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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 1 of 18 07 November 2010 at 12:36am | IP Logged | ||
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Have you ever wanted to learn a language, started to look into it, and found some resentment or resistance from
speakers? This has happened only a few times to me in my life, but it always surprises me. I’d like to hear if others have had this same experience, what languages were involved, and what the reasoning of the target language speakers was. Just to clarify, I’m not talking about resistance from non target language friends/relatives/coworkers who are against language leaning in general, and I’m not talking about your parents refusing to teach you their native tongue. I’m talking about speakers of the target language who don’t seem to want you joining their ranks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 2 of 18 07 November 2010 at 1:18am | IP Logged | ||
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It's never happened to me, but for which languages have you experienced this?
EDIT: Well, on second thought I may have experienced a form of this. I've had native speakers of some languages (Russian is the only one that comes to mind) that have asked why I would bother learning it, because it's such a difficult language. Not quite the same, but still. Edited by ellasevia on 07 November 2010 at 1:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6660 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 3 of 18 07 November 2010 at 1:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I have tried speaking Mandarin to native speakers who told me to give up, that I will never ever be able to speak Mandarin.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 4 of 18 07 November 2010 at 2:26am | IP Logged | ||
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Hebrew seems to be the the one offering most consistent resistance. The polite version is an explanation about how
difficult it is, and how limited it's usefulness is. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5273 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 5 of 18 07 November 2010 at 3:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Any language is going to have a group who is resistant to help an outsider. These situations could easily happen with any language. It's near impossible to find an Arabic speaker period. The only Arabic speaker I know can only speak dialect and it's probably impossible to find an Arabic speaker who'll speak MSA with you anyway. I can sympathize with those in this predicament.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5174 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 6 of 18 07 November 2010 at 10:18am | IP Logged | ||
Agreed. There are always natives who dislike trying to speak with foreigners because of the strong accent, frequent mistakes, etc. Since seriously trying to learn foreign languages, as a young adult it has made me respectful of the effort involved and I strain to listen and understand. I think some cultures consider it an intrusion - we are trying to improve or perfect our knowledge of their language and ways and it somehow makes them feel we're spying on them! I certainly have had this feeling from some people I have met. Also there is the xenophobic issue, every country has people who hate all foreigners or specifically hate your culture, so, if they are not legally allowed to let you know directly, they are going to be subtlely hostile to you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tally Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Israel Joined 5609 days ago 135 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English*, Modern Hebrew* Studies: French | Message 7 of 18 07 November 2010 at 2:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Well you might say that about any language which is spoken by the same amount of people, Swedish for example. Anyway, don't let that discourage you from learning something. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tyr Senior Member Sweden Joined 5783 days ago 316 posts - 384 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 8 of 18 07 November 2010 at 4:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose you get this with those European languages where their few speakers tend to speak awesome English. The Scandinavians and Dutch. From many there's a big "Why on earth are you bothering to learn this? Lets just speak English".
1 person has voted this message useful |
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