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Swine who fail to learn local language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6664 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 17 of 27 01 November 2010 at 12:21am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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This is a really odd story.
It seems unusual for a couple to decide to renew their vows during an international trip. It would probably be more romantic to do so somewhere that has some history for the couple or in a place where family members and other loved ones could share the experience. If you don't speak the language, it must be a real challenge to find someone to preside over such a ceremony. Can you imagine the appropriate page for that in Dhivehi for Travellers? Maybe a resort might offer such a service, but you would think the person presiding would be a bit more pleasant or professional. All in all, it's very sad and confusing. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5231 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 18 of 27 04 November 2010 at 5:07am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Irony is the meaninglessness of 'renewing something meaningful to you' in a language completely meaningless to you. They were practically asking for it.
Well, no real harm was done to the couple, so I just hope this serves as a good warning to others: "If you try to look cool in front of your friends, don't mess with things you don't know s**t about." 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6016 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 19 of 27 04 November 2010 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
See, that's what I meant be "pretentious". The idea that it's "more special" to do something meaningful in a language that's meaningless to you, just because it's "foreign" and/or "exotic". 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6444 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 20 of 27 04 November 2010 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I'm a bit amazed at the amount of criticism the couple is receiving. They decided to do something, and people are jumping on their motives and criticising them on grounds which may well not have any relation to reality.
None of us know them, or why they did it: why pretend otherwise or project nonsense onto them? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5231 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 21 of 27 04 November 2010 at 5:52pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Well, you're right. We should criticize the Maldivians too :) Sure the swines that played the prank on the couple should be lit on fire... erm, I mean... fired on the spot, and sure everyone does stupid things at one time or another, but this one you could see coming from far. As I said, we all do some stupid things, but this one would certainly not happen to me or many others here, because we wouldn't ever give the locals the opportunity to even think about it. Sorry, but I can't think of any reasons other than 'let's make this look super-cool' to do what they did, and I tend to dislike ignorant people who do such things, as much as the ill-hearted people who take advantage of them. I don't think anyone here would be so harsh about lions or gazelles if the news were about lions eating up a baby gazelle, it's just how nature works. But the Maldivians, the couple, and us are supposed to belong to the same species and that reminds that we're still living in the Planet of the apes, which always makes me sad. Edited by mrwarper on 04 November 2010 at 5:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| egill Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5701 days ago 418 posts - 791 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 22 of 27 04 November 2010 at 9:30pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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The resort they were staying at is marketed at westerners, specifically for
renewing marriage vows. It's an all inclusive package sort of thing. They weren't trying to "look cool in front of their friends" but essentially go on a resort vacation, of which the renewal of marriage vows may or may not even have been the most important part. Therefore I don't think that the couple is unreasonable in expecting to not be abused in Dhivehi and certainly not ignorant. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5231 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 23 of 27 05 November 2010 at 3:04am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Please don't get me wrong. No one is unreasonable in expecting not to be verbally abused in general, but you'll have to concede that it's way more likely in some situations, like the one they put themselves in. The only wrong thing the couple did was to surround themselves with strangers to do something important for them speaking something they couldn't understand a bit of, just for the sake of it, and that I find completely unjustifiable. If you have the least insight of human nature and bother to put two and two together... they definitely should have seen at least that it could happen, even more so _because_ they were at a bubble-like resort as Iversen pointed out. Just one wrong thing, and it was enough. About the Maldivian swine... nuff said I guess. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6444 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 24 of 27 05 November 2010 at 3:26am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
No, that really doesn't have to be conceded. A resort aimed at what they did is not a place where abuse seems far more likely, regardless of language. One case of abuse doesn't say much - you can easily find examples of abusive officiators in monolingual marriage settings as well.
You find it unjustifiable. They apparently did not. You're free not to do it yourself, but why be so judgemental, especially while lacking almost any information about their actual reasons?
It could happen anywhere. "The least insight into human nature" should not come with an expectation of being abused in situations where such abuse is rather rare; that sort of pessimism is a recipe for disaster. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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