There are two Estonians on the team and they both speak English very well. They do, however, have a distinctive accent. Most distinctive is the fact that they roll their 'R's and in fact, can't stop it. This is both extremely difficult to explain and even more difficult to symbolise with letters but if you make an extended 'rrrrrrrrrr' sound and let your tongue flap up and down you get an 'rRrRrRrRrRr' sound. (My entire story is founded on this sound so I hope you know what I am talking about!)
Recently, myself, another Aussie and the two Estonians were staying in a hotel in Hong Kong for a race. The name of the hotel was the Regal Riverside Hotel. (You can see where this is going already, can't you?)
We all took a walk but managed to get ourselves a little lost so we decided to jump in a taxi and get a lift back to the hotel. The taxi driver was little old man who clearly spoke little English. One of the Estonians told him where we wanted to go...
'The RrRregal RrRriverside Hotel please' The driver did not understand.
'The RrRrRrRregal RrRrRrRriverside Hotel' Still nothing
'RrRrRrRregal RrRrRrRrRriverside Hotel'
This went on for a fair while, much to the amusement of myself and the other Aussie.
In the end, the taxi driver finally gave up and called his English speaking friend on his mobile phone to translate for him.
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