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Claiming to Speak a Language - Pet Peeve | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6152 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 129 of 164 14 December 2012 at 10:05am | IP Logged | |||||
I wouldn't believe the old guys friend. I think he was deliberately trying to annoy you, and probably doesn't speak the languages as he claims. I'd also be very wary of anyone claiming to be ex-CIA. I once knew somebody who did, and he always said he worked in the Department of Defence, and nothing more. He'd never reveal he worked in an intelligence organisation for the sake of his friends and family, even after he retired. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Frieza Triglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 5354 days ago 102 posts - 137 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2, French Studies: German | Message 130 of 164 14 December 2012 at 12:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I share the OP's frustration.
I believe most of it stems from the fact that most people just disregard language training and consider even taking a language exam a waste of time and money. I've had several people tell me that it's irrelevant the proficiency levels you put in your CV because nobody will check that. I have this friend who asked me to help him write his Europass CV. I was surprised to see he indicated his proficiency levels for English based on what other people with the same years of study as him were putting on their own CVs, especially when he/they was/were claiming to be at C1/C2 level. I suggested he might be below that level and recommended taking one of the University of Cambridge model exams to have a clearer picture, but he didn't care. Then, we moved to Spanish, a language he had never studied; yet, once again, C1 and C2 across the board (!). I told him that was a complete exaggeration and mentioned my case, in which I had done a 1-month intensive course and indicated C1 for comprehension but A1 for production on my CV. His reply: Portuguese and Spanish people can understand each other, so he stuck to his C2 comprehension and C1 production. I figured in order to stay friends, thereinafter we'd better just avoid the subject of languages altogether. I may also add that the standard expected of foreign speakers of French seems to be quite low, even here in Brussels. I've had people present themselves as fluent (some of them did 6-month or 1-year programmes in France) or be presented as fluent, and when they start to speak they can only say five words and the sixth is in English... I've of course come across foreign speakers who are truly fluent, but who, on the contrary, remain modest about it. 7 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mahasiswa Pentaglot Groupie Canada Joined 4433 days ago 91 posts - 142 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Malay Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Persian, Russian, Turkish, Mandarin, Hindi | Message 131 of 164 14 December 2012 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
Ahh thanks mate, I figured almost the same about him not speaking many if any of the languages I spoke in, because honestly, who else would study Malay? To find a textbook for the language was hard enough, resources are so rare, and my greatest help came from an immigrant friend from Malaysia. That, and reading the Portuguese newspaper would be easy for someone so fluent in French that his own mother tongue is weakened (which is an idea I had been tossing around in my head for some time and I'm glad I've seen proof that you can at least significantly weaken your own mother tongue abilities by immersing yourself in a foreign language speech community for a long duration, if not entirely lose it). It's good to know that those claiming to be CIA have this similar evasion of reality, I've never met a person like him before! :P 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zerrubabbel Senior Member United States Joined 4601 days ago 232 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin | Message 132 of 164 14 December 2012 at 11:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
I dont think you can lose your mother tongue... at least beyond your teen years... My great grandmother who was native German, moved to the states to get away from all the hitler events going on in europe at the time... anyway, she spent nearly 70 years of her life in an English environment, hardly using her German anymore... I never saw her use German anyway... that is until about the last month or so of her life, when she lost her English... then German was all she had... and aslo, at about that time, my uncle started to use his German again just to communicate with her, which it seems he hadnt forgot even though he left German europe as a small child... thats just my experience on the subject... im not sure how well in the norm it is 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mahasiswa Pentaglot Groupie Canada Joined 4433 days ago 91 posts - 142 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Malay Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Persian, Russian, Turkish, Mandarin, Hindi | Message 133 of 164 15 December 2012 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
Brilliant story if you don't mind me saying, good to hear. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4623 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 134 of 164 15 December 2012 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
I also don't think you can lose your mother tongue, unless you move away from your homeland as a young child and are never exposed to the language again. But if you reach your teens and still speak your native language every day it will be retained permanently. You might get rusty and there may be more advanced terms missing from your vocabulary but the basic structure will be imprinted on your brain. Henry Kissinger left Germany at 15 and has spent the last 75 years in the States. He was always able to speak German in TV interviews after decades in an English-only environment. Edited by beano on 15 December 2012 at 9:38pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4471 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 135 of 164 16 December 2012 at 2:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I find many of my own countrymen (Americans) simple minded about language. They seem to have the view that you either don't know a language or you're fluent in it when the truth is there are multiple levels of skill.
I wish people would learn to express their skill level better. For example: >I have some rudimentary knowledge of German. >I can get around in French. >I speak intermediate Italian > I have basic fluency in Spanish. > I've achieved a high level of skill in German. > I'm almost as fluent as a native speaker in French. These all express varying degrees of ability. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 136 of 164 16 December 2012 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
To be fair, this binary fluent/not fluent mindset exists everywhere, not just in the US. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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