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Claiming to Speak a Language - Pet Peeve | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 137 of 164 16 December 2012 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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And then you get asked, "well, have you finished X?". yikesssssssss.
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| zerrubabbel Senior Member United States Joined 4601 days ago 232 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin | Message 138 of 164 16 December 2012 at 9:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think it has to do with how one perceives a language they dont know... especially for people who dont practice languages... here are some details on what I mean: before you start a language, you cant decipher words from one another, and everything just sounds like "blah blah blah blah blah ". therefore once can't really tell how good someone else is in another language until they see them attempt to read something, or attempt a conversation... so by defauld you get "fluent/not fluent" 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 139 of 164 16 December 2012 at 11:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
In which case I just answer "I have never finished language X, that's an impossible task. But I am sure I can hold the conversation without trouble" Edited by tarvos on 16 December 2012 at 11:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| bela_lugosi Hexaglot Senior Member Finland Joined 6455 days ago 272 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English, Finnish*, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish Studies: Russian, Estonian, Sámi, Latin | Message 140 of 164 17 December 2012 at 12:31am | IP Logged | |||||
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It's basically the same thing in everything people do. Somebody who doesn't know anything about a particular skill that others study in their free time (skiing, engineering, casting iron... you name it) kind of automatically thinks that after a certain period of time there is no longer need to continue studying it. I know that it is not true, and probably most people know it, too. But they simply do not pause to think about how stupid the very idea is before they open their mouth.
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| GRagazzo Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4962 days ago 115 posts - 168 votes Speaks: Italian, English* Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French | Message 141 of 164 17 December 2012 at 1:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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I know someone like this at my school. He has Italian ancestry as well and claims to
speak Italian just as well as I do. This really irks me because I have put a lot of work into my language skills and he hasn't. He can say 'ciao' and 'arrivederci' (without a good pronunciation). It doesn't bother me that he claims to speak it, but he claims that he can speak it better than I can, and that I make a lot of mistake in my speech. Just the other day in Spanish class he told me that the Spanish Aqui is Qua in Italian. Which is right but he says that it is pronounced [ka]. I told him that the 'qu' is pronounced the same as in English, and I also told him you could also say Qui. (obviously he didn't believe me) He even once asked me if I could translate a Spanish sentence in a workbook into Italian, after I did he told me that I didn't speak Italian I was just speaking Spanish with an Italian accent. It didn't matter that I explained to him that the two languages are similar and that there will obviously be cognates, he just went on believing that I was lying about my language skills. I don't really mind that he thinks this it is just Really annoying. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5101 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 143 of 164 25 December 2012 at 5:16am | IP Logged | |||||
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What I hate is when people hear me say something in French and then go around telling people that I can speak French. >.< I want to make that pronouncement when I'm good and ready.
Maybe it sounds whiny, but I just know that the time is going to come when some is like "quick what is this French speaking politician saying on tv?" And I'll be like "uhhh" and they'll be like "I thought you spoke French?" 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6126 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 144 of 164 25 December 2012 at 6:40am | IP Logged | |||||
As a heritage learner, especially if your parents speak the language, I think you have have to watch out for self-deception. There is a weird reality warp about this. Learning requires honest assessment, and not from parents who will always be overly positive, but from tests or teachers. Edited by cathrynm on 25 December 2012 at 6:58am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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