Johntm Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5427 days ago 616 posts - 725 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 17 of 54 09 March 2010 at 12:22am | IP Logged |
elvisrules wrote:
Cainntear wrote:
"Why would you want to learn Welsh/Gaelic/Irish? They all speak English anyway!" |
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How do you then answer that? |
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By saying "Because they sound and look awesome"and then show them written Welsh/Gaelic/Irish and then speaking it.
1 person has voted this message useful
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datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5590 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French
| Message 18 of 54 09 March 2010 at 1:27am | IP Logged |
ManicGenius wrote:
Easy.
"No language matters except English."
You'll hear this from nearly everyone in the states.
Also when studying German I've been called a Nazi. yeah... that's fun...
And a terrorist when studying Arabic.
And a commie when studying Russian.
Yay for backward-mindedness... |
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Completely agree.
I love hearing "Let them learn English..." or they make fun of people trying to speak English from other countries.
meanwhile I'm in the background trying to rearrange what they are saying into their native language with proper grammar. (NERD.)
I lay down the law when it comes to insulting people for what language they study or know.
Here are a couple I've heard.
Spanish - You're helping illegal immigration
German- Nazi/WWII Soldier/supporter
Russian- Communist and or mafia
French - egotistical
Chinese - "Oh good luck with that one..."
Italian - "You can only use that in Italy."
People will always make fun of you...until they need help or they hear you speaking another language with someone...having fun and laughing, and carrying a conversation on effortlessly.
Edited by datsunking1 on 09 March 2010 at 1:29am
2 persons have voted this message useful
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kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5558 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish
| Message 19 of 54 09 March 2010 at 4:46am | IP Logged |
Blunderstein wrote:
"Danish is like Swedish spoken with a hot potato in your mouth". |
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Lol I've heard this so many times, just replace "Danish" and "Swedish" with any other languages. Languages always sound like you have a potato (no other vegetable permitted!!) in your mouth, and it always has to be a HOT potato. Lol! And then for Koreans it's not a potato in your mouth, but molten butter and cheese. Where do these things come from?? Haha!
1 person has voted this message useful
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ruskivyetr Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5486 days ago 769 posts - 962 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian, Polish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 20 of 54 09 March 2010 at 5:43am | IP Logged |
datsunking1 wrote:
ManicGenius wrote:
Easy.
"No language matters except English."
You'll hear this from nearly everyone in the states.
Also when studying German I've been called a Nazi. yeah... that's fun...
And a terrorist when studying Arabic.
And a commie when studying Russian.
Yay for backward-mindedness... |
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Completely agree.
I love hearing "Let them learn English..." or they make fun of people trying to
speak English from other countries.
meanwhile I'm in the background trying to rearrange what they are saying into their
native language with proper grammar. (NERD.)
I lay down the law when it comes to insulting people for what language they study or
know.
Here are a couple I've heard.
Spanish - You're helping illegal immigration
German- Nazi/WWII Soldier/supporter
Russian- Communist and or mafia
French - egotistical
Chinese - "Oh good luck with that one..."
Italian - "You can only use that in Italy."
People will always make fun of you...until they need help or they hear you speaking
another language with someone...having fun and laughing, and carrying a conversation
on effortlessly. |
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These are common one amongst high schoolers :P. I don't like it when my friends say
learning Russian is worthless saying that they can learn English etc. Do other kids in
your school often say English is the hardest language of all too?
And btw I really ate it when people say I'm a Nazi for speaking German and being half
German. I'm half Polish Jew and I often tell that to people who say that and say "It's
rude of you to say that when I have relatives who were gassed in Auschwitz."
High schoolers' morals suck :P.
Edited by ruskivyetr on 09 March 2010 at 5:53am
1 person has voted this message useful
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ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5486 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese
| Message 21 of 54 09 March 2010 at 6:03am | IP Logged |
ruskivyetr wrote:
These are common one amongst high schoolers :P |
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Far from it. I got these comments at a prior workplace when I was 22. Ignorance doesn't
stop when people magically graduate high school (I say magically because I'm still amazed
they did at all).
But leave this topic for what it says in the first place, languages you hear stereotypes
about
1 person has voted this message useful
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Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5572 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian
| Message 22 of 54 09 March 2010 at 6:18am | IP Logged |
ManicGenius wrote:
Also when studying German I've been called a Nazi. yeah... that's fun... |
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I've been called a Nazi while studying Russian. Talk about a facepalm! I decided to skip the history lesson on the Red Army and just walked away. People who make idiotic comments about the languages I study are not worth my time.
Edited by Levi on 09 March 2010 at 6:44am
2 persons have voted this message useful
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Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6947 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German
| Message 23 of 54 09 March 2010 at 12:06pm | IP Logged |
ManicGenius wrote:
Easy.
"No language matters except English."
You'll hear this from nearly everyone in the states.
Also when studying German I've been called a Nazi. yeah... that's fun...
And a terrorist when studying Arabic.
And a commie when studying Russian.
Yay for backward-mindedness... |
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LOL!
Damned communist nazis! ;)
1 person has voted this message useful
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Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6016 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh
| Message 24 of 54 09 March 2010 at 2:21pm | IP Logged |
elvisrules wrote:
Cainntear wrote:
"Why would you want to learn Welsh/Gaelic/Irish? They all speak English anyway!" |
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How do you then answer that? |
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Too subtly for the bigots I say it to, on the most part (sigh):
When you go out with friends, do you always choose the film, bar, restaurant or whatever?
They can all watch the film you want to, they can drink in the bar you want to go to and they can all eat in the restaurant you choose; but sometimes they want to go somewhere else, watch something else or eat a different type of food.
Like all human behaviours, language isn't a purely functional phenomenon -- there is a social dimension too.
Forcing your choice of language on everyone is an antisocial act.
Edited by Cainntear on 09 March 2010 at 2:31pm
3 persons have voted this message useful
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