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Language show off experience | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Qbe Tetraglot Senior Member United States joewright.org/var Joined 7135 days ago 289 posts - 335 votes  Speaks: English*, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Japanese, German, Mandarin, Aramaic | Message 17 of 54 04 August 2005 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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My understanding too is that the "Japanese speaker" in the initial post was being a showoff; it's human nature to want to put a showoff in his place. This can be done by making yourself MORE of a showoff, which is not a good thing. However, you can also take this as an opportunity to practice your own language skills on the purported expert: maybe you'll get a chance to practice a language, or maybe (if his skills aren't up to par) he'll be motivated to improve.
Barry Farber speaks of American pride in knowing even a few phrases of another language. Some may use that knowledge to show off. On the other hand, even gaining a few phrases is really empowering. A year ago when I had completed only 5 or 6 lessons of Pimsleur Japanese I really, really wanted to go out, find a Japanese person and speak the few phrases I knew. But I knew that I'd make a fool of myself when I couldn't understand anything I'd hear in return. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7092 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 18 of 54 04 August 2005 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
In my experience, these are the same guys who will use highbrow words to try and make you feel inferior during a conversation. Corporate America is full of verbal one-upmanship, sometimes its fun, sometimes its annoying, but when an arrogant show-off is really in your face it is nice to humble him. Edited by Farley on 04 August 2005 at 10:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7181 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 19 of 54 05 August 2005 at 7:16am | IP Logged | ||
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To show off don't you need others to be envious of you in some way? I think even if you only know a few phrases in a language from a few lessons of Pimsleur you should try to use them on a native speaker. Otherwise someday you may forget them and at the end of the day everyone must start somewhere.
My Chinese is poor, but I will still try, try and try again, despite being constantly humbled. At the momment I get humbled all the time when I try to speak to some of my spoilt Chinese students, on their study holiday in England. They will mock my lack of comprehension or mock my slow deliberate way of speaking or even at times use bad words. However, no doubt my colleagues might think i'm showing off. I'm not, though there is still some pride in being able to communicate (even poorly) in a difficult language. If other people recognise this then so be it. Surely if you set out to learn Japanese to humble this man who is a show off with a very large ego, you merely let your own ego get in the way and become the arrogant show off yourself? On the other hand, I do think while showing off shouldn't be a major motivation for learning a language it sure is a great reward to communicate and gain the fascination of others for your academic ability. As a monolingual being myself, I am still in awe of people with the ability to speak two or more languages. And, that's part of the reason I want to learn languages myself. Learning a language is difficult and so, people should have some respect for the dedication and discipline needed. There's a status in it. For example the person here who speaks the most languages Ardaicher?! Seems the most eminent and respected, many ways. However, learning a language doesn't mean your superior or more intelligent then another. Does it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jradetzky Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom geocities.com/jradet Joined 7207 days ago 521 posts - 485 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, GermanB1 | Message 20 of 54 05 August 2005 at 9:46am | IP Logged | ||
I used to think that speaking several languages was a signal of high intelligence and superiority and that it was closely associated with professional success. Then, after visiting Switzerland and meeting "ordinary" people who spoke many languages my point of view started to change. Finally, after getting home and realising that most of the successful people here are monolingual I just dropped that idea. Being a polyglot is only a skill just like computer programming or ball juggling. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| arnz Newbie United States Joined 7205 days ago 38 posts - 44 votes | Message 21 of 54 05 August 2005 at 10:53am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with everything you said jradetzky, but ball juggling ? Come now, speaking several languages certainly merits higher than that...now if you said dart throwing after several pints of beer, well....haha
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| vincenthychow Tetraglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 7104 days ago 136 posts - 145 votes Speaks: Cantonese, English, GermanB1, Japanese Studies: French | Message 22 of 54 05 August 2005 at 12:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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jradetzky,
Yes, being able to use different kinds of programming languages may be as difficult as being able to speak many languages. I am an idiot in Computer programming. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Shusaku Senior Member United States Joined 7100 days ago 145 posts - 157 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese | Message 23 of 54 05 August 2005 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | ||
I hope you're joking :) Once you have enough experience with programming languages, you can easily pick up new ones within a matter of days. Maybe not total mastery, but certainly enough to understand existing code as well as write some of your own. Learning a spoken language on the other hand takes significantly more effort, even for those with lots of experience. Back to the original topic: I'm willing to bet that the person showing off probably just learned something new and was eager to find someone to share it with. I seriously doubt he is very fluent and I don't really see any reason to try to get back at him. Personally I'd just nod my head and say "That's pretty interesting!" and leave it at that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KingM Triglot Senior Member michaelwallaceauthor Joined 7191 days ago 275 posts - 300 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Russian | Message 24 of 54 05 August 2005 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Having a computer science background myself, I concur with Shusaku. There's a pretty steep learning curve underlying computer logic. Once you've got that down, it's all semantics. Not that it's easy, but it doesn't require the sustained effort over years that language learning does.
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