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Overhearing things about yourself | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| orion Senior Member United States Joined 7025 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 1 of 57 08 January 2007 at 10:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Has anyone ever been in a foreign country where the natives don't expect you to understand them, and you hear them talking about you? How about hearing foreigners in your own country talking about you in their language, which you happen to study?
What did you do about it (if anything)? 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| japkorengchi Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6684 days ago 334 posts - 355 votes | Message 2 of 57 08 January 2007 at 10:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I was in Korea and spoke Chinese with my parents, and some Koreans actually criticized Chinese and my language. I simply pretended I didn't understand what they were talking about. I didn't want to get into quarrels with Korean people, because most of them are not that bad people in my memory. Indeed, I restrained myself from speaking Japanese in Korea even though I had to use my broken Korean instead of correct Japanese. Someday I will work to try to convince the Korean people that the rise of China does more good than harm to them.
4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| onebir Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7167 days ago 487 posts - 503 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin | Message 3 of 57 09 January 2007 at 4:25am | IP Logged | |||||
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It happens all the time in China, where nobody seems to expect European-looking people to speak Chinese - even in areas where lots of foreigners stay long term, and they come across Chinese-speaking foreigners on a daily basis... (eg DongZhiMen - near the embassy district in Beijing)
It can be quite amusing. A woman let me take her seat on a crowded bus in Beijing once, because her stop was near. Then the bus got stuck in traffic, and she said to her friend 'I wish I hadn't let that foreigner have my seat'. So I told her to come back and sit down, and half the bus errupted into laughter. (Don't think she'll do that again for a while). I didn't notice it much in Malaysia (probably because my Malay's not very good) but a bunch of Malay teenagers in KL sitting at the next table started speculating about what the 'white person' was eating. They were quite surprised when I told them 'I'm eating tempeh - very tasty'. (That's a food I miss actually. :( ) 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6894 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 4 of 57 09 January 2007 at 4:25am | IP Logged | |||||
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In Taiwan, I overheard some nurses muttering that I was fat (while I was in bed recovering from surgery, no less). Sometimes ignorance is bliss!
In Spain, I've had a few incidents where people assume I don't speak Spanish, including one incident when my partner and I went to a water park near Gibraltar. I was talking to him in English and some brat started going on about the stupid 'guiris' (a sort of derogatory word for English tourist). I just gave the boy a piece of my mind in Spanish. I can't remember what I said exactly but it shut him up very quickly! In the Netherlands, I haven't heard anyone talk about me (to my knowledge). The only people I hear talking behind my back are my parents-in-law but that's a different story. Again, it's sometimes nice *not* to be able to understand people. :p 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fazer6 Triglot Newbie Spain Joined 6535 days ago 19 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Italian, Swahili | Message 5 of 57 09 January 2007 at 7:28am | IP Logged | |||||
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I was in a disco in Madrid with my Spanish boyfriend. Virtually everyone in there was from the Dominican Republic. I overheard some girls behind me say I could move my a*** quite well for a white girl. I just chuckled to myself.
Another time a priest in Toledo was explaining a painting to some Spanish tourists. He was explaining that the painting showed how wonderful the catholics were and that obviously all other religions were evil and everyone else would burn in hell... After his speach I gave him a piece of my mind and told him that being church of england I didn't agree with his thoughts, or appreciate them. In certain areas of Spain you hear guiri and salmonete comments now and then. I think you just have to learn to be thick skinned. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6772 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 6 of 57 09 January 2007 at 8:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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It's not quite the same thing, but at the Japanese bank machine kiosk down the block, they have a multilingual warning sign. The English, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese text says to watch out for suspicious strangers who might steal your money. The Japanese text says to watch out for suspicious foreigners. :)
4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| dmg Diglot Senior Member Canada dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7015 days ago 555 posts - 605 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch, Esperanto | Message 7 of 57 09 January 2007 at 8:22am | IP Logged | |||||
In French, 'foreigner' and 'stranger' are both translated as 'étranger'. (There are some subtleties, and also the word 'inconnu', but it's for all intents and purposes true.) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6772 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 8 of 57 09 January 2007 at 8:45am | IP Logged | |||||
Quite true! But the two words are not at all the same in Japanese. Their word for foreigner is literally "outside country person". 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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