Rodward, your vacations remind me of my trip to Germany, which I took with a friend, Olaf, who is a translator. We stayed in the home of a couple of Olaf's long-time friends, and one evening we had dinner at a restaurant with the friends' family, including the mom's sisters. One of the sisters had moved to Italy, and her children spoke no German. I spoke no German. Most people at the table spoke German, and the Italians spoke a bit of French with someone else. I smiled a lot. My weak Spanish didn't enter into things.
All together, there were speakers of about ten languages at the table, and the only one who spoke them all was Olaf. I have always envied him his aptitude.
