Has the reward money for the safe return of Madeleine McCann been dropped?

[Carana]

The McCann's don't have Portuguese as a 2nd, 3rd or 4th language. They don't have it at ALL.

So that poor fellow he helped out on that flight back to Blighty - who had a dodgy ticker

Did he speak English?

Do we know - pray tell?

For according to your logic - Gerry would not have touched him - if he didn't have his lingo.

Nonsensical in the extreme

I thought English and French were Portugal's second languages: 

English Language has an obligatory status in Portuguese Schools same as French (besides of course the Portuguese Language). This mean that every Portuguese person that went or is in school learned English and French. Although both languages are obligatory in the first years of school, at one point students have to choose between the 2 obligatory languages (English or French) for the rest of the years needed to complete High School, and most students if not all choose English over French.   This mean that virtually all Portuguese students understands and speaks at least Basic English, being in most cases their second language.

Correct me please if I am wrong, thank you.

When did this become compulsory, though? And for how long did they have to study a foreign language x years ago? Amaral didn't understand English, neither did most of the GNR.

[Angelo222]

The McCanns have been asked about the reward several times but they refuse to answer.  They are very happy to take money from the public but offer little in return which says it all for me.  Their loftiness is appalling to behold!!

As for working in Portugal, get a job as a f..king labourer if it helps you to search for your child.  The excuses being put forward as to why they couldn't have stayed and worked in Portugal are pathetic.  Look at what the Fitzpatrick family have gone through to look for their daughter, they put the McCanns to shame.

[registrar]

LOL Quite ridiculous. You think there are doctors being employed in Portuguese hospitals who don't speak a word of Portuguese?

AFAIK there has been no reports on any desperate need to import English speaking cardiologists in Portuguese news, they seem to manage quite well on their own.

Nice turn of phrase

but as you probably have an alma mater, you might know that the medical language still used is LATIN

regardless of whether you ply your trade in Austria or Zimbabwe

silly me, I thought everyone knew this

A lot of medical terms have Greek roots (as well as some Latin ones).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_roots,_suffixes_and_prefixes

Including:
cardi(o)-    Of or pertaining to the heart    Ancient Greek καρδία (kardía), heart

You need the great Latinum, not the great Grecian to get anywhere in medicine

and please don't wikipedia me, it's insulting

[Mrs. B]

Look at what the Fitzpatrick family have gone through to look for their daughter, they put the McCanns to shame.

You think?

Amy Fitzpatrick's stepfather arrested over fatal stabbing of her brother

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/amy-fitzpatricks-stepfather-arrested-over-fatal-stabbing-of-her-brother-29297450.html

[Mrs. B]

So when the last time you conversed with your Doctor in Latin?

What's pathetic is to think that you can just pick up a language, read & write it fluently within a short period of time with no problem at all. Even more pathetic is to think that you can easily get a professional position in a foreign country without speaking the language perfectly.

(Every time someone tells me "you're lucky, you speak the language" - I honestly feel like smacking them in the mouth.)

[Mrs. B]

Would the "reviled" McCanns have got jobs in Portugal, where the majority appears to be deeply suspicious of them (thanks to the police and media hatchet job done on them over the years)?

No chance!

ETA In fact, I think the family would have been in danger in Portugal, & there was nothing they could do in Portugal anymore that they couldn't do from the UK, hence, it was a wise & security conscious decision to leave IMO.

[registrar]

So when the last time you conversed with your Doctor in Latin?

What's pathetic is to think that you can just pick up a language, read & write it fluently within a short period of time with no problem at all. Even more pathetic is to think that you can easily get a professional position in a foreign country without speaking the language perfectly.

(Every time someone tells me "you're lucky, you speak the language" - I honestly feel like smacking them in the mouth.)

addressed to me?

if so, I keep it simple

Latin is the lingua franca of medicine - a doctor in Sevoto can converse fully with a doctor in Northampton

using this lingua franca

Asking a patient 'where does it hurt', 'when did you last eat'

requires a native speaker able to translate properly - nothing more, nothing less

that clear enough for you?
 

[Carana]

So when the last time you conversed with your Doctor in Latin?

What's pathetic is to think that you can just pick up a language, read & write it fluently within a short period of time with no problem at all. Even more pathetic is to think that you can easily get a professional position in a foreign country without speaking the language perfectly.

(Every time someone tells me "you're lucky, you speak the language" - I honestly feel like smacking them in the mouth.)

I'd be intrigued to know how intelligible Portuguese would be with a Glaswegian accent...

[debunker]

That may seem easy from the outside...

The McCanns were there for months. Neither they, nor the PIs could have interviewed anyone who chose not to talk to them.

There was no point in them staying there with the hostile atmosphere once they'd been made arguidos - and there were the twins to consider.

If Gerry had not gone back to work, they'd have had to have lived off the fund. And he no doubt mentally he needed a constructive focus that gave him a breather for part of the day from the emotional trauma.

Once they got hold of the files, there was obviously a lot to check through, detail by detail.

I really don't see what staying on in PT would have achieved.

What did they do for months?  Sat in PDL twiddling their thumbs until Amaral decided they were involved and the moment he was forced to lift the arguido status they flew back to the UK.   You don't give up on your child just because the police are a little hostile to you.  The McCanns are qualified doctors, they could have got a job in Portugal quite easily and used their spare time to effectively look for their missing daughter but no...not to be. I am not in the lease surprised that many people are critical of their decision to return to the UK and effectively abandon their child to her fate.  Just awful imo.

I'm sure it would have been really easy for the McCanns to get jobs in Portugal, a country where the majority of locals seemed quite hostile towards them and believed them guilty of hiding their child's body.

And in which they didn't speak the language.

Have you been to an NHS hospital recently?

I reckon only 50% of staff have English as their first language.

A physician treats bodies - he/she does not first and foremost has to have a natter with them.

Others will translate if necessary.

What a load of BS. Clinical doctors need to be able to communicate with the patient in the same language. Any locum doctor not able to speak reasonable English (not perfect, just reasonable) will not be used again by any hospital. Speaking with the patient is paramount in almost every health issue (surgeons might just get away with it!). Source- I am a retired nurse and know how quickly non-proficient English speakers are disposed of.

Bu do feel free to make up any fairy story to demean the McCanns!

[registrar]

Would the "reviled" McCanns have got jobs in Portugal, where the majority appears to be deeply suspicious of them (thanks to the police and media hatchet job done on them over the years)?

No chance!

ETA In fact, I think the family would have been in danger in Portugal, & there was nothing they could do in Portugal anymore that they couldn't do from the UK, hence, it was a wise & security conscious decision to leave IMO.

faulty logic I'm afraid

Being aided by the British embassy

Should G&K not have hot footed it back to Britain immediately?

Or would that have been a tad too hasty in PR terms?

[debunker]

The McCann's don't have Portuguese as a 2nd, 3rd or 4th language. They don't have it at ALL.

So that poor fellow he helped out on that flight back to Blighty - who had a dodgy ticker

Did he speak English?

Do we know - pray tell?

For according to your logic - Gerry would not have touched him - if he didn't have his lingo.

Nonsensical in the extreme

Your whole thrust of argument on this matter is what is nonsensical in the extreme.

[debunker]

LOL Quite ridiculous. You think there are doctors being employed in Portuguese hospitals who don't speak a word of Portuguese?

AFAIK there has been no reports on any desperate need to import English speaking cardiologists in Portuguese news, they seem to manage quite well on their own.

Nice turn of phrase

but as you probably have an alma mater, you might know that the medical language still used is LATIN

regardless of whether you ply your trade in Austria or Zimbabwe

silly me, I thought everyone knew this

We stopped using Latin half a century ago. A few Latin abbreviations remain but no Latin is ever entered in case notes. You are really talking out of the wrong orifice!

[debunker]

I'm sure it would have been really easy for the McCanns to get jobs in Portugal, a country where the majority of locals seemed quite hostile towards them and believed them guilty of hiding their child's body.

And in which they didn't speak the language.

Strange isn't it how Kate can speak Portuguese when it suits when addressing the Portuguese media.  They could learn just as everyone else who works abroad does.

Example please of any extended speech in Portuguese by Kate- more than a couple of parrot fashion learnt phrases.

[registrar]

That may seem easy from the outside...

The McCanns were there for months. Neither they, nor the PIs could have interviewed anyone who chose not to talk to them.

There was no point in them staying there with the hostile atmosphere once they'd been made arguidos - and there were the twins to consider.

If Gerry had not gone back to work, they'd have had to have lived off the fund. And he no doubt mentally he needed a constructive focus that gave him a breather for part of the day from the emotional trauma.

Once they got hold of the files, there was obviously a lot to check through, detail by detail.

I really don't see what staying on in PT would have achieved.

What did they do for months?  Sat in PDL twiddling their thumbs until Amaral decided they were involved and the moment he was forced to lift the arguido status they flew back to the UK.   You don't give up on your child just because the police are a little hostile to you.  The McCanns are qualified doctors, they could have got a job in Portugal quite easily and used their spare time to effectively look for their missing daughter but no...not to be. I am not in the lease surprised that many people are critical of their decision to return to the UK and effectively abandon their child to her fate.  Just awful imo.

I'm sure it would have been really easy for the McCanns to get jobs in Portugal, a country where the majority of locals seemed quite hostile towards them and believed them guilty of hiding their child's body.

And in which they didn't speak the language.

Have you been to an NHS hospital recently?

I reckon only 50% of staff have English as their first language.

A physician treats bodies - he/she does not first and foremost has to have a natter with them.

Others will translate if necessary.

What a load of BS. Clinical doctors need to be able to communicate with the patient in the same language. Any locum doctor not able to speak reasonable English (not perfect, just reasonable) will not be used again by any hospital. Speaking with the patient is paramount in almost every health issue (surgeons might just get away with it!). Source- I am a retired nurse and know how quickly non-proficient English speakers are disposed of.

Bu do feel free to make up any fairy story to demean the McCanns!

Oh don't get your knickers in a twist now

Debunker

[debunker]

I'm sure it would have been really easy for the McCanns to get jobs in Portugal, a country where the majority of locals seemed quite hostile towards them and believed them guilty of hiding their child's body.

And in which they didn't speak the language.

Strange isn't it how Kate can speak Portuguese when it suits when addressing the Portuguese media.  They could learn just as everyone else who works abroad does.

yep quite fluent there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJMYd2CUWKY

One brief phrase. I am no linguist but I could easily say that in Polish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian (both languages), Danish, High German and Swabish, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Latin and Russian if need be with a little practice, and many other languages with a little more effort- the same as I can successfully order a meal, a beer a hotel room and so on in those languages.

Your argument is unsupported BS.