No politics, but after I signed up on some online list offering to host families from northern Israel who have been displaced due to the hostilities, I was contacted by a major Israeli television program wanting me to appear on their morning program.
I was forced to decline, however, as the program and questions would have been in Hebrew and I still sound like an idiot when trying to speak Hebrew. Many people think foreigners are stupid because they don't speak English well; they may actually be mental geniuses, but trying to convey that in a language that you don't speak well makes you sound stupid.
Why me? Either I was one of the first to sign up, or I was picked at random. In any case, all I could think of afterwards was how I might have been able to use the opportunity, between speaking to families displaced by the shelling, or others talking about politics or what have you, to slip in some reference to my game group or blog. Surely the residents of bomb shelters need some board games to pass the time.
Yehuda
2 comments:
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. -- Wayne Gretzky
I think that Israelis are pretty used to foreign accents and wouldn't have too much trouble. I also think that, to a large degree, *how* you sound (as opposed to what accent you have) is all in your head. But I haven't heard you speak Hebrew, so maybe you do sound stupid, but I doubt it.
No, it's really bad, not just an accent.
Yehuda
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