Yes, the canals. I don't know the percentage of people of Phoenix who know about the ancient canals, but it's not a secret by any means. The modern canal system connects with the Colorado river as well as a number of dams and reservoirs near Phoenix. You know you are in the large region, including most of both Phoenix and Tucson, served by the Central Arizona Project, because the water in your bathtub is distinctly green!
I don't know how fluent these folks who claim to have learned umpty languages really are. They can no doubt say "hi" in 30 languages, maybe ask where the hotel or public toilet are, but I doubt they can read a newspaper in all of them. Granted I've talked to an Italian, me speaking Spanish and him speaking Italian and we understood each other, but I never claimed to be fluent in Spanish. I can understand a lot of most spoken Slavic languages and maybe a speaker of those Slavic languages could understand my Russian. I studied Spanish in high school, German and Russian in college and passed graduate level reading exams in Russian, German, French, Polish, Serbian and Bulgarian, but I'm no where near fluent in any of those but Russian. It was plenty confusing trying to learn Serbian and Polish grammar at the same time over a couple of years. Learning a language well in a month is not very likely.
Homelessness is a problem in most cities, but California cities are not a great place to be if you don't have a high paying job.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2020-02-10 05:06 am (UTC)I don't know how fluent these folks who claim to have learned umpty languages really are. They can no doubt say "hi" in 30 languages, maybe ask where the hotel or public toilet are, but I doubt they can read a newspaper in all of them. Granted I've talked to an Italian, me speaking Spanish and him speaking Italian and we understood each other, but I never claimed to be fluent in Spanish. I can understand a lot of most spoken Slavic languages and maybe a speaker of those Slavic languages could understand my Russian. I studied Spanish in high school, German and Russian in college and passed graduate level reading exams in Russian, German, French, Polish, Serbian and Bulgarian, but I'm no where near fluent in any of those but Russian. It was plenty confusing trying to learn Serbian and Polish grammar at the same time over a couple of years. Learning a language well in a month is not very likely.
Homelessness is a problem in most cities, but California cities are not a great place to be if you don't have a high paying job.