My Swedish* “language emergency kit” covers essentials like finding bathrooms or an Internet cafe. Frank will be facing a much, much bigger challenge.
I just found out this morning he’s agreed to give a “little talk” to
some schoolchildren, ages 7 and up. I’m sure he’ll come up with
something interesting to say–in English, that is. The challenge will then be to
extract a few key words or a sentence that he can also say in Swedish.
Translating “gluon” or “asymptotic freedom” wouldn’t make the words any less Greek to a bunch of young Swedes.
At the opposite extreme, Frank could memorize a Swedish version of Churchill’s “Never give up speech“.* *
One can never go wrong with “thanks very much”, but it isn’t very surprising.
I look forward to seeing what Frank comes up with!
* We spent time in Uppsala last summer, thank heaven–so I already got past my original Muppet-Swedish-chef-Swedish.
* * According to legend, Churchill’s speech to the students at Harrow
School ran as follows: “Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give
up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up.” Then he sat down
again.