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You know you’re a language nerd when... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| simonov Senior Member Portugal Joined 5587 days ago 222 posts - 438 votes  Speaks: English | Message 3073 of 3737 16 September 2013 at 11:24pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Especially when you're the jerk who slaughters their language mercilessly. P.S. By 'you' I mean 'one', nothing personal really. Edited by simonov on 16 September 2013 at 11:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 3074 of 3737 17 September 2013 at 12:53am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I hope you don't ever teach me a language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6701 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3075 of 3737 17 September 2013 at 9:54am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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OK, if you slaughter their language merciless they may be entitled to switch to some other language in selfdefence. But the guy in a certain aquarium in Southern France who kept on speaking to me in broken English "because I had an accent" was a jerk.
And in his eyes I may have been a jerk for not just behaving like any other foreigner who can be bullied into submission, but that's part of MY identity as a stubborn language nerd. Edited by Iversen on 17 September 2013 at 11:28am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4826 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 3076 of 3737 17 September 2013 at 1:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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They can control what language they speak in, but they can't control what language you
speak in. So one could just carry on regardless. Good practice for switching (mentally), I'd think. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| simonov Senior Member Portugal Joined 5587 days ago 222 posts - 438 votes Speaks: English | Message 3077 of 3737 17 September 2013 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I wouldn't even dream of it! But we're not talking about "teaching", where one is paid to try and get someone to not slaughter a language. Being used as an unpaid tutor and having broken language inflicted on us is not everybody's cup of tea. Iversen's French guy in the aquarium obviously was insensitive, and had an inflated opinion of his own prowess as a speaker of English. Not very interesting as a conversation partner anyway. Edited by simonov on 17 September 2013 at 5:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 3078 of 3737 17 September 2013 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I suffered a similar experience as Iversen in Marseilles and Paris on several occasions, and usually in the company of older generations who focused far less on English at school and were exposed to considerably less English media than younger generations in their formative years. I can't really say that I've had the same type of trouble speaking any other language elsewhere in the world.
Sure, everyone wants to practise their English these days (try living in Germany for a couple of years - so many people have amazing English!), but usually this gives way to the more fluent common language after a few minutes of social negotiation (or at least both speakers settle on communicating at a basic level in the language that wins that battle). I'll readily admit my French speaking is intermediate and certainly nothing compared to the advanced and fluent posters here in this thread, but surely it would be more fun to have a basic flowing conversation in a café over a glass of pastis, than fish for a few elementary phrases plucked from schoolday obscurity, and rely on growing gestures of frustration, furrowed brows, and pouting lips...all ultimately leading to the death of what could have been a potentially interesting dialogue. Am I murdering the French language really so badly? Do I have no right to speak the language unless it's near-native perfect? And even if I do eventually speak French like a near-native one fine day, will it make any difference? I just don't get it; maybe someone can help explain this bizarre phenomenon. I wonder if even native French speakers from other parts of the world have similar trouble in Paris, for example, and end up having to speak English too (lol). I certainly don't have the same experience in countries like Russia, Spain, Japan, or even Sweden (where many people have a very advanced level in English). On the contrary, in an age where English is so ubiquitous, local people usually seem very impressed that a foreigner took the time and effort to attempt to speak in their language and show respect for their culture. This speaking French issue is so confusing. Maybe other people have had similar experiences in other languages, and I've just been lucky so far in other countries. Well, whatever it is, at least I feel a little better to read that even advanced speakers in this Forum have to endure the same fate from time to time. Maybe the best tip (if you know your second language level is already quite good enough for basic conversation, the other person is really struggling just to find a few phrases in your native language, and you're in the target language country anyway) is to do what montmorency and The Beautiful South suggest, and just "carry on regardless". Rant over; I feel better now. :) Edited by Teango on 17 September 2013 at 10:11pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 3079 of 3737 17 September 2013 at 10:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It's also poor customer service. Customer is king, if he wants to do business in your language... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6701 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3080 of 3737 19 September 2013 at 10:30am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Maybe I should add that I haven't had any trouble with other Frenchmen, only that lamentable case, so I wouldn't judge a whole nation on such a limited basis. But of course you can be so bad at a language that you can't expect local people to do their business with you in the local language.
Edited by Iversen on 19 September 2013 at 11:18am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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