basketball player who was so good, he was being recruited by many American colleges. In the end he decided to stay in Israel and forgo playing in college because he wouldn’t violate the Sabbath.
The ads say “In a few weeks you’ll be speaking another language!” What they DON’T say is “In a few weeks you’ll understand another language when you hear SOMEONE ELSE speak it.” That takes years of study, not weeks. And if you’re going abroad to an area frequented by tourists, it’s very likely that the tour guides, bus drivers, waiters, concierges and other service personnel speak English. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have been hired for those jobs in the first place.
I once worked for a lawyer who owned his building and rented two suites to other lawyers. We had four phone lines, one of which doubled as a fax line. One of the tenants persisted in using the fax line for phone calls, even after we asked him not to because we couldn’t send or receive faxes when he had the line tied up. I promised myself that no matter how desperate for a job I ever became, I was never going to work for that inconsiderate oaf. And I never did.
Just back from France with a souvenir beret.