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Is it rude or not?

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Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5391 days ago
3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 17 of 48
17 December 2010 at 3:15pm | IP Logged 
vilas wrote:
[QUOTE=Arekkusu] .

But there is also a cultural aspect to this. In my office (Central Canada, where French
is a minority language), there is a mixture of English speakers, French-Canadians (not
from Québec) and Québécois.

There are French-Canadians that are not Quebecois?

French-Canadians outside of Québec are not Québécois. There are French-Canadian
communities in every province and in many cases, at least that's the experience I've had
in Manitoba and in Saskatchewan, they usually have more in common with the English
communities around them than Québécois. This is not quite the same situation in Acadia
and in Ontario, close to the border, however.
1 person has voted this message useful



Romanist
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5292 days ago
261 posts - 366 votes 
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 18 of 48
17 December 2010 at 5:28pm | IP Logged 
During my student days I remember once being in a German language seminar with three or four other guys who were all native speakers of Turkish. During a break they all switched over from German to Turkish - something which at the time did feel a bit like a pointed snub.

Looking back with hindsight, I think they probably just did it completely without thinking. Their German wasn't all that great, and they probably just found it easier to communicate in their own tongue.

Either way, you have to be kind of hypersensitive to start making an issue about this kind of thing, I think. (I myself would never complain unless I had very good reason to think that the persons in question were actully talking about me.)



Edited by Romanist on 17 December 2010 at 5:29pm
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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5140 days ago
1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 19 of 48
17 December 2010 at 5:39pm | IP Logged 
Romanist wrote:
During my student days I remember once being in a German language seminar with three or four other guys who were all native speakers of Turkish. During a break they all switched over from German to Turkish - something which at the time did feel a bit like a pointed snub.

Looking back with hindsight, I think they probably just did it completely without thinking. Their German wasn't all that great, and they probably just found it easier to communicate in their own tongue.

Judging from what he said the (very) short conversation was about, I'm guessing neither one was a native French speaker, rather they were practicing. I can completely understand native speakers with a weak grasp of the L2 language switching back to their native tongue.

I can also understand a student's annoyance at other students practicing something that they're not studying in front of them. She probably could have said something along the lines of "Do you have to practice that right now?"

R.
==
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CheeseInsider
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5132 days ago
193 posts - 238 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin*
Studies: French, German

 
 Message 20 of 48
17 December 2010 at 7:04pm | IP Logged 
kyssäkaali wrote:
The truth is that a lot of Americans just don't like foreign languages or the sound of them. This is no surprise, considering how popular the "This is America; speak English or get out" mentality is. I was on an English-language website the other day that also has options in I think about 6-7 other languages. Someone had gone on the message boards and created an "español thread" for Spanish speakers, and in the middle of the conversation, some girl came in and posted "This is America, and we speak English" and then just left. What the heck? Even if America and the internet WERE synonymous, what good does doing something like that do?? *grumble*

I've also heard stories of people getting mad at coffee shop employees for communicating with deaf patrons in sign language, because it is pushing a foreign language over English. Americans are just xenophobic bastards, plain and simple.


Let me just add that America has no official language and never has. So... the fact that the majority of Americans speak English doesn't mean everyone *should* because it's not even official :P

Edited by CheeseInsider on 17 December 2010 at 7:04pm
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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5140 days ago
1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 21 of 48
17 December 2010 at 7:11pm | IP Logged 
CheeseInsider wrote:

Let me just add that America has no official language and never has. So... the fact that the majority of Americans speak English doesn't mean everyone *should* because it's not even official :P

If you're referring to the US, no it's not nationally official. It is, however, the de facto standard. It's also the official language of a little over half the states.

Seems a bit silly to apply that to this discussion, though.

R.
==
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Darklight1216
Diglot
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5110 days ago
411 posts - 639 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German

 
 Message 22 of 48
17 December 2010 at 11:37pm | IP Logged 
I don't think the answer is always yes or always no. If you're in a group and you and your best buddy just tune everyone else out and start speaking another language, then most people would consider that to be rude. If the two of you are relatively by yourselves then speak in whatever language you wish.

However, there will always be some people who are bothered by whatever you do (and I'm not just talking about languages). You can't please everyone.

On a slightly unrelated note, I heard from a friend that there is a nation (European, I think) in which it is actually against the law to speak a foreign language in public. I'm still trying to verify that, though.

Edited by Darklight1216 on 17 December 2010 at 11:40pm
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hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5140 days ago
1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 23 of 48
18 December 2010 at 12:00am | IP Logged 
Darklight1216 wrote:

...
On a slightly unrelated note, I heard from a friend that there is a nation (European, I think) in which it is actually against the law to speak a foreign language in public. I'm still trying to verify that, though.

I can't imagine it would be any nation adhering to one of the myriad treaties, commission, zones, etc within Europe.

Regardless, this is about a social behavior, not a political one.

R.
==
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global_gizzy
Senior Member
United States
maxcollege.blogspot.
Joined 5713 days ago
275 posts - 310 votes 
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 24 of 48
18 December 2010 at 3:12am | IP Logged 
I have to admit to being the annoying one who does this sort of thing. I try and cram
in as much practice as I can and the moment I find out that someone speaks Spanish, I
switch to Spanish (even if I just ask them if I can practice my Spanish on them!) if
they say Yeah, I begin rambling in broken Spanish, then Spanglish, then English and I
try and force my way back in to Spanish. Even if other people are around. Guess I'm a
bit rude. I try to explain the situation to the English Speakers around but mostly I
immediately ignore them in a hurry to exercise my Spanish muscle.

I try and carry on two threads if I can, I might be having a Spanish conversation and
an English one and then when my Spanish is exhausted, I'll just switch to English. I
find most people dont really care about my Spanish obsession so I soon grow bored with
the conversation anyway, but I dont mind doing it. I try not to be too rude with it,
but I also try and get my practice in when I can.


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