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Best reactions to learning a language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| I'm With Stupid Senior Member Vietnam Joined 4174 days ago 165 posts - 349 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Vietnamese | Message 17 of 33 09 October 2013 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Vietnam, people will generally be amazed that you speak any level of Vietnamese, but then refuse to actually speak to you in it. It's really frustrating.
Typical conversation 1: Me: Question in Vietnamese Them: Wow, you speak Vietnamese (in English) Me: a little bit (in Vietnamese) Them: just carry on talking in English to me. Typical conversation 2: Them: Do you speak Vietnamese? (in English) Me: A little. Ask them a question. (in Vietnamese). Them: Repeat the question while smiling and laughing, but never actually answer it. Typical conversation 3: Me: How much is this? (in Vietnamese) Them: get a calculator or cash out to show you. And I know for a fact that this continues way beyond my current level. It's obviously not everyone, but it's certainly at least half of the people you'll attempt to engage with in a city, and approximately 100% of people who actually speak some English. Edited by I'm With Stupid on 09 October 2013 at 7:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Zerzura Groupie Australia Joined 4516 days ago 45 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 18 of 33 10 October 2013 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I was in Moscow, I spoke only a few phrases in Russian and often had no choice but to only use the little Russian I know. At a Russian fast food place, the lady gave me the things I chose and made a lot of effort to tell me the names of things like "knife" "fork" etc. I really thought that was great - and unusual for a Muscovite.
Unrelated but what I found pretty funny was a bum who walked past me with a rope tied around his neck and wrist - like a makeshift sling. He put his other hand out and asked for money and I said "Ya ne panemayu po-ruski" as he walked off, he said "Ya tozhe ne panemayu po-ruski" - I'd love to think that my accent was good, but I think he was just being smart :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4640 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 19 of 33 10 October 2013 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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When learning Romansh, I got to know a native speaker who lived in Norway at the time. As I was going to Surselva that year, he asked me to pass by a tavern in a small village and say hello to the landlady whom he knew well.
I did and said in my limited Rumantsch Sursilvan that I knew this guy. She replied with a stream of words, of which I could understand maybe half. We ended up communicating in a strange mix of German and Romansh. Anyway, she was so thrilled that she invited me for a beer, then another one and yet another one, and finally a plate of cheese and ham. She didn't allow me to pay. And in the meantime half of the village men (about 10 people I guess) had come by the tavern to see this strange person from Norway who could speak (although poorly) in their language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4716 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 20 of 33 10 October 2013 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was once at a CouchSurfing meeting, and my Russian friend introduced me to a Russian friend of hers, telling the girl that I spoke Russian. I started with "Привет! Очень приятно!" (Hi! Nice to meet you!) and the girl was shocked! She was like "Can you speak Russian!?!?!", and it went on like:
- Да да, я говорю по-русски ) (Yes, I speak it) - Oh my god! You can speak Russian! Ты бразилец? (Are you Brazilian?) - Да, из Сан Пауло. (Yes, from São Paulo) - Oh my god! Can you really speak Russian!?!?!? It went on like this for a while hahah until she realized that we could continue only in Russian. Very nice girl though! Edited by fabriciocarraro on 10 October 2013 at 4:25pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6973 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 21 of 33 11 October 2013 at 8:37am | IP Logged | ||
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Some of the most memorable responses I’ve had from locals in various countries:
Madrid, Spain: A rude post office employee (in Spanish): “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. Here in Spain, we only speak Spanish, not Mexican.” Lisbon, Portugal: A bottled water seller (in Portuguese): “Are you Brazilian?” Vienna, Austria: A taxi driver en route from the airport to our hotel (in German): “Are you two visiting from Germany?” Munich, German: An information desk clerk at a museum (in German): “Ah, where are you visiting from, the Netherlands?” I’m not very advanced or even fluent in these languages, but I’ve only ever had people switch to English with me if either: (1) I look at them with a puzzled expression that shows I don’t understand what they are saying, or (2) I am traveling with English-speaking friends and have to serve as a translator for the group, in which the shopkeeper or waiter will just switch to English to avoid that step. I think the key to getting people not to switch in English is to speak confidently, fluidly and with as minimal of an accent as you can muster up. If you speak with lots of hesitation, have a very strong foreign accent, or use a lot of foreign filler words, people may not think you are very advanced – even if your grammar is perfect, your vocabulary is large, and you can talk about all sorts of advanced topics. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| languagenerd09 Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom youtube.com/user/Lan Joined 5101 days ago 174 posts - 267 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Thai | Message 22 of 33 16 October 2013 at 12:00am | IP Logged | ||
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I was in Spain last year and my family and I were in a supermarket and we heard
sniggering from the employees. I overheard one of them say to her colleague "él es gordo jaja, feo, feo" whilst pointing to my dad... So I turned to them and said "perdóneme, ¿dónde está su gerente? no me gustan las palabras como gordo y feo, tenéis una mala conducta, lo entendí todo ... hablo español..." to the reaction of " ¡AY DIOS MIO, NO, LO SIENTO!" 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lakeseayesno Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico thepolyglotist.com Joined 4335 days ago 280 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 23 of 33 16 October 2013 at 1:42am | IP Logged | ||
I don't get why so many Spaniards feel they must disown Mexican Spanish. I mean, considering that historically speaking, they pretty much forced its predecessor down the natives's throats... (Also, I'm sort of curious as to what you said that made the rude employee say that to you.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6973 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 24 of 33 16 October 2013 at 8:05am | IP Logged | ||
It's ridiculous. I actually encountered that sentiment quite often during my travels in Spain, which eventually led me to start lisping to try to fake a peninsular accent and to use peninsular vocabulary, rather than Mexican/Latin American vocabulary. The problem is that when I returned to the US, it took me years to break that habit. The lead-up to that rude employee's statement was actually roughly as follows: Me (in Spanish): Hi, I would like to buy some “timbres.” Rude clerk (in Spanish): I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. Me (in Spanish): I would like to buy some “estampillas.” I have some postcards I would like to mail. Rude clerk (in Spanish): What do you want? Me (switching to English): I would like to buy some stamps for these postcards. Rude clerk (in Spanish): Why are you speaking English to me? Me (switching back to Spanish): You spoke to the guy in front of me in English. Rude clerk (in Spanish): That’s because he didn’t speak Spanish. Me (in Spanish): I tried to use Spanish with you, but you didn’t understand. Rude clerk (in Spanish): I’m sorry, I didn’t understand you because here in Spain, we only speak Spanish and not Mexican. Now, would you like to buy some “sellos”? 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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