Featured Hallmark identification foreign?

If I may intervene, I know quite a few Danes and Finns who consider themselves Scandinavian. I am not the one to oppose them

English is an official language in Malta together with Maltese, and it is studied at school as a national language (not as a foreign one) so there shouldn't be any Maltese except maybe for a few very elderly people from remote areas, who does not speak it.

B.t.w. After UK left EU, English remained an EU language because it is an official language in Ireland and in Malta.

 

Absolutely.

I came across elderly people who only spoke Maltese in towns. There aren't many, but of course I managed to find two Maltese-only speakers to ask for directions, on two separate trips. (It is a rare gift.) Fortunately on Malta there are always neighbours or passers by, so I always got to the ancient temples I was looking for.

 

Hahaha, Any, that's luck indeed! I am just the opposite, everywhere I go, there is someone to ask for directions, mostly in English but also in Bulgarian. Supprisingly enough (or not..) my countrymen have spread all over Europe and beyond, I managed to find a Bulgarian lady as far away as the Dominican Republic

 

You are rapidly becoming the Dutch of Eastern Europe!
The Dutch are the same, stumble across them everywhere, just when you thought you were rid of them. And we're only a tiny country, where do they all spring from?

 

Excatement!
After several encounters we have learned with my hubby to refrain from speaking in Bulgarian in public places when we travel. Remember once in Milano we got lost somewhere in the suburbs, and the surroundings looked rather creepy, it was seemingly a "red light" district, and it was getting dark so I took the map and looked at it, and said to him in Bulgarian "Where are we, damn it?!" (it was before the smartphones and Google location era ). And one of the few passers by, a young man with the appearance of a pimp, stopped, looked at us and said in pure Bulgarian "And where do you want to go?" My Goodness, he scared the cr@p out of me! But at the end he did explain us how to get back to the hotel which was near the Duomo, and everything went right. Maybe he was just an ordinary guy and it was me who was so scared and overreacting. But since then we decided to stop using BG when abroad and out of the hotel.

 

I had a hilarious chat with two very pleasant young women staying in an Airbnb a few doors from me, yesterday. They picked my brain about local eateries, and we’re desperate for a proper British breakfast. When I asked where they were from, the Netherlands. Oh, I said, no wonder you’re so fluent in English. Told them about my Dutch customers who could swear in English with both fluency and creativity.

Catalan has words which start with an X too….. remnants of Arabic.

 

True also from my experience, and not only the Dutch but also the Scandinavians.

 

Very true, although the Dutch curse the best!

 

Where I live a swear 1/3 of the population was born outside of the USA. Not sure I've run across any Bulgarians, but have definitely met Dutch.

 

Yet another thing where we could easily be confused with Scandinavians.

In the Netherlands cursing is considered an art form, on a par with fine painting. The only ones who are not supposed to curse are the people in the Bible Belt, although I'm sure they do it behind closed doors.
The best cursing is here in the south, very creative and with a gentle southern accent, which makes swearing sound like the right thing to do.

You can't not meet Dutch people, they're everywhere.