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Most ridiculous prejudice about languages | ||
Tags: Discrimination | "Louche" Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5585 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 25 of 54 09 March 2010 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
hahahahaha I laughed so hard! That's priceless. I'm also sick of the "Jew" jokes kids have these days. They're not entertaining at all, They're actually appalling. High schoolers' morals (if there are any) I find disgusting. I expect I higher level of maturity from kids half their age. :D That's just me though -Jordan 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 26 of 54 09 March 2010 at 6:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
I only have to utter the word "Danish" in an Irish bar in Stockholm, and sure as day, one of my Swedish buddies will be sure to repeat this infamous sagely advice again. Naive to a fault, I even once tried to repeat a bit of Swedish with a hot baby potato in my mouth, just to see what speaking Danish would really sound like...the result was quite unintelligible I'm sure and I burnt my mouth too...oh silly me, what was I thinking eh?!
An absolute flippin' classic...and sadly so very true, especially from the Irish themselves. My patient Finnish friend was living in Japan and had to constantly explain to people, "no, I try to keep telling you, I'm from Lappeenranta not Lappland...and sorry, but I don't know Father Christmas or speak Elvish either." I also often wonder what the Chinese, Greek and Vietnamese say when they pick up something in a foreign language and have absolutely no idea what it says? Perhaps "it's all English to me!" ;) Edited by Teango on 09 March 2010 at 6:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5809 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 27 of 54 09 March 2010 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_to_me 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 28 of 54 09 March 2010 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks MäcØSŸ, what an excellent link...and what an amazing username too (this would have been a more than suitable name for my dysfunctional macbook last week)! :D
As most languages point to the complexity of Chinese languages, I think the Chinese must win hands down in this list here - it's all "a book from the heavens", "tongues of the birds", "Martian language" and "chicken intestines" to me...wow, the mind just boggles! Edited by Teango on 09 March 2010 at 7:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5924 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 29 of 54 09 March 2010 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I dislike, and disagree with the following prejudices about languages:
1. A general comment, often said about Russian/Arabic/Chinese/Japanese/Korean, is "That language is impossible for Westerners to learn well. It is just too different from English or other Western European languages, try a language you could actually learn to speak like Spanish or French" But I've also heard the following statement, which contradicts the previous one 2. "Americans who learn Spanish or Portuguese are lazy, those languages are too easy to learn and only uneducated immigrants speak them. Try a more challenging and useful language like French, German, or Arabic" 3. "Afrikaans is just like Dutch, only with misspelled words and no grammar. Besides, Dutch has more speakers." 4. "Everyone in (pick almost any country here, but most commonly said about western European nations) speaks excellent English nowadays; so you don't need to learn the local language because you'll never use it." 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 31 of 54 09 March 2010 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
You took that quote the wrong way bud. Just sayin. I was referring to that most people in the US I've heard respond like that was to the quote about English. The other quotes were far far less, but none-the-less still existant, and all occured at varying times and in varying situations. Mostly from party atmospheres, internet and one really horrible person I used to work with (who actually was promptly dismissed for some other comments he had made). Recent example, was at a party and met a very nice woman who happened to be visiting friends here, she was from Austria. We started having a conversation in German, and quite abruptly someone stated "What language is that?", we replied "German", their reply? "What are you? Nazis?" (I have removed an explitive from their quote) I by no means imply that everyone in the US is like this. I am as American as can be and supremely proud to be American. Though where I live I find that people generally become more bigoted, or at least more outspoken about it when they normally hide it, when they've had a few drinks. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5385 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 32 of 54 09 March 2010 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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To add on to Tombstone's comment, I do think that there's a long divide between "stubbornly monolingual" and "actively xenophobic." I think a lot of people in the U.S. don't care to learn other languages because, well, they feel like it's too big a draw on their time and energy. And if they don't want to travel outside the U.S., Canada, and touristy parts of Western Europe (which is very, very big and diverse selection) they can usually get away with it. Plenty of people are irritated at the amount of Spanish being spoken in the U.S. now, but it's mostly only that: irritation.
As a person with an interest in languages, I find it a bit sad, but they somehow manage to run the world's largest economy with this handicap, so it can't be the most crippling obstacle ever. I do feel that it is kind of a fun game on international forums to beat up on Americans for our largely monolingual status. Americans actually tend to be the worst perpetrators, using their fellow citizens as a foil to show off how *different* and *worldly* they are compared to their countrymen. And hey, I'm always a fan of self-deprecating humor, so it's no big deal. But hearing it like a broken record gets old. Besides, there are plenty of monolinguals out there beyond American shores. They don't seem to catch nearly the same amount of criticism for it. Politics being what they are, that isn't surprising. But to paint 300,000,000 people with any label--especially a derogatory one--is folly. Especially since the U.S.'s status as a nation of immigrants makes it one of the most diverse places on the planet, so long as you're willing to look beyond the facade of Joe Six Pack and the white-picket-fence suburban dream. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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