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Is it rude or not? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
 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 41 of 48 21 December 2010 at 2:04am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I find the word "sensationalist" totally misleading in this context, but I would certainly accept the word "intransigeant" - I find that intruding in other people's conversations and forbidding them to use any other language than your own is totally unacceptable by any standard - except in one case: where somebody who belongs to a group is shut out because the others speak in a language not known to that person. But I have already mentioned that exception.
If the reproach was formulated in polite terms I would of course also answer in polite terms, and there might be situations where you for practical reasons had to accept group pressure or pressure from authorities. But ordering other people to stop speaking German in the USA or English in Mexico (or for that matter English in Denmark) is bullying. And this will be my last answer in this thread - we are repeating ourselves ad nauseam. Edited by Iversen on 21 December 2010 at 2:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Pleiades Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5106 days ago 10 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English*, Welsh | Message 42 of 48 21 December 2010 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Telling somebody it's rude to speak a language they don't understand in their company is patently absurd, a contradiction. Nobody has the right to tell anybody what language they should speak, by doing so that person is exposing their insecurity and arrogance. One assumes that the defensive reation is engendered by the 'threat' they feel toward their own language - language supremacy? An inferiority complex definitely.
Personally I believe it's a fundamental right to speak whatever language you desire, I'm all for linguistic diversity. It makes the world a more interesting place! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| languagenerd09 Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom youtube.com/user/Lan Joined 5110 days ago 174 posts - 267 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Thai | Message 43 of 48 22 December 2010 at 1:20am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Sorry, I've been a bit ill so i've been away from my laptop. Basically, I did say to her at the time "oh sorry, I didn't realise we were being annoying, I forget when i'm talking another language where I am in terms of spacing etc" and she just looked at me and kind of sniggered :/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| stephen_g Groupie Canada Joined 6339 days ago 44 posts - 84 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Italian | Message 44 of 48 22 December 2010 at 7:44am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Anyone who switches over to a second language in a group situation where only select
members of said group know the second language clearly lacks etiquette. Come on, people, this is basic stuff. It's nearly the equivalent of leaning over and whispering in one group member's ear. A few quick sentences can be acceptable, as the intent is merely to quickly display knowledge and share something which select members have in common (as seems to have been the case in the topic poster's situation), but anything more shows blatant disregard for others present. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Keilan Senior Member Canada Joined 5096 days ago 125 posts - 241 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 45 of 48 23 December 2010 at 8:06am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I would say the situations where it is appropriate to speak a foreign language line up exactly with the situations where it is okay to have a side conversation between just a few individuals.
If there are three of you, and two speak a foreign language, that is obviously rude. However, if there are 10 of you, and then two people speak in a foreign language, it is usually okay. In groups of 10+, the room often breaks up into smaller subgroups where just two people talking is more than acceptable. So basically, you just have to figure it out based on the context. Sometimes people genuinely feel excluded. Other times they are just being nosy. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| languagenerd09 Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom youtube.com/user/Lan Joined 5110 days ago 174 posts - 267 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Thai | Message 46 of 48 24 December 2010 at 3:27am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Well i've noted that in future; i'll just not bother talking in a foreign language when people who are going to react in this way are around me - because it's not worth the arguments that they cause.
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| J S Newbie Netherlands Joined 5115 days ago 25 posts - 31 votes Studies: Irish, English* Studies: French, Dutch | Message 47 of 48 24 December 2010 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
...on this forum? ;-) J.S. -- (tongue firmly in cheek) (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/tongue-in-cheek.html) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| languagenerd09 Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom youtube.com/user/Lan Joined 5110 days ago 174 posts - 267 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Thai | Message 48 of 48 06 January 2011 at 3:56am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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No; with people in reality ;)
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