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How supportive are the native speakers? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| CheeseInsider Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5122 days ago 193 posts - 238 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin* Studies: French, German | Message 25 of 43 20 November 2010 at 11:26am | IP Logged | ||
Yes, I can contest that one language is usually stronger. I was raised bilingually in Canada, since birth, my mother spoke to me in only Mandarin, and my father in only English. I had all my studies in English, and had a mere 2 classes a week of supplementary Chinese practice. Guess which one is my operative language? English :S And back on topic, my father speaks French quite well, at the advanced fluency level I would say, solid upper C1. And he corrects me all the time, which is frustrating, but it really helps! Other French speakers I've met are only through the internet, and they have all been really supportive, and help me out a lot :) Edited by CheeseInsider on 20 November 2010 at 11:30am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| justberta Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5585 days ago 140 posts - 170 votes Speaks: English, Norwegian* Studies: Indonesian, German, Spanish, Russian | Message 26 of 43 10 December 2010 at 3:15am | IP Logged | ||
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"How supportive are the native speakers of your target languageS of your efforts to
learn their language ?" British, American, etc. Were very helpful when I chatted with them online obtaining fluency many years ago. Complimenting me a lot. Germans: I don't know I never used it much. Medium helpful but strict maybe. Spaniards and Mexicans: Very helpful and always complimenting me. Indonesians: Complimenting me even at a complete beginner level. People on the streets act as private language tutors and clap their hands. Rather fake but it helped keeping my spirits up! Russians: The worst so far. Waiters at restaurants won't talk to you, people on the streets neither. Getting directions on the street is easy though. When I speak Russian with people I often get a blank stare or a strict correction of both grammar, pronunciation and stress. Not very motivating but great for learning the language thoroughly I suppose... The only free zone seems to be bars, bartenders and locals become teachers but still no compliments. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| papen Newbie United States Joined 5180 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English | Message 27 of 43 13 December 2010 at 9:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Haha no. My native speakers Vietnamese don't like Chinese and some of them are irritated if I write Chinese characters.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ReachingOut Pentaglot Groupie Greece Joined 5237 days ago 57 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English*, German, GreekB2, French, Romanian Studies: Italian | Message 28 of 43 22 January 2011 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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If I speak Greek to people in Athens, they often completely ignore my efforts and answer in English. This is extremely frustrating after having made the effort to learn their language, after all in a big tourist destination like Athens it won't be hard for them to find an English speaker who doesn't speak Greek to practise with! If you go to rural areas or small towns people are much more helpful and encouraging and are pleased (and often relieved) that you speak Greek.
Romanians are extremely helpful and are delighted and often surprised to find a foreigner learning their language because it's not a popular language for people to learn outside of Romania. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gorgoll2 Senior Member Brazil veritassword.blogspo Joined 5146 days ago 159 posts - 192 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 29 of 43 25 January 2011 at 5:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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In my city, we´ve about 1000 foreigners. Every they speak Portuguese at different
levels. And I like this. Many from we, Brazilian, aren´t not able to speak any foreign speech. Others need to domain our Native Tongue to live among us. It´s a sad fact. We´re very supportive with all the foreigners. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 5081 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 30 of 43 25 January 2011 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | ||
Yeah, I don't know how many foreigners are in my city, but what this guy said is true. Most of brazilians don't speak foreign languages at all. Some of us might speak broken English, or try Spanish, because it's really closer to Portuguese. Even the chinese foreigners have to learn Portuguese, and we like to listen them, sometimes making a little effort to understand. Many people from the South of Brazil (specialy in Rio Grande do Sul), are able to speak european languages such as German and Italian, because their parents or grandparents were born in those countries and moved to live in Brazil. And they also have a different accent, even living in the same place of me. The same happens in São Paulo, there are a lot of Asian immigrants. If you want to travel to Brazil and get deep in our culture, make sure you understand Portuguese or Speak Spanish. Teenager students may speak and understand a little English, but in most of cases it's not enough to communication. Answering this thread, we actually like very much when foreigners are trying to speak our native language, but be careful with the person you choose. Non-educated people may make fun of you and don't help anything. Edited by Matheus on 25 January 2011 at 6:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| xander.XVII Diglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5054 days ago 189 posts - 215 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC1 Studies: French | Message 31 of 43 25 January 2011 at 9:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been in England twice and I have to say that both times native speakers who hosted
me, were very kind and cordial, ensuring me whatever support I needed. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| yawn Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5426 days ago 141 posts - 209 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, FrenchC2, SpanishC2 Studies: GermanB1 | Message 32 of 43 20 February 2011 at 7:22am | IP Logged | ||
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I know native French, Spanish, and German speakers have generally been supportive of me. I was surprised at how
they reacted towards my spoken German (which was really quite poor) when I first arrived in Germany last summer - I was expecting to be corrected a lot and treated rather harshly, but instead they were all very friendly towards me. Though I imagine that could be because I'm Asian and am a young learner (I'm a teenager)... Edited by yawn on 20 February 2011 at 7:22am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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