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Language stereotypes | ||
Tags: Stereotypes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5821 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 106 of 118 30 May 2009 at 11:28pm | IP Logged | ||
I definitely share your setiment. (I'm also from California) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zarathustra Groupie Canada Joined 5806 days ago 57 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 107 of 118 05 August 2009 at 8:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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English: Dull, textbook, compulsory. Native speakers take it for granted and don't learn other languages.
French: High class. Pseudo-culture buff. Sounds really nasal-y and pompous. Every second letter is silent. Attractive on a female, annoying on a male. Baguettes, cheese, politics, wine, and fashion. German: Harsh initially, but it grows on you. Sound efficient and organized. Usually associated with two extremes, either screaming Nazis or yodeling, Lederhosen-wearing bretzel vendors. Wonderful philosophy, music, and literature. Russian: Definitely the coolest and most beautiful language out there. The ultimate expression of the human mind. Often sounds sad. Brutal grammar, but a bit more orderly than that of German. Literature, ballet, film, vodka, dolls, Christianity, and winter. Italian: Gorgeous language, but hard to take seriously. Lots of vowels. Very outgoing. Pasta, opera, art, fashion, and the Mafia. Spanish: Fast, lack of consonants. Easy, usually for slackers or poor people. Too happy. Chinese: The upcoming world language. Useful for business, even though its only the official language in China and Taiwan. Sounds kind of ridiculous. Japanese: Very difficult. Useful economically but not geographically. Tarnished by white kids who watch one anime and want to learn it. Desu. Arabic: Learned by Muslims or suck-ups who want to take advantage of the Middle East's turmoil. Sounds rather harsh. Appealing writing, but very difficult. Korean: Rather useless unless you want to live there. Most would ask 'Why not Japanese or Chinese?' Ugly writing. Latin: Academic, impractical. Difficult grammar. Kept alive by scholars. Greek: Cool language. Amazing history, philosophy, maths, sciences, architecture, and food. Unfortunately restricted to Greece and Cyprus. Portuguese: Underrated. Sounds very pleasant. Not much else to say. Hebrew: Writing hurts your eyes, all characters look similar. Can sound harsh or pleasant, depending. Fascinating but geographically isolated. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| gdoyle1990 Groupie United States Joined 5620 days ago 52 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Serbian, Estonian | Message 108 of 118 06 August 2009 at 6:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Here's a list of languages I've studied or dabbled in. I've given my families reaction when I told them I was studying said language, and then my own thoughts about the language.
Spanish Family: Why would you learn Spanish? Everyone who speaks it is an illegal alien. Me: Why would I learn Spanish? It's wayyyy too easy. French Family: OoO, French...pretty. Me: Better than Spanish, I love the R's. Hebrew Family: Cool, you can be an Israeli diplomat. Me: Oh my god! There are no vowels! Awesome R's though. =P Russian Family: You can spy on the Russian government now. Me: Best. Language. Ever. Icelandic - Family: Huh? Me: OoO, they sound like they're speaking backwards! Esperanto - Family: Huh? Me: It's even easier than Spanish. *groan* Turkish Family: Isn't that what the terrorists speak? Me: Agglutination...awesome. Mandarin Family: Haha, good luck. Me: Haha, Not gonna happen. As you can see, I'm a sucker for the guttural R. Edited by gdoyle1990 on 06 August 2009 at 6:02am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| MLSUSA94 Groupie United States linguisticventures19 Joined 5708 days ago 50 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 109 of 118 06 August 2009 at 8:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Spanish
Average American: You must be an illegal... Me: Cool, but not my top priority at the moment French Average American: They're now called "Freedom Fries" Me: Very interesting... My current top priority German Average American: Buy domestic cars!; You're a Nazi Me: Totally awesome language... My "wanderlust" language Italian Average American: Looking to join the mafia? Me: It's okay, but I would much rather learn Latin first Latin Average American: Ouch, Catholic school must suck Me: Extremely interesting language... Maybe my next language Russian Average American: Oh, so you must be a Stalinist Me: Pass Ancient Greek Average American: Wow, you don't have a life Me: Maybe later in my life...but for right now, it looks mind numbing Arabic Average American: So, you are a terrorist? Me: Not interested...AT ALL Japanese Average American: Uh... Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto? Me: the huge linguistic difference between Japanese and English attracts me, but isn't a major a priority Chinese Average American: That's good for business. Me: Uninteresting 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Z.J.J Senior Member China Joined 5608 days ago 243 posts - 305 votes Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 110 of 118 06 August 2009 at 8:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Japanese: very useful in Asia, the most popular 2nd foreign language in mainland China.
French: very important, second only to English, French people don't like to speak English. Italian: not as useful as Spanish, but sounds musically, so hard to resist for everybody. Spanish: very useful in Latin America & southern USA, but sounds less beautiful than Italian. Portuguese: if you really love Brazil, just try to learn it, sounds kind of nasally too. German: the most difficult among Germanic languages, I think it's well worth learning, though generally Germans can speak good English. Russian: was ever the most popular foreign language between 1950s and 1960s in mainland China, but nowadays ...... Arabic: if only I could speak good Gulf Arabic and read mysterious Qur'an in future. Esperanto: never will I learn such an artificial and mechanical language in my life, I'd rather learn dead languages, for example, Biblical Hebrew, Koine Greek or Ancient Egyptian. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5335 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 111 of 118 30 May 2010 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Some Dutch language stereotypes:
English: If you don't speak this language than something must have gone seriously wrong in your childhood. Most Dutch grossly overestimate their level in this language. French: The most beautiful language in the world. The ideal holiday destination whether you like culture, nature or simply lying on the beach. They've got it all. Everyone thinks they speak it because it's compulsory in school but few could have a real conversation in it. German: Those backstabbing beeps who stole our bicycles! We understand more of the language than we care to admit but any unfortunate tourist who remarks that our language is very similar to theirs is immediately escorted of the premises with torches and pitchforks. Italian: The second most beautiful language in the world. Associated with great culture and history and anyone who speaks it is seen as extremely cultured and intelligent. Spanish: The country where everyone goes to lie on the beach. No need to learn the language because everyone else on the beach is Dutch as well. The Spanish are blatant flirts but very friendly and passionate and someone who has mastered the language will be looked up to. Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Thai: "Did you know that whenever a Chinese woman is about to give birth, her husband cooks bambi pang-pang in a big pan? When the baby is born the husband throws the pan on the ground and whatever sound it makes is what they name the baby; PANG, CHUNG, KANG etc." Speaking any of these will be seen as a big but useless achievement. Arabic or anything that sounds like it: At the least a petty criminal and very likely a terrorist in the making as well. Russian: Probably a communist and most likely drinks like a fish as well. Esperanto: Espe-whatsitcalled? Edited by ReneeMona on 15 June 2010 at 12:33pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5300 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 112 of 118 02 June 2010 at 8:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Alright, some of my own stereotypes, all based on US college students. Apologies if any of these cause offense, not intended!
- Spanish : lazy bum trying to get an easy pass after having studied it in high school. Might get some motivation boost by going for an "awesome" backpacking trip through South America between freshman and sopohomore years. "Mexico was awesome dude, gotta learn Spanish!" - French: trying to look smart. Likes to throw "wine and cheese" parties with their smartass friends and discuss politics. Actually, talks about politics all the time, gets annoying after a while. Very liberal. - Italian: similar to French but replace "politics" with "art". Wants to come across as sophisticated. Would rather lose looking good than win looking ugly. All about style. - German: serious student, probably engineering major, clean and short haircut, conservative. Or the opposite: carefree philosophy major, long hair, dirty clothes, keeps reciting passages from Kant, Heidiger or whatever. - Portuguese: party minded individual, obsessed with Brazil, carnival, soccer, beaches, Brazilian men/women. Hasn't been there but is always planning a trip as an exchange student or holidays, just never seems to make it happen. Not very serious. - Arabic: about to join the US Army / obsessed with world affairs. Adventurous. Or recent Islam convert getting freaky. - Japanese: weirdo obsessed with anime and Japanese school girls. Usually stays locked in his room playing videogames or reading manga. - Chinese: two categories here. Either the person just started and they are just joining the bandwagon, nothing really special about them. "Everybody says it's important and will be the language of the future so I should start learning it too." Could denote a lack of character. Or the person has actually been at it for a while, in that case they are serious, perseverant, maybe they really like Chinese culture. Deserves great respect. - Finnish: rare. Heavy metal fanatic or has a Finnish girlfriend/boyfriend. Or just a weirdo: "Because it's not an Indoeuropean language"! - Latin: hardcore geek, either fascinated with Roman antiquity or - weirder yet - just loves the language "because it is so orderly and perfect". Sometime insists it isn't a dead language and listens to "Nuntii Latini" on the radio. - Esperanto: idealist or language geek, usually both. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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