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Stereotypes of language learners? | ||
Tags: Stereotypes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6949 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 9 of 42 24 August 2010 at 6:59am | IP Logged | ||
I thought it's more like this: Persian: The language of Xerxes and Cyrus, beautiful women, elaborate carpets, and Princess Jasmine. Persians and those who learn Persian are exotic, mysterious, and cultured. Farsi: That other Arabic-region language (possibly another name for, or a dialect of Arabic). A language spoken by Islamic extremists. Iranians and those who learn Farsi are intent on undermining the American way of life. Edited by Lucky Charms on 24 August 2010 at 7:05am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5809 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 10 of 42 25 August 2010 at 9:30am | IP Logged | ||
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If I told my friends that I want to learn Telugu they’d probably replay “What are you learning an african language
for?”... 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ichiro Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6209 days ago 111 posts - 152 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Malay | Message 11 of 42 25 August 2010 at 12:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Blimey O'Reilly! The public TV here in Singapore is still showing Mind Your Language late at night. Anyone from the UK remember that show?
If you want to see a bunch of stereotypes of the people who want to learn English, that's the place to go. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| vilas Pentaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6960 days ago 531 posts - 722 votes Speaks: Spanish, Italian*, English, French, Portuguese | Message 12 of 42 25 August 2010 at 1:27pm | IP Logged | ||
Lucky Charm what about who studies japanese and German ? = are they wannabies conquerors of the world like Hitler and Hiro Hito? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6034 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 13 of 42 25 August 2010 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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EDIT: Oh. I just noticed the OP actually asks about the character of the language learners, not the natives of a given language. Whereas I'm posting about national stereotypes. Sorry for being off-topic.
~ Some of the stereotypes I have verified first hand: French women - very polite, friendly, and in many cases cute ^_^ French men - rude and short tempered British women - reserved and polite on the whole British men - most older men, like in their 40+, are polite and reserved Younger Brits are less reserved and less polite. Italians - haughty and emotional Spaniards - friendly and emotional ~ Some unverified stereotypes: Vietnamese - the nation consists of martial artists, monks, and rice farmers (in my childish mind at least) Japanese - very introspective and polite; like to move in groups Koreans - sort of like the Japanese Germans - obsessed with precision; humourless (I'm sure that's not true ) Scandinavians - extremely open-minded, accept any form of sexuality (that's ok with me) ~ I hope this isn't too insulting for anybody (but I suspect it is :). Edited by Sennin on 25 August 2010 at 1:51pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7015 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 42 25 August 2010 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
Not only do I remember it, but I've got all the episodes. It's a great source of political incorrectness and stereotypes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ThisIsGina Groupie United Kingdom languageblogbygina.w Joined 5318 days ago 56 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, Greek, German, French | Message 15 of 42 25 August 2010 at 6:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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If a girl wants to learn French, Italian or Spanish, people assume it's because the men in those countries are known for being sexy.
For Russian (or in fact almost any Eastern European language), people assume you're a communist or just very weird. And if you want to learn Polish (in Britain) you can't mention it without receiving a snide comment about immigrants. Or maybe it's just the people I know who react like that, I don't know. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| RMM Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5227 days ago 91 posts - 215 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Swedish, Japanese | Message 16 of 42 25 August 2010 at 6:09pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm from the US too, but I don't understand where you're getting these stereotyes from. I've never in my life heard a fellow American suggest that English was "a language unique to America" or that English doesn't have its origins in Europe. EVERY American (who isn't literally mentally disabled) knows that English originally came from England and that it is spoken in many countries around the world. I've never in my life met one who didn't know this. Many Americans recognize the undeniable fact that English has been by far the most spoken language in the US since its founding in the 1700s and would like to keep it that way. Surely, you don't see that as the same thing as thinking that English is originally from and only spoken in America?! Of course, you are right that parts of the US were once the territories of France, Spain, and Mexico (and also the Netherlands and Sweden, if you're keeping track), but of course there were never large numbers of Spanish or French speakers in these areas. They were spread out very, very thinly over a vast area of land. I'm not really sure what your point of bringing any of this up is anyway. None of these are commonplace or general stereotypes about English within the US, so it seems that your purpose is just to insult Americans who would like to see English as the official language of the US. Do you also object to the fact that Spanish is the official language of Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and other countries where the original languages were of indigenous American Indian origin? Spanish is not the original language spoken in these areas, but would you try to deny that Spanish really is the language of these countries? I do agree that French learners are sometimes seen as non-conformists here, since Spanish is almost a requirement in the US nowadays. However, I've never heard the stereotype that French learners hate Mexicans. That's a rather harsh thing to claim, don't you think? 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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