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Ending up disliking a TL and its culture | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| birthdaysuit Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4822 days ago 48 posts - 101 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Swedish | Message 25 of 84 18 February 2012 at 1:03am | IP Logged | |||||
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I couldn't agree more with what hrhenry said. While reading through these posts I
couldn't help thinking about London. I have lived up north for a number of years now, but I'm originally from London, and believe me even with only 200 miles separating the 2 cities, there is a HUGE cultural difference. People in London seem so unfriendly, always in a rush, always so self-absorbed. I think this is one of the downsides of big-city life. I imagine (but don't quote me on this) that some may have experienced the same thing in New York, perhaps. Edited by birthdaysuit on 18 February 2012 at 1:05am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| drp9341 Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 4917 days ago 115 posts - 217 votes Speaks: Italian, English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French Studies: Japanese | Message 26 of 84 18 February 2012 at 3:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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Italian.
As crazy as this sounds, as I am half Italian and grew up in a very Italian, (not so much "Italian American" as all of the relatives born here act VERY American and rarely talk about Italy, It's hard to describe this difference to non- American's. Italian Americans usually have very little connection to Italy, and are vehemently proud of their "Country" despite having never been there and not even speaking the Language. All of my relatives are very, for lack of a better word, "Bi-Cultural" and actually realize from growing up with a strong connection to their "home- country" that they are indeed AMERICANS not Italians, which I believe is a huge reason as to why most [insert random country here] Americans think they're from said country.) I went to Italy for the first time when I was 12, and I did not speak Italian well at all. I understood ENOUGH to get by, with like directions and pleasantries, asking for food, just basics. I stayed for a month with my father. When I was 15 I went again, and this time I was conversational, I could get by (although not so elegantly) In almost all situations, stayed for a month with my father and aunt again. I went AGAIN when I was 17, this time I had achieved basic fluency, and had a great time with my cousins and all my new friends I made. I went for again, a month with my dad :P BUT the problem was, aside from all of the people who knew me, directly or indirectly as "Il Americano" people were in general very rude and condescending towards me, treating me as if I was stupid simply because I was American. I have a good personality and know how to "play the game" with social stuff, so I soon disarmed them and became friendly, but I still find overall, compared to most other countries I've spent time in and WITH THE PEOPLE. The Italians, even though I am technically "italian" (note the "I" in Italian is not capitalized as I am not from the country, although genetically I am Italian if you wan't to call it that :D) I found to not be my favorite of people. I know this is a gross generalization, and I of course could never dislike them, as I know way to many of them, and I love my family way to dearly to ever become somewhat racist, but I still must say that despite my constant attempts to like them, I simply cannot fall in love with the people, especially the younger Italians. I've spent a lot of time with Spaniards, and the Irish, and I loved both of those people. Don't take this as racist! as I truly do love Italians! I just get very annoyed with their arrogance at times and their presuppositions regarding Americans and their Intelligence! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6954 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 27 of 84 18 February 2012 at 3:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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I agree about big cities. Many of the negative stereotypes about Japan come from Tokyo,
which is a separate world from the rest of Japan and can be hard to live in even for many Japanese. In the Borat movie, whenever Borat tries to give a friendly greeting to someone in New York he's met with rudeness and hostility. One man even breaks into a run to escape! I was really shocked when I watched this, and I thought 1) damn, New York is scary, and 2) I would hate for people in other countries to judge the U.S. by these people. @drp9341, great post! I also find it irritating when Americans say they're German or Irish or whatever just because their great-grandparents were. Edited by Lucky Charms on 18 February 2012 at 3:40am 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 28 of 84 18 February 2012 at 3:40am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree that it might also be the case! I'm sure that things would be probably different in smaller cities, but that was my experience in Moscow. As I'm a software programmer, if I'd live in Russia it'd have to be in Moscow or St. Peterburg, so I just don't think it'a place for me =)
I've been to NY, Washington DC, Madrid and Amsterdam, also huge cities, not to mention São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and things were completely different from Moscow regarding customer services and also the way people would treat you on the streets. I loved Amsterdam and its people so much that I've started learning Dutch. I wouldn't say people in NY cared about me or anything like that, but I was treated nice and decently, I have nothing to complain about the people there! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 29 of 84 18 February 2012 at 3:46am | IP Logged | |||||
I wonder whether this has to do with the formality that's even hard-coded in the language, the polite/informal "you" distinction. This also means that when you do feel comfortable addressing someone informally (even an unfamiliar person in some situations, like a driver asking another driver - that's where my dad uses informal, at least:D), you're going to be very friendly to them :)
BTW have you been to St Petersburg? They like claiming they're more polite than us Muscovites - and the city itself is certainly calmer :-) Edited by Serpent on 18 February 2012 at 3:47am 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 30 of 84 18 February 2012 at 3:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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That's the point, Serpent. Here, almost any unknown would go out of their way to help you, you being a Brazilian or a foreigner. I don't have to become great friends with a person just to ask him/her where can I find the closest bank. Do you see what I mean?
I unfortunately haven't been to Piter =/ I'd love to! It wasn't the formality. I'd have loved them if they'd had been polite, but it was the extreme opposite. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 31 of 84 18 February 2012 at 4:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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Sure, and those who know and have the time will usually say, lol. The fact is that a lot of the time I'm asked, I really don't know, and occasionally I just need to figure out what the person means and by the time I'm ready to reply they've assumed I don't know and gone away. lol.
To me going out of your way means a bit more than telling where the closest bank is;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6708 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 32 of 84 18 February 2012 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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To benzionisrael：it is OK lose your interest in a language and even come to dislike the culture behind it，but there are limits to how strongly you should word your contempt - you could easily have blocked for the outburst with which you started this thread
12 persons have voted this message useful |
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