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What is chic in your area...

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
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JasonE
Groupie
Canada
Joined 5071 days ago
54 posts - 78 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 41 of 56
12 April 2011 at 6:51am | IP Logged 
CheeseInsider wrote:
Where I live, BC, if you say you speak French people will either say "Oh yeah me too,
bonjour (in a bad accent)"
and move onto another topic. Or, "Oh so you're in French immersion?". Either way, nobody cares :P If you say
you're learning French, people will most likely say "Okay, so what?"... Again... It's not seen as anything incredible.
:P


Agreed. Same thing here in Manitoba. I suspect that some close friends and family will be somewhat impressed
once I become conversant in french, given that I wasn't in french immersion, but those who don't know me wouldn't
be terribly impressed. Oh well.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago
3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 42 of 56
12 April 2011 at 8:18am | IP Logged 
Irish_Goon wrote:
Thanks for continuing the discussion guys. I am also very curious about this in Europe and Eurasia as well. A Czech friend of mine said that the main languages where he is from are Czech, Slovak, German, English (in Prague), Romanian from the gypsies, and maybe a tad bit of Italian but most other things are seen as odd around there...especially Russian. He tells me there is still a bit of resentment toward the ex Soviet Union which I can believe.

Aside from that, what other places do you guys know of with particular language tastes.


Not entirely precise, gypsies do not speak the official language of Romania, on wikipedia it is called "Romani" and it is not a romance language at all.

The major population speaks mostly Czech and Slovak and many older people do not speak other languages at all since at school they were forced to learn Russian which they, understandably, hated. Many of them are trying to learn English and it is considered very chic. Quite many of them say they regret having forgotten their German, which they had been often learning for a few years as well.

Younger people usually know at least basics of English but most of us usually speaks English quite well (influence of internet, tv series on internet with subtitles, music etc.) and it is considered quite necessary to at least try to learn at least one more foreign language. School requires it (which is not that much of a motivation and some teachers are quite horrible just as everywhere else) and more importantly languages give you a huge advantage when looking for a job (and I would say when looking for everything else as well, including fun, culture, etc.).

Many learn German and tell other-language-learners that it is the most useful so "why waste time on something else". Not for everyone, when I go abroad, I usually don't stop right behind our borders and I am not the only one. Many learn French and Spanish and especially Spanish is considered very chic. Chinese and Japanese are chic now as well, more people than I would have expected start learning either of them, but nearly noone speaks. Japanese is more chic because there is a lot of anime in it:-)

Other often used languages are Polish (we have a polish minority which is quite strong near the borders with Poland), Russian (again, a lot of immigrants, it is considered a useful language now, employers have started looking for russian-speakers) and Ukrainian, Vietnamese (again immigration, often illegal. Vietnamese children and teenagers go to czech schools and usually have no troubles learning Czech, English and a fourth language but their parents find it chic to know a little czech to speak with customers but not to understand at all when the police comes.)
Nearly noone studies any of these immigrant languages.

Hmm. Quite a long post about such a small country :-)

Edited by Cavesa on 12 April 2011 at 8:19am
2 persons have voted this message useful



Irish_Goon
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6416 days ago
117 posts - 170 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 43 of 56
12 April 2011 at 2:34pm | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
Irish_Goon wrote:
Thanks for continuing the discussion guys. I am also very curious about this in Europe and Eurasia as well. A Czech friend of mine said that the main languages where he is from are Czech, Slovak, German, English (in Prague), Romanian from the gypsies, and maybe a tad bit of Italian but most other things are seen as odd around there...especially Russian. He tells me there is still a bit of resentment toward the ex Soviet Union which I can believe.

Aside from that, what other places do you guys know of with particular language tastes.


Not entirely precise, gypsies do not speak the official language of Romania, on wikipedia it is called "Romani" and it is not a romance language at all.

The major population speaks mostly Czech and Slovak and many older people do not speak other languages at all since at school they were forced to learn Russian which they, understandably, hated. Many of them are trying to learn English and it is considered very chic. Quite many of them say they regret having forgotten their German, which they had been often learning for a few years as well.

Younger people usually know at least basics of English but most of us usually speaks English quite well (influence of internet, tv series on internet with subtitles, music etc.) and it is considered quite necessary to at least try to learn at least one more foreign language. School requires it (which is not that much of a motivation and some teachers are quite horrible just as everywhere else) and more importantly languages give you a huge advantage when looking for a job (and I would say when looking for everything else as well, including fun, culture, etc.).

Many learn German and tell other-language-learners that it is the most useful so "why waste time on something else". Not for everyone, when I go abroad, I usually don't stop right behind our borders and I am not the only one. Many learn French and Spanish and especially Spanish is considered very chic. Chinese and Japanese are chic now as well, more people than I would have expected start learning either of them, but nearly noone speaks. Japanese is more chic because there is a lot of anime in it:-)

Other often used languages are Polish (we have a polish minority which is quite strong near the borders with Poland), Russian (again, a lot of immigrants, it is considered a useful language now, employers have started looking for russian-speakers) and Ukrainian, Vietnamese (again immigration, often illegal. Vietnamese children and teenagers go to czech schools and usually have no troubles learning Czech, English and a fourth language but their parents find it chic to know a little czech to speak with customers but not to understand at all when the police comes.)
Nearly noone studies any of these immigrant languages.

Hmm. Quite a long post about such a small country :-)


I wouldn't doubt that Romani is there however Miro (my friend) is fluent in Romanian and talks about it and the gypsies quite often. He kind of gets on a funny tangent about them at times (he runs a business near where gypsies attempt to bilk tourists). But you guys would know more about that than me.

I really like the Czechs, they were responsible for me becoming involved with languages and the country is beautiful. Someone speaking Czech or Slovak is chic to me. But I'm more partial to Czech.
1 person has voted this message useful



Lucky Charms
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
lapacifica.net
Joined 6950 days ago
752 posts - 1711 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 44 of 56
12 April 2011 at 3:51pm | IP Logged 
Irish_Goon wrote:
I wouldn't doubt that Romani is there however Miro (my friend) is
fluent in Romanian and talks about it and the gypsies quite often. He kind of gets on
a funny tangent about them at times (he runs a business near where gypsies attempt to
bilk tourists). But you guys would know more about that than me.

I really like the Czechs, they were responsible for me becoming involved with languages
and the country is beautiful. Someone speaking Czech or Slovak is chic to me. But I'm
more partial to Czech.


The gypsies (or Roma, or Romani people) are originally thought to be an Indic people,
and speak Romani (an Indic language), in addition to the language of the country
they're in, kind of in the same way that a Jewish family might speak Yiddish + English,
Yiddish + Russian, etc. It just so happens that Romania (no relation, despite the
confusingly similar name) has probably the highest concentration of Roma in Europe. Of
course, many of the Roma living in Romania would be able to speak both Romani (the
Indic language) and Romanian (the Romance language), but this doesn't make Romanian
"the language of the gypsies" any more than American English is "the language of the
Jews" because we have a lot of Jewish people.

I know you didn't ask for the lecture, but I thought that might clear up the earlier
correction someone made to your post :)
5 persons have voted this message useful



Irish_Goon
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6416 days ago
117 posts - 170 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 45 of 56
12 April 2011 at 4:23pm | IP Logged 
Lucky Charms wrote:
Irish_Goon wrote:
I wouldn't doubt that Romani is there however Miro (my friend) is
fluent in Romanian and talks about it and the gypsies quite often. He kind of gets on
a funny tangent about them at times (he runs a business near where gypsies attempt to
bilk tourists). But you guys would know more about that than me.

I really like the Czechs, they were responsible for me becoming involved with languages
and the country is beautiful. Someone speaking Czech or Slovak is chic to me. But I'm
more partial to Czech.


The gypsies (or Roma, or Romani people) are originally thought to be an Indic people,
and speak Romani (an Indic language), in addition to the language of the country
they're in, kind of in the same way that a Jewish family might speak Yiddish + English,
Yiddish + Russian, etc. It just so happens that Romania (no relation, despite the
confusingly similar name) has probably the highest concentration of Roma in Europe. Of
course, many of the Roma living in Romania would be able to speak both Romani (the
Indic language) and Romanian (the Romance language), but this doesn't make Romanian
"the language of the gypsies" any more than American English is "the language of the
Jews" because we have a lot of Jewish people.

I know you didn't ask for the lecture, but I thought that might clear up the earlier
correction someone made to your post :)


Actually that does explain everything, thanks for that. Very interesting note.
1 person has voted this message useful



Ari
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 6583 days ago
2314 posts - 5695 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
Studies: Czech, Latin, German

 
 Message 46 of 56
12 April 2011 at 4:48pm | IP Logged 
But, since Romania has, as Lucky Charms pointed out, a large number of Romani, it's entirely possible that the Romani Miro talks with know Romanian (maybe they're recent arrivals from there or have family there). So Miro, who also knows Romanian, talks Romanian with them, even though they may or may not speak Romani as well.

Edited by Ari on 12 April 2011 at 4:48pm
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago
3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 47 of 56
12 April 2011 at 6:31pm | IP Logged 
Lucky Charm explained it perfectly.
1 person has voted this message useful



vanillabean
Groupie
Canada
Joined 5009 days ago
53 posts - 63 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 48 of 56
14 April 2011 at 4:20pm | IP Logged 
It definitely depends on where you're from! I'm in Alberta, Canada and quite a few of my friends speak French... however I'm learning Spanish and constantly get asked, "Why?" Too funny. I agree with a lot of the posts so far - I get a lot of friends and family members saying, 'Oh I'd love to learn ...' but then never actually take any steps towards doing it.


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