As I dined on barbecued sardines ...

... earlier this month at a sidewalk cafe in Tavira, Portugal, deep in the Algarve, the country’s tropical region to the south, the reality of monolingualism – my monolingualism – was brought home to me once again.

I was wearing a T-shirt I’d received from the De Caro family at their West Side Market produce stand. The saying on the back –

Good food is not cheap
Cheap food is not good

- drew the appreciation of the diners at the table behind me. Their immediate understanding of the saying contrasted with the struggle I had with the simplest Portuguese expression. And this despite weeks of listening to instructional CDs and pouring over a Portuguese-English dictionary. In the end I had to admit, “Sõ falo um pouco de Portuguese, não muito bem.” (“I only speak a little Portuguese, not very well.”)

Fortunately – or maybe unfortunately – in Portugal as in the rest of Europe there is always somebody around who speaks English.

Of course, as the Senoras at right demonstrate, the language of the people is largely visual.