@mfb concerning above. (sorry fer the long lead, the last line is the joke portion of this comment, reckon Shaggy Dogs can show up anywhere!) Even Tagolog, in the PI, which has Spanish roots, I was able to get along decent in as I had had 3 years of Spanish through high school myself. The folks in the Philippines were very surprised that I was able to follow their conversation in Tagalog, even though I could not speak it, I understood enough of the roots to get the basic jist, and then learned some of the more specific words in the area.
I have met the same with Portuguese and Italian both, as well as being able to hear much of the same in French, although it is easier to read the language for me than to try to speak it due to the similarities in the language roots.
Growing up in Tacoma WA, with it's very much multicultural, poor-middle class way of mixing and interacting, we had the multiple First Nations tribes there, in fact I grew up with several of the Puyallup and Nisqually Tribes, in specific, as well as the Vietnamese and Thai Boat People waves we had come in. There were always various crops or farms with work, so there were often Hispanic speakers around, as well as Chinese, Japanese and Koreans whom had been brought into build the railroads and infrastructure, and Russians who had a historic presence there having come across the Bering Strait. So I was lucky to grow up in a situation where because we were all poor, even though of different cultures etc, we were all Americans NOW, and we all helped each other a lot, so the cross culturalism then was important to the building of it's character now.
<political dig removed by mentor>
I think this Joke Thread just died due to political interference by the Moderators.
