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Most surprised reaction from natives? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Travod Newbie United States Joined 4586 days ago 17 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 73 of 91 03 July 2012 at 1:49am | IP Logged | ||
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When I went to Japan in April EVERYONE was surprised I could have a small conversation with them,
especially the school girls who squeeled after I said one word. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mashmusic11235 Groupie United States Joined 5499 days ago 85 posts - 122 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Cantonese | Message 74 of 91 03 July 2012 at 4:19am | IP Logged | ||
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This past year, I had a classmate who was from Egypt, and spoke only Arabic at home.
One day I was assigned an in-class project with him and one other student. The other student asked him what language he spoke, and to say a few words in it, and he got very uncomfortable and didn't say anything (I'm sure we're all familiar with the 'say something in _____!' dilemma when people find out you speak/are studying a foreign language). I came out with 'adras al-`Aribiyyah' (I'm learning Arabic), and he said 'really!?' and began bombarding me with questions (in English) about how and why and who was teaching me. I answered him entirely in Arabic before the third student working on the project said something. He told her that my Arabic was very grammatical (he had been raised speaking only the Egyptian dialect, so he probably wasn't familiar with Modern Standard Arabic), and generally reacted with stunned silence. I found this whole thing quite amusing, because he obviously understood me but never actually said anything to me in Arabic. Afterwards, he never mentioned it again, oddly enough, but he still grinned from ear to ear when I said 'shukran' after he handed me a paper. As a side note, he later talked to one of my friends rather rudely, and I taught her a few... choice words in Arabic, should it ever happen again. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 75 of 91 03 July 2012 at 4:50am | IP Logged | ||
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In Brussels many years ago, I was stopped by some tourists with a map who were looking for a particular location. They were speaking in a very tortured French, and it was obvious that they were uncomfortable speaking it. I immediately heard from their accent that they were Italian, so I just answered their question in (what was then) fluent Italian. They looked at me like I was a miracle, and thanked me profusely.
Of course today, I would have worried that they might be out to practise their French, and would probably have answered in French, but from their reaction, I think I made the right choice. Last summer when I was on a holiday by car to the Wastern side of Norway, I met two Russian bikers, who were stuck. They had to pay a fee to get through on a certain road, and they did not have the neccesary coins - it was 20 dollars in coins, which is more than most people usually carry around. They looked kind of scary, with huge motor bikes, and long beards, but since I saw that they had Russian liscense plates I wenet over to them to practise a little Russian. Although my Russian at the time was screamingly bad, we did manage to communicate, and their surprise at finding someone who spoke a few words of Russian in the middle of nowhere in Norway, was only surpassed by their surprise that I gave them the coins to pay for the fee, and did not want any money back. I suspect that Russian bikers are not used to depend on the kindness of strangers :-) 10 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sacha Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4527 days ago 22 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Quechua | Message 76 of 91 04 July 2012 at 12:00am | IP Logged | ||
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I was in Quito, Ecuador. I usually would carry bags of bread or fruit with me to give to the beggars, because sharing food with someone seems more dignified than tossing them some coins. But it was election day and the bakeries were closed, so I didn't have any. So, as I walked down the street, a ragged indigenous woman approached me, "Señora, dame, por favor..." in heavily accented Spanish, and I replied, "Mana charinichu" -- I don't have anything, in Ecuadorean Kichwa. Her eyes grew wide with astonishment and she immediately ran over to another beggar woman a short distance away, and pulled her over to me acting like "watch this, watch this, you won't believe it." Then, with the second woman watching, she again went up to me and said, "Señora, dame, por favor..." and I repeated "Mana charinichu," and they looked at each other and burst into laughter, and walked off together still laughing.
5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4638 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 77 of 91 06 July 2012 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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@sacha: It's awesome to know that you have some level of familiarity with Quechua, more specifically Ecuadorian Kichwa. :) That was an interesting experience you shared with us, and I found it funny that the women just walked off laughing. Was it derisive laughter or just laughter? Anyways, cool to know someone has Quechua on them. :D
One particularly surprised reaction I received from a native speaker was during my third visit to Morocco. I was in Rabat, and I was visiting a market rather far away from the tourist areas of the city, and I asked for items in the Moroccan dialect I knew. The vendor just looked at me with a blank face, and proceeded to say (in Moroccan), " Where part of Rabat are you from? I have not seen you in this neighborhood." I explained that I was actually from Paraguay, and the vendor literally yelled at some of the other vendors to come and check me out, and we had a great conversation in Moroccan and about how I learned Arabic and how I liked the country, and so on. While I had experienced surprises from Arabs before, few were this far in depth, so it was a very rewarding experience. :) Once, for work, I traveled to a region in Honduras called La Mosquitia, where there are five main indigenous groups - I met some of the Garifuna and Miskito. Beforehand, I hand learned some basic phrases in both languages, and the locals were positively surprised that I had tried their languages out, instead of breaking the ice with Spanish. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sacha Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4527 days ago 22 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Quechua | Message 78 of 91 06 July 2012 at 8:43pm | IP Logged | ||
It wasn't derisive, it was a laughter of amazement. Kichwa or Quichua is a very low prestige language there. Until a few years ago, among native speakers the language was called Yanga Shimi, useless or worthless language. Quito treats Indians like 1950s Alabama treated blacks. Restaurants etc can blatantly refuse service to Indians. Schools can exclude them. Gringo-looking foreigners, on the other hand, are high prestige, looked up to by the mestizos. So it was like I suddenly turned the world upside down by speaking to her in Kichwa. The most surprised reactions I got were usually not from native Kichwa speakers, but from the mestizos. Why????? are you learning Kichwa???? It made no sense. Most mestizos would never consider learning a word of Kichwa. That is a heritage that they are trying to distance themselves from. On the other hand, knowing even a little Kichwa (and I know much more than a little) makes the Indians warm right up to you. When I was living in the Ecuadorean Amazon (among a people who speak Amazonian Kichwa) I went to Quito every few months, and many Indian street vendors would remember me and greet me warmly in Kichwa, even when I had only met them once and didn't see them again for six months. I formed close friendships with several craft vendors and was even invited to their homes, and I learned a lot about their lives in Quito, the blatant discrimination and the verbal abuse they endured in the city -- it was like a time machine into the lives of black people in the Jim Crow South. One of my Kichwa friends, when I told him the story of the beggar women, said that hearing me speak Kichwa would have been for them a much better treat than getting a coin. Edited by sacha on 06 July 2012 at 8:49pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4638 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 79 of 91 06 July 2012 at 10:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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@sacha: My experience in Ecuador is quite similar to yours. :) It is a shame that indigenous languages have such a low prestige, and am glad that Paraguay is not the same with Guarani.
I have some friends from Ecuador, and when we visited, some of the locals (who were not Kichwa), also responded similarly to what you stated: What's the point? It's worthless, no matter where you go. And definitely, the native Quechua speakers were delighted at their language being spoken by others. I had similar experiences in Peru. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 80 of 91 06 July 2012 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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How complex a language is Quechua?
I've been to Peru - fascinating country - of course - but only spoke Spanish (and quite bad Spanish at that time :-( sadly ). I got the impression that the indigenous people in Peru were not particularly badly treated or badly off, perhaps because they are quite numerous, although I don't know to what extent they were pure blood indigenous. They always seemed to have a sad demeanour though. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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