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Is it rude or not? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5241 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 33 of 48 20 December 2010 at 10:48am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I guess the moderators are sleeping. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| 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 34 of 48 20 December 2010 at 6:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Apparently it's an OK view to have around here. His post was voted "useful" more than once. *shrug* R. == Edited by hrhenry on 20 December 2010 at 6:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| starrye Senior Member United States Joined 5104 days ago 172 posts - 280 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 35 of 48 20 December 2010 at 6:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Well...I think it's common for a lot of us monolingual types to feel slightly insecure around foreign languages, in general. At least, I can remember feeling that way before I started learning one. So I think, some people may actually feel like you're showing off...and that makes them feel inferior or inadequate somehow, even if they weren't directly part of the conversation.
So, no I don't think it was rude in the OP's case. The girl probably overheard your French, and maybe it made her feel a bit jealous or insecure? I have encountered this from time to time. If that's the case, there are a few ways to handle it. For example, I recall once on a trip with my husband, I met this Turkish hairdresser who gave me a awesome haircut. Anyway, while he was cutting my hair, he asked if I thought his English was alright, and then casually asked how many languages I knew. He listed off several that he knew. I frowned, and replied "zero, just English". Indeed, I always hated when foreigners would ask me that question, and I got ready for the inevitable disappointment. But realizing he had made me feel bad, he suddenly taught me a few words in Portuguese instead, to try to cheer me up. I left thinking, hey, it's not so bad, maybe I could do that too... Ever since then, when I have had friends approach me with an attitude about my language learning, I remember that haircut I got way back when. You'd be surprised how much people can open up, by simply teaching them a word or two. Edited by starrye on 20 December 2010 at 6:57pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6713 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 36 of 48 20 December 2010 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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About kyssäkaali's statement on p.3: '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.
No, taken at face value this is not an acceptable utterance. However I read it as an ironic commentary with a reference to a situation that was even more absurd than those where somebody scolded people for speaking foreign languages in public, and therefore I let it pass (somebody scolding a coffee shop employee for communicating with a deaf person in sign language). And the other moderators have apparently also seen it in that light. Edited by Iversen on 20 December 2010 at 10:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| 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 37 of 48 20 December 2010 at 11:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Isn't he himself American? How do you know other "usefulizers" were not American as well? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| 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 38 of 48 21 December 2010 at 12:07am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, his profile says he's in the US, and I can see the probably intended irony in his statement. Perhaps it was said sarcastically. But more to the point, does it answer the question being asked by the original poster? If I have any issue with this entire thread, it's the rather ridiculous lengths other posters have gone to in order to justify behavior that was considered rude by the original poster's classmate/colleague. I'm talking about the knee-jerk responses proclaiming his absolute right to speak another language. Come on - it's not about that. Again, it comes down to a social aspect. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6713 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 39 of 48 21 December 2010 at 1:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
It is precisely about that. Your position seems to be that people should bow to the demands of those who hate to hear other languages, mine is that those persons are extremely rude, and it would have serious consequences for language learners if they were allowed to dictate which languages you are allowed to speak in their presence. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| 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 40 of 48 21 December 2010 at 1:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||
No, my position isn't necessarily that. From the original post and his follow-up, we know that there was a very short French conversation within a group of people, not all of whom spoke the language. One of the group said she thought it was rude. We know nothing else. We don't know that she was butting in or seeking attention, as people here have inferred. I think any sane person would also realize that it had absolutely nothing to do with the legal ability to speak another language. That was pure knee-jerk, sorry. And truthfully, I think your sensationalist language was knee-jerk ("...this kind of mugging only can be in the interest of a fanatically monoglot majority", "agressive monoglotist bullying", "the intruder should at least be grateful" - again, we don't know if she was intruding.) All I'm saying is put yourself in the position of the girl that didn't understand. She probably could have worded her response better, but how would you feel if your response were greeted with "It's my right to speak whatever I want because I'm a polyglot minority, dammit!"? That seems to be what is being suggested by many. Would you not prefer a response like starrye received from her Turkish hairdresser (I loved that story, BTW)? R. == Edited by hrhenry on 21 December 2010 at 1:43am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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