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Ungrateful Natives

 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
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vientito
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 6347 days ago
212 posts - 281 votes 

 
 Message 73 of 139
13 March 2010 at 1:27pm | IP Logged 
This is going to be tough again. Nobody will learn to speak well from day one. If you could not find space and time to practise and use it whenever you can you will never be good anyway. I think those of us who learn another language would understand that frustration so if I see someone who try to engage me I would give them the time of the day. That being said, most people do not understand that frustration so they could not care less. In the meantime, your task is to find those who are patient enough to do your biddings with.


2 persons have voted this message useful



stout
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5380 days ago
108 posts - 140 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 74 of 139
13 March 2010 at 3:09pm | IP Logged 
kmart wrote:
stout wrote:
Many French people are not always tolerant and forgiving to foreigners who are not fluent in their language.

I visited Paris for a week, my only language skills my 30 years unused High School French (which was not even brushed up on, for reasons I won't bore with). I expected that I would get the cold shoulder if I tried to use the language past "bonjour" and "merci" but I had an amazingly positive experience.
Yes, people switched to English almost as soon as I opened my mouth, and boy was I grateful, I was so embarrassed by my atrocious pronunciation. But on the few occasions when they appeared not to know English I received unfailing patience and politeness (maybe they were just having a laugh at my expense, and welcome to it they were, if so). I mean this was BAD pronunciation and APPALLING grammar, I probably sounded like a 3 year-old with a serious speech impediment, but people persisted with me, and worked out what I needed.
I will return, lovely French people, and I will do a better job with your language next time, I promise!


Well good for you.In my experience people in the South of France were friendlier and more tolerant when it came to my efforts to speaking French,perhaps it's
the warmer climate and it's proximity to Italy.I think the people in the South of
France(bar the high season) are more open and less stressed than they are in Paris.

1 person has voted this message useful



stout
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5380 days ago
108 posts - 140 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 75 of 139
13 March 2010 at 3:17pm | IP Logged 
stout wrote:
kmart wrote:
stout wrote:
Many French people are not always tolerant and forgiving to foreigners who are not fluent in their language.

I visited Paris for a week, my only language skills my 30 years unused High School French (which was not even brushed up on, for reasons I won't bore with). I expected that I would get the cold shoulder if I tried to use the language past "bonjour" and "merci" but I had an amazingly positive experience.
Yes, people switched to English almost as soon as I opened my mouth, and boy was I grateful, I was so embarrassed by my atrocious pronunciation. But on the few occasions when they appeared not to know English I received unfailing patience and politeness (maybe they were just having a laugh at my expense, and welcome to it they were, if so). I mean this was BAD pronunciation and APPALLING grammar, I probably sounded like a 3 year-old with a serious speech impediment, but people persisted with me, and worked out what I needed.
I will return, lovely French people, and I will do a better job with your language next time, I promise!


Well good for you.In my experience people in the South of France were friendlier and more tolerant when it came to my efforts to speaking French,perhaps it's the warmer climate and it's proximity to Italy.I think the people in the South of France(bar the high season) are more open and less stressed than they are in Paris.

1 person has voted this message useful



rlf1810
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6349 days ago
122 posts - 173 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Slovak

 
 Message 76 of 139
13 March 2010 at 3:31pm | IP Logged 
Guys I really hope this doesn't keep descending into a discussion about which countries people are jerks and which are friendly and go here, don't go there.. I wanted this to stay constructive and help people who found themselves in a situation like mine. Maybe this thread has outlived its usefulness.
2 persons have voted this message useful



stout
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5380 days ago
108 posts - 140 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 77 of 139
13 March 2010 at 4:07pm | IP Logged 
rlf1810 wrote:
Guys I really hope this doesn't keep descending into a discussion about which countries people are jerks and which are friendly and go here, don't go there.. I wanted this to stay constructive and help people who found themselves in a situation like mine. Maybe this thread has outlived its usefulness.


Well,this thread is about'Ungrateful Natives'...
2 persons have voted this message useful



kyssäkaali
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5562 days ago
203 posts - 376 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish

 
 Message 78 of 139
13 March 2010 at 4:17pm | IP Logged 
kmart wrote:
kyssäkaali wrote:
cordelia0507 wrote:
And besides there is an straightforward solution to your "problem": Study more and try to tone down your English accent (probably happens less if you do not stand out as a native English speaker).


I actually don't have an English accent at all in my second language

I don't understand - if you don't have an English accent in your target language, then how do the native speakers know to switch to English, and not say, German?

kyssäkaali wrote:
and it really pisses me off that you would assume that without even knowing me or anything about me. Oh but I'm American and I guess we all must be too stupid to learn a foreign language the proper way, huh?

I agree with Cordelia, you're a tad touchy, mate. Chill out a bit, most people aren't actually out there trying to offend Americans. Most people really like Americans, except when they get all huffy over other people's genuine attempts to be helpful (or have tantrums at countries that decline to go to war with them...)
;-)


In my experience, Finns seems to associate foreigners with English subconsciously. Plus, more Finns speak English than German. So English it is. Only once did I have someone switch to a language other than English, and it was Swedish that she switched to. I'll also add that while Finns always switched to English, not one was able to guess my country of origin correctly unless I told them. Most took me as either a Russian or an Estonian. When people would ask where I was from I would play games and be like "well where do you think I'm from?" Lol!

As for being too touchy, maybe I am. I won't deny that. But for someone who doesn't know me or anything about me and has never heard me speaking to tell me to go practice my L2 some more like he's my goddamn mother just really crosses the line for me.

Edited by kyssäkaali on 13 March 2010 at 4:20pm
2 persons have voted this message useful



rlf1810
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6349 days ago
122 posts - 173 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Slovak

 
 Message 79 of 139
13 March 2010 at 4:17pm | IP Logged 
stout wrote:
rlf1810 wrote:
Guys I really hope this doesn't keep descending into a discussion about which countries people are jerks and which are friendly and go here, don't go there.. I wanted this to stay constructive and help people who found themselves in a situation like mine. Maybe this thread has outlived its usefulness.


Well,this thread is about'Ungrateful Natives'...



Yes. How to deal with this kind of person when you come across them in your studies. NOT which native speakers are the most rude and arrogant and blah blah. That's not helpful to anyone.

Edited by rlf1810 on 13 March 2010 at 4:17pm
2 persons have voted this message useful



cordelia0507
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5847 days ago
1473 posts - 2176 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*
Studies: German, Russian

 
 Message 80 of 139
13 March 2010 at 5:35pm | IP Logged 
Just to get you thinking of how provocative the title and assumption of this thread was, here is my view:
---------------------------
Personally I think that the most ungrateful natives are native English speakers!

My reasoning:

If I go to an English speaking country and approach a native, speaking in my own language, then they would treat me as if I was retarded or a nuisance. They certainly would not stop and try to communicate with me in my language.

But if an English speaking person came to my country and approached the average person in English, his mother tongue, the average person would bend over backwards to try to accomodate and help him in English. The same is true for most people across Europe except if you approach a busy person, somebody who had a bad day or failed school English...

So who is rude and who is polite!!!???

Yes I know this allegory has some flaws I just want the people who jumped on this thread to understand how silly, unsuitable and potentially offensive it is!
About as offensive as what I just wrote! [on purpose]

And you wonder why there are NO active French speaking members of this forum??? (apart from Admin who is Swiss). They take one look at threads like this and delete this site from their bookmarks since it confirms their prejudice.

Too bad there are no -1 votes available!
I've seen a few posts in this threads that are not really worth an answer but deserve a big thumbs down.



5 persons have voted this message useful



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