Most ridiculous prejudice about languages (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Most ridiculous prejudice about languages
Tags: Discrimination \| "Louche" Languages
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54 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next >>

ManicGenius
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5481 days ago
288 posts - 420 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese

Message 33 of 54

09 March 2010 at 10:16pm | IP Logged

robsolete wrote:

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.

Gah... this is getting ugly. Can this thread please get back on topic? It was interesting and funny with the comments about Danish being like Swedish with a hotpotato in your mouth (or something along that line).

Edited by ManicGenius on 09 March 2010 at 10:18pm
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Hello
Diglot
Groupie
Canada
Joined 5420 days ago
40 posts - 45 votes
Speaks: French*, English
Studies: Spanish

Message 34 of 54

09 March 2010 at 10:48pm | IP Logged

My Spanish teacher once told me that Cubans spoke Spanish like they had a hot potatto in their mouth too, but I never went there so I can't tell.
1 person has voted this message useful

Guido
Super Polyglot
Senior Member
ArgentinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6528 days ago
286 posts - 582 votes

Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Norwegian, Catalan, Dutch, Swedish, Danish
Studies: Russian, Indonesian, Romanian, Polish, Icelandic

Message 35 of 54

09 March 2010 at 11:57pm | IP Logged

People here usually think that Italian sounds like this.

An Chinese (among others) like this

Blunderstein wrote:

"Danish is like Swedish spoken with a hot potato in your mouth".

. Danish owns

Edited by Guido on 10 March 2010 at 12:24am
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ruskivyetr
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5481 days ago
769 posts - 962 votes

Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish, Russian, Polish, Modern Hebrew

Message 36 of 54

10 March 2010 at 12:40am | IP Logged

mick33 wrote:

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."

One of the most untrue things I have ever heard. Too many times I have met a German,
Swiss, Austrian, or French person who did not speak English. Most of the times I spoke
German with them (except for the French, I do not speak French so it was more like sign
language). The surprising fact is, not many people in German speaking countries or in
French speaking areas are multilingual. You meet the occasional German with great
English, but for that one German, there are ten more who don't.
3 persons have voted this message useful

Volte
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
Joined 6439 days ago
4474 posts - 6726 votes

Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian
Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese

Message 37 of 54

10 March 2010 at 4:25am | IP Logged

ruskivyetr wrote:

mick33 wrote:

It really depends which circles you're in. Young technical people tend to speak amazing English (to the extent that it seems almost routine for events with over 50 people to switch to English if one person who doesn't speak German is there); the general population doesn't. Your ten to one ratio seems about right.

1 person has voted this message useful

irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6050 days ago
669 posts - 1023 votes

2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

Message 38 of 54

10 March 2010 at 4:46am | IP Logged

When (natives who speak X) speak, it sounds like they are (cultural stereotype about people who speak X).
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drowssap
Newbie
United States
Joined 5401 days ago
9 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*

Message 39 of 54

10 March 2010 at 5:00am | IP Logged

There was this one time when a Korean called me a "traitor" when he found out I was learning Japanese.
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ManicGenius
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5481 days ago
288 posts - 420 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese

Message 40 of 54

10 March 2010 at 5:05am | IP Logged

drowssap wrote:

There was this one time when a Korean called me a "traitor" when he
found out I was learning Japanese.

It's because of the occupation before and during the war.

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