|
 |
Overhearing things about yourself | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6132 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes  5 sounds | Message 41 of 57 16 May 2009 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | ||
|
An American friend of a teacher visited us during a seminar and he was talking to us real slow and he told our teacher "Do they understand me?". I overheard it and asked a question in English as soon as I could, and so did another guy in the group.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5842 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 42 of 57 16 May 2009 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I heard some Danes seriously dissing England on the tube a few months ago. They were saying how a lot of people in England look unhealthy and don't look after themselves.
I had a very hard time keeping a straight face as they ranted on, convinced that nobody could understand them. I look very Scandinavian and it ought to have occurred to them that I was one.. Easy for them to say that English people look sick - Danes have about twice as much holiday or something like that... Plus London commutes are evil compared to anything in Denmark. People should be careful in London - every other person is a foreigner and might very well understand what you are saying!!!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7019 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 43 of 57 16 May 2009 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | ||
I've experienced both sides of that particular coin. One is definitely much more embarrassing than the other! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6276 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 44 of 57 19 May 2009 at 6:17pm | IP Logged | ||
I think they had a point. Londoners, in my view, don't live very well and the public transport is both expensive and uncomfortable. It is the most cosmopolitan part of the UK so someone who understands your language might overhear you. The rest of Britain is less cosmopolitan, though. And not just London looks unhealthy. A Polish photographer took a picture of young people in Cardiff, Wales, in the city centre on a Friday or Saturday night, sitting at a bus stop. I saw the photo in a newspaper last week. In the picture were a young man and two or three young women. They were all pasty-looking after a night out, the man was rather overweight, and they were ankle-deep in discarded fast food wrappers that had just been thrown on the pavement because nobody could be bothered to look for a litter bin. A bit of a study in social decay. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| heartnsoul Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5725 days ago 45 posts - 47 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, Spanish Studies: Italian, German, Greek | Message 45 of 57 24 May 2009 at 5:41am | IP Logged | ||
|
This hasn't happened to me, but it did happen to my mom many years ago. She has told me the story. She is from Taiwan but her and my dad went to a cantonese restaurant one night (she also speaks Cantonese). They got the bill and although the beer cost $1.25 on the menu, on the bill it was written as $1.75. She let them know and asked for it to be corrected - she wouldn't have minded paying $1.75 but that wasn't what was on the menu... so the waitress corrected it and then immediately went over to her co-worker, complaining that my mom was a cheap *** etc. and of course my mom really gave her a piece of her mind then, in Cantonese... I bet the waitress was a bit surprised. :-)
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sprachefin Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5750 days ago 300 posts - 317 votes Speaks: German*, English, Spanish Studies: French, Turkish, Mandarin, Bulgarian, Persian, Dutch | Message 46 of 57 24 May 2009 at 6:22am | IP Logged | ||
|
I always find these threads where you get to share anecdotes very interesting. I remember when I was in America about a year ago, I was speaking German with a friend of mine (we always go there together). Some teens sitting at a table in this restaurant we were at called me a skinny f***ing Nazi and my friend a retarded sausage eater. I was quite entertained by their ignorant comments against my friend, but the Nazi thing puts me over the top. Being fully Jewish has resulted in memories of being harassed for being Jewish as a child, and I don't appreciate when someone refers to me as a Nazi because I hold German citizenship and because I speak German. I stood up and sat down at their table. I calmly explained in Spanish that calling me a Nazi is incorrect because I am of Slavic Jewish heritage and am a practicing Jew and that they should not refer to me as such. I also said that calling my friend a sausage eater wasn't correct either because he is a vegetarian. I then told them that this would be the time to get out of my sight. I felt bad for making them leave their uneaten food, but then again, it felt so good to teach them a lesson not to be rude. I do not talk about people like so in public even if they do not speak German. It does not reflect well on yourself. If I am going to talk about someone I dislike, I do it in private, and even that isn't nice (bad habits are the hardest to break). Being respectful and polite in general is a good rule to live by. Edited by sprachefin on 24 May 2009 at 6:25am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6722 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 47 of 57 08 June 2009 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
|
I really enjoyed reading these stories!
Unfortunately though, I have nothing of substance to add to the discussion. The only thing I have ever overheard was some Hungarians talking (I wasn't really following but then noticed one was looking at me) and then she said "we'd better not say too much because we don't know how much Hungarian she understands" - or something to that effect. I just smiled with a sideway glance at them as if to say "yes, I heard it all" and kept going. They fairly quickly moved on... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6707 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 48 of 57 08 June 2009 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I was entering the Museum of Natural History in Maputo, Moçambique (which is a lusophone country), and in the garden surrounding there was a group of youngsters. Then I heard one of them comment on "o branco" (the white one). Of course I grabbed the chance to turn around and say "O branco também têm orelhas" (the white one also has ears). They looked quite surprised, but I just continued into the museum instead of trying to continuing the conversation. Maybe I missed a chance there.
3 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
