Useful?
On my way to Paris North Station (my train naturally arrived at a station different from my itinerary. Paris is so confusing) in Metro center, I was standing behind a group of Asians (I'm going to guess Chinese from the accent) at the information counter. It was interesting to hear two very different groups of people speak a language different from their own and still get a point across.
-"Twain tirteen? Need twain tirteen?"
-"Yes. Yoo need to take tsrain sirteen ant san one."
-"Twain tirteen, dan wan?
Obviously, the Chinese were skeptical that they had heard the woman correctly, for as soon as I went through the ticket check, one approached me and asked in a clipped and broken English what the best way to get to the Louvre Museum was and thrust a metro map into my hands. Unfortunately, the map was not so easy to read so I hadn't said a word when the entire group of them huddled around me and started repeating in the same broken English what the information woman had said. In fact, I was simply a catalyst while they discussed amongst each other (still in English) what the right way was; all I did was affirm what they said with nods and "yes"es. They ending up figuring it out without me really saying anything, but still bowed and looked genuinely grateful when they left. What were they thanking me for? For holding the map?
-"Twain tirteen? Need twain tirteen?"
-"Yes. Yoo need to take tsrain sirteen ant san one."
-"Twain tirteen, dan wan?
Obviously, the Chinese were skeptical that they had heard the woman correctly, for as soon as I went through the ticket check, one approached me and asked in a clipped and broken English what the best way to get to the Louvre Museum was and thrust a metro map into my hands. Unfortunately, the map was not so easy to read so I hadn't said a word when the entire group of them huddled around me and started repeating in the same broken English what the information woman had said. In fact, I was simply a catalyst while they discussed amongst each other (still in English) what the right way was; all I did was affirm what they said with nods and "yes"es. They ending up figuring it out without me really saying anything, but still bowed and looked genuinely grateful when they left. What were they thanking me for? For holding the map?