Slovakia (A) - general

I agree with Pineapple Stu. I know it is ignorant of us to expect EVERYBODY to speak english but for future away matches it would help to have some of the useful phrases (ie 10 beers please :-)) handy just in case God forbid, the people in THEIR country don't speak OUR language. You don't have to do a language course just for a few days trip. Basics. When in Rome........ Sorry for the rant but I live in Germany and do speak German so I know the story (although alot of Germans have better english than me :-)).

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Originally Posted by gspain

Min away allocation for euros is 5% - they gave us 10%.

The stadium in Bratislava we played in last time is closed. We would have been in a more rundown stadium. This is by far the best stadium in the country.

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The standard allocation a visiting FA is given is 10%. We got that. We would have got more than that if the game was in Bratislava, the stadium is still open, and hosted two internationals only weeks before. We played in Zilina because the SFA wanted to have the game in front of a full house, and could only get it there.

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Originally Posted by aidop

I know it is ignorant of us to expect EVERYBODY to speak english but for future away matches it would help to have some of the useful phrases (ie 10 beers please :-)) handy just in case God forbid, the people in THEIR country don't speak OUR language.

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It's nothing to do with ignorance, or even racism, it's just the way of the world.

English is the most widely spoken language in the world, and while it's courteous to have a local phrase or two handy, the onus is ultimately on them to learn the language. Hotels will always have foreign guests, restaurants will have them regularly, there will always be backpackers interrailing around. If you're working in aviation, in tourism, in multinational organisations etc or related industries, you communicate with foreign colleagues in English, so it has to be learnt, and rightly or wrongly that's just the way it is.

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Originally Posted by mypost

The standard allocation a visiting FA is given is 10%. We got that. We would have got more than that if the game was in Bratislava, the stadium is still open, and hosted two internationals only weeks before. We played in Zilina because the SFA wanted to have the game in front of a full house, and could only get it there.

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We played last time in the Tehelne Pole stadium. It holds approx 30,000. It is closed for redevelopment. They played in September in the run down Pasienky Stadium which has approx the same capacity of Zilina but nothing like as modern.

UEFA's min away alocation is 5%. FIFA's is 10%. This was a European qualifier so they gave us twice what they had to.

All in all I had no major problems with the place. I found the locals to be very helpfull even with the language barrier. They did their best to accomidate us. Only issue i had was not being allowed into the Stadium by the stewards. It took an FAI official to get a load of Irish fans in the side gate. I missed the first few minutes of the game as a result.

The allocation we got was 10%, this is twice the minimum allocation we are entitled to. The stadium in Bratislava is closed so this is why the game was held in Zilina.

I don't see the big issue with the locals not speaking English either. Those that couldn't did their best to accomidate us. As for the police, the ones on the FAI train were having the craic with us the whole way up and back and had no interest in dishing out batterings from what I seen.

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Originally Posted by mypost

English is the most widely spoken language in the world, and while it's courteous to have a local phrase or two handy, the onus is ultimately on them to learn the language.

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Probably the dumbest post ever on an internet forum

Well as I say, that's just how it is.

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Originally Posted by obi-1 kenobi-0

The allocation we got was 10%, this is twice the minimum allocation we are entitled to. The stadium in Bratislava is closed so this is why the game was held in Zilina.

As for the police, the ones on the FAI train were having the craic with us the whole way up and back and had no interest in dishing out batterings from what I seen.

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The Slovaks just enforced the FIFA standard rules so. While the Tehelne Pole may be closed, they've played earlier games in Bratislava and could have accommodated us there. Instead they wrecked most fans travel plans by not telling us until the last possible minute where it was, and then sent us all the way to Zilina to rub it in. All the teams that play in Lansdowne for the rest of the campaign will get 10% also, although only the Slovaks will need it.

I was talking about the police while the fans were in Zilina, not the FAI booze-mobile.

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Originally Posted by mypost

Well as I say, that's just how it is.

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And I can absolutely understand any Slovaks being ignorant towards you. You do seem quite ignorant, after all.

Post 82 covers everything on the subject.

And is perfectly answered in post 85.

Post 85 answers nothing tbh.

It says all it needs to say.

Post 82 is borderline racist. I don't think racism can justify anything really.

Even the most multi-lingual can't learn 300 languages, so you learn the most common one and then you can communicate with billions of people from around the world, wherever they're from. The most common one is English. It's not racism, it's reality.

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Originally Posted by mypost

Even the most multi-lingual can't learn 300 languages, so you learn the most common one and then you can communicate with billions of people from around the world, wherever they're from. The most common one is English. It's not racism, it's reality.

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English is 3rd in languages spoken around the world behind Mandarin and Spanish. No doubt you speak all 3 fluently and tried to converse with the locals first in Mandarin and then in Spanish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ative_speakers

In both of the above languages, most speakers are in countries where it is the official language, as Slovak is in Slovakia, or Irish is in Ireland. English is spoken around the world, as either an official language, or widely as a private language, for reasons explained in Post 82.

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Originally Posted by mypost

English is spoken around the world,

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As is Spanish! By more people than English.


Seriously, you expect people from non English speaking countrys to learn and speak English just so they can accomodate you when you visit their country? Get a fooking grip!

And in a country where I'd say many of the tourists (from surrounding areas) would have German as their first/second language. Unfortunately, mypost thinks the world revolves around him, even though he and his English-only ilk would only account for what - 0.1% of conversations the average Zilinian would have? Less?

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Originally Posted by Hibs4Ever

As is Spanish! By more people than English.

Seriously, you expect people from non English speaking countrys to learn and speak English just so they can accomodate you when you visit their country? Get a fooking grip!

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No you get a grip, and read what I'm saying, that it's nothing to do with me. I've already said what the story is with Spanish. And German, and whatever other language you mention.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

And in a country where I'd say many of the tourists (from surrounding areas) would have German as their first/second language. Unfortunately, mypost thinks the world revolves around him, even though he and his English-only ilk would only account for what - 0.1% of conversations the average Zilinian would have? Less?

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I said nothing of the sort, but you still don't listen.

Foreigners visit Zilina everyday. Zilina people travel to Czech Republic, Poland, and other countries everyday. They both need English to communicate with each other in the vast majority of cases.

I'd say they get by perfectly well with German. You're not listening now.

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Originally Posted by mypost

Zilina people travel to Czech Republic. They both need English to communicate with each other in the vast majority of cases.

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Proves how dumb you are

It proves nothing.

I deal with people based in those regions (and others) on a daily basis, and they all recognise how important it is to learn and speak English.