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Ungrateful Natives | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Satoshi Diglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5823 days ago 215 posts - 224 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, Japanese | Message 9 of 139 15 December 2008 at 1:49am | IP Logged | ||
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This is interesting, and odd.
Around here, in Brazil, we are extremely honored when someone tries to speak our language. I mean, even a simple "Obrigado" (portuguese for thank you) would bring a smile to most brazilian mouths, no matter how bad the accent. (We are, after all, very friendly people... way too friendly. Mostly everyone you meet will try to teach you bad words, so that you use it in the most inappropriate moment. But this is like a friendly prank, they are not trying to get to you). 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| parasitius Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5998 days ago 220 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Cantonese, Polish, Spanish, French | Message 10 of 139 15 December 2008 at 1:59am | IP Logged | ||
You should read some other peoples' experiences and enjoy your BLESSINGS. Getting laughed at may pain you, but you get the chance to correct it then! Other countries will let you sound like a retard for 10 years, and then when you find out (if you ever do) you'll be so ashamed! 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6372 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 11 of 139 15 December 2008 at 3:44am | IP Logged | ||
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Usually monolingual people or people who are very ignorant about languages or who are
not use to non-natives. Be careful they are being rude and not just laughing. A Korean friend of mine spoke such good English that I was just overwhelmed, it was near-native with an American accent. Even though he was near perfect one day he made a mistake in front of me and about 8 of my friends and we all laughed. He said 'shut up I'm still learning ok'. The thing was that we were treating him more like one of the guys. If another Asian said something like that to us we would probably just blow it off. It was the unexpectedness of it that made us laugh. Some people may not be used to mistakes in their natives languages and so it might seem funny. A Chinese guy once told me that there was no point for me to learn Chinese and that it was just stupid for me to want to. lol 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rlf1810 Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6340 days ago 122 posts - 173 votes Speaks: English*, German, Slovak | Message 12 of 139 15 December 2008 at 5:58am | IP Logged | ||
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To all who asked why I expect gratitude, I don't. Not at all. I feared it would interpreted that way.
I just don't understand why someone would ridicule someone else who is learning their language. I don't want or expect anyone to tell me how glad they are and lavish extreme amounts of praise upon me. Again my question is, how do you deal with these people? Ignore them? Explain things to them? To Chung - The only compliments I've received actually have been about my accent. I'm told things like 'Geez why does it take you so long to say something' or laughing when I decline with the Accusative when it should be Locative. Edited by rlf1810 on 15 December 2008 at 6:01am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7156 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 13 of 139 15 December 2008 at 9:21am | IP Logged | ||
In that case, it partially matches the second reason that I had guessed. Namely that you're making mistakes that they deem to be worse than what a Slovak child would make. Again I wonder whether their expectations on you are too high or even unfair as you're still learning. Do they think that you're of Slovak ancestry and thus assume that you should somehow know better because of your DNA? How long have you been in Slovakia? Perhaps they have high expectations because you're attending a well-respected Slovak course for foreigners. I'm only guessing here but I do find your experience to be interesting since I have no first-hand experience of being ridiculed by Slovaks. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rlf1810 Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6340 days ago 122 posts - 173 votes Speaks: English*, German, Slovak | Message 14 of 139 15 December 2008 at 11:40am | IP Logged | ||
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No, I don't have any Slovak ancestry. I've been here for 3 months now, and I'm not attending any type of Slovak course.
The mistakes that people have made fun of are typically very small. Using the wrong preposition for example. Anyway, the reasons and so forth matter not. I'm just curious how you all would/do deal with these types of situations. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Oleg Triglot Groupie Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5829 days ago 57 posts - 95 votes Speaks: Russian*, Polish, English Studies: Spanish, French, Italian | Message 15 of 139 15 December 2008 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I personally always have respect for those learning Russian, because I know how hard and crazy this language is. But some people doesn't have that respect, especially those who never learned any foreign language, so they've no idea what it's like. Anyway I consider them just ignorant and stupid, because it's impossible to be a well-educated Russian native speaker and not to know how hard the rules of your language are.
I learn Spanish, and never met people that would laugh at my mistakes, although I wouldn't let them do that ;) Actually, I can say about most Spaniards the same as what was said about the Brazilians in this topic. And remember: people are different, and at the same time they're all the same. So it's not ignorant Slovaks or warm Spaniards, it's just the stupid and the intelligent. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7156 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 16 of 139 15 December 2008 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | ||
Then I'd just ignore them. I stop studying a language when I no longer need it or just don't have the time for it any longer because it has fallen lower on my list of priorities/interests. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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