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Ending up disliking a TL and its culture | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6602 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 41 of 84 18 February 2012 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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| Itikar Groupie Italy Joined 4674 days ago 94 posts - 158 votes Speaks: Italian* | Message 42 of 84 18 February 2012 at 6:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
I was not aware of this, and for me it is also nice to know about it. :) I personally believe that this habit may be due to the fact that answering in a direct manner could appear rude and impudent. So if one, upon receiving a present, answered "Oh, thank you, I like it" it may appear as implying that "Then I want another" or "Then I want one more". While saying one, she had not to disturb could be seen as a way of giving more importance to the present "Your present is so big and beautiful that I do not even deserve so much trouble". It is also very common, when giving someone a present, not to call the present "present" but "thought" or "small thought" (pensierino) instead. Edited by Itikar on 18 February 2012 at 6:53pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5061 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 43 of 84 18 February 2012 at 8:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Usually in shops or banks they do what they have to do, patiently answer your questions,
offer help. What do they have to do else? What in particular didn't you like? Officials can be rude sometimes, policemen are another problem. Here I agree. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5837 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 44 of 84 18 February 2012 at 9:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
This is not something unique to Italy or Brazil. also common here in the UK and I daresay in many other countries. 'Thank you so much but you shouldn't have' is the way I would phrase it. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5420 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 45 of 84 19 February 2012 at 1:08am | IP Logged | |||||
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When I first read the original post, I had quite a handful to say in response to it, but the flow of discussion has since drifted far away from the original threadstarter and his situation, so I'll tuck it away in my back pocket. :)
With regard to the thread topic as expressed by this thread's title, I'm actually studying several languages whose "cultures" I have issues with for any of a variety of reasons: — I can't stand the "Korean wave" (한류 / "Hallyu"), and I think Korean culture—both traditional and popular—is ridiculously overrated (the music, the dramas, and yes—even the cuisine), but I'm learning Korean because I feel very comfortable and "at home" when I'm with Koreans, and there probably isn't another community that I'd more like to be a part of. — There are a variety of populist political beliefs endemic to the Arab world that I take serious issue with (this is probably the most diplomatic way I've ever phrased this), but I still desire to learn Arabic because I just get so much joy out of speaking the language, and it's precisely *because* of those political differences that I'd so much love to communicate with Arabs to bridge the chasm of goodwill that so divides us (believe it or not, my dream job would be that of an international diplomat). To be honest, there isn't a single "culture" I'm aware of (and I realize that cultures exist on many different levels) that I don't both like and dislike certain aspects of, for a myriad of different and unrelated reasons. There is no universal utopia on this planet, and it's really just a matter of finding that one special community where you personally can best thrive, and everything just "clicks" and "feels right". 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5056 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 46 of 84 19 February 2012 at 1:57am | IP Logged | |||||
Here's an example, as told by my grandmother's friend last month. She walked into a fur coat boutique just to browse, and while she was examining a particular fur coat, the saleswoman came up to her and said with a smirk, "This fur coat is very expensive. We don't sell cheap things around here." The woman got extremely offended because there was nothing in her appearance that would indicate a lack of financial means. So she asked the saleswoman "do you accept credit cards?" Immediately, three other saleswomen ran up to her and gave her the royal treatment. The woman did not even need the fur coat, but she bought it anyway just to spite the nasty saleswoman. And another example. I went to a pharmacy to buy an over-the-counter medication. I asked the saleswoman behind the glass counter to let me see the medication pack so that I could check the active ingredients, to which she replied with annoyance, "why, as if you don't know what's in there!" "No," I said, "that's why I want to see the pack first. They sometimes mix in other stuff that I don't need." The saleswoman told me not to give her that bullshit because it was clear to her that I wanted to pop some pills... It was just a common pain reliever with an ad on a major TV channel, but of course she assumed that I was going to swallow the entire blister pack. Even if I were, I still don't see how that was any of her business, or why she had to take out her bad mood on me. Edited by espejismo on 19 February 2012 at 2:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4720 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 47 of 84 19 February 2012 at 3:32am | IP Logged | |||||
I cannnot agree when you say "patiently". If there's one thing they were not was patient. They "did" that they HAD to do, not being any nice or polite. It seemed that me and my wife were homeless people asking for some food or money, when all we wanted was to spend our money! Ahahaha I'm saying that in general because, as I said before, it happened in about 85% of the time, but to give an example I was very well treated at the Adidas and Reebok stores at Охотный Ряд, so much that I even bought a CSKA shirt and a Russia's football team jacket (in both stores we were attended by young people). Edited by fabriciocarraro on 19 February 2012 at 3:33am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Leighbee Newbie United States Joined 4747 days ago 5 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* | Message 48 of 84 19 February 2012 at 6:37am | IP Logged | |||||
This isn't really on the subject of the thread, but I have found that actually meeting and becoming good friends with a few very kind German people can be all it takes for a person to almost forget that 'historical burden'. I think one can still love their country and understand that not everything that happened in the past was good at the same time. On the subject of this thread, having never been to a different country, I can't really tell you if an entire country can really become so dislikable. However, my gut feeling tells me this probably isn't the case. I think it depends partially on the people you meet and mostly on your point of view. and benzionisrael, I am very sorry you feel this way, but I don't think that everybody in Japan is like that. And, many people outside of Japan are like that, also. The kind of people you met were not 'Japanese' people, they were just rather 'unkind' people. Unkind might not even be the word I'm looking for. Many people only approach you to get what they want, not because they wish to be cruel, but because they really just aren't thinking. Ever heard that saying, 'once you bring in a pack of gum, everybody is your friend?' I think that if you weed out those people from your life and focus on the things and the people you love, almost any place can become a second home. If you feel like it isn't the right fit, well, that's okay. But you don't have to waste all sorts of energy disliking something that didn't work out. There's a difference between thinking the grapes are sour and burning down the tree. Edited by Leighbee on 19 February 2012 at 6:38am 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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