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Should I keep this up? | ||
Tags: Language Banditry | Native Speakers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3915 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes  Speaks: French | Message 1 of 23 22 March 2015 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I happened to recognize that a customer was speaking on the phone to the car behind her in Spanish, and I do not know very much Spanish, but what I heard was "Cinco, and Peso" two words I know for being Spanish. At the end of the conversation she said gracias, I replied de nada (one of the few phrases I know) and made her laugh. My question is if I should happen to recognize a persons language because they're speaking on the phone, and respond somehow in that language, am I more likely to get a smile or laugh than a glare? This little incident strangely has given me a bit more confidence to try and use what I do know when I get the chance. I had an opportunity to use my Mandarin last year at work, after recognizing that the customer was arguing with her boyfriend over something again on the phone, I was on the verge of saying something like thanks, or have a nice day in Mandarin, but couldn't decide if it were polite. I had a Scottish friend get very happy that I recognized that he was from there from his accent at one point, so maybe it's a good thing to just use it when you see it happening?
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| guiguixx1 Octoglot Senior Member Belgium guillaumelp.wordpres Joined 4094 days ago 163 posts - 207 votes Speaks: French*, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Esperanto, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 2 of 23 22 March 2015 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Usually, it's quite positive to try and use the knowledge we have, even though we can't
say much, because it shows that we are stepping into their language and culture and accept them. Still, I have already noticed, from experience, that people don't always tempt to value this effort. I have met countless German speakers who didn't seem to care a bit that I try to use their language, and in some places in the Netherland, I could notice it as well... 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4292 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 3 of 23 22 March 2015 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The repsonse is not always positive, quite a few times some might just laugh, and I mean laugh in the meaning of "What the hell are you doing?" or laugh at the person's
pronunciation instead of a friendly laugh, and if they respond in native speed with the idea to imply "So you think that you know my language", it makes the other person look silly because they do not know enough to respond if all they know is a few words. Quite often if you are an ANglophone they might just look at you and think that a few words are the highest capacity to which an Anglophone can learn another language, scoff, and reply in English. From my experience, however, the exception that has never done this is Spanish. As a rule they appreciate even a few words. Edited by 1e4e6 on 22 March 2015 at 8:13pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| leroc Senior Member United States Joined 4313 days ago 114 posts - 167 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 4 of 23 22 March 2015 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
In the United States it's different. Spanish is turning into an semi-official language, around 15% of the population is Spanish speaking. A basic knowledge of Spanish is almost assumed at this point, (Well I live in Washington State so I suppose it could be different in the Midwest). Everyone I know knows things like, agua, yo tengo, tu habes, por favor, ayúdame, basic A1 level things; and I live in a place that is not exactly the cradle of civilization. I only took 2.5 years of Spanish in Highschool but many in my hometown are Mexican, so if someone says something to me in Spanish I try to be respectful and accommodate them by responding at least in basic Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5834 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 5 of 23 22 March 2015 at 11:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
What a ridiculous generalisation. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3915 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French | Message 6 of 23 22 March 2015 at 11:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well I took the laugh as she got the humor of the moment (believe me I know when I'm being laughed at). I was attempting to be kind of silly, and said it with a smile on my face. So maybe its partly attitude?
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| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5132 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 7 of 23 22 March 2015 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm guessing this is a mistake. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leroc Senior Member United States Joined 4313 days ago 114 posts - 167 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 8 of 23 23 March 2015 at 1:11am | IP Logged | |||||
No kidding. I wonder how I remembered 'yo tengo' while 'tú tienes' slipped my mind. I probably muddled it with German (haben). I have always sucked at Spanish and 5 years of disuse hasn't improved it. Edited by leroc on 23 March 2015 at 1:12am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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