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Is this rude? If so, what’s a better way? | ||
Tags: Language Banditry | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| TerryW Senior Member United States Joined 6356 days ago 370 posts - 783 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 9 of 12 06 April 2015 at 3:35am | IP Logged |
If you're "going like this," then yes, you're pretty much being rude. ;-)
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4443 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 10 of 12 06 April 2015 at 6:15am | IP Logged |
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In our local Chinatown, Westerners would often come up to Chinese people and say "I know how to say
Nihama" in Chinese. The other person assume you are just starting out and probably not very fluent. Unless you are practicing a language with people who are native speakers, I think it would be more appropriate to be open by telling them something like: "I hear that you are speaking French. I am learning the language myself". When you are more upfront with people then at least it would appear you're not eavesdropping intentionally. You can make them feel more at ease that somebody is interested in their language & culture. The other day I was in a long lineup to get into a new Japanese cake shop in town. Everybody wants to have a taste. In front of the line were 2 Chinese people talking to each other in Mandarin something like: "If we buy 2 different cakes, then we can split each in half so we can both try 2 different favours" sort of thing. I'm in an English speaking country. People have a tendency to speak English more softly because their conversations can be heard more easily. I was holding a book to read and pretended to mind my own business so that it wouldn't appear I was eavesdropping. On the other hand, these 2 were talking very loud. At the same time I was in a long lineup standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the people in front so I didn't need to get any closer to pick up what they're saying. Edited by shk00design on 06 April 2015 at 4:17pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4948 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 11 of 12 07 April 2015 at 8:13pm | IP Logged |
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I may be a voice of dissent here, but if you are on a subway, a bus, a shopping mall, standing in line, or at a restaurant, and I can HEAR your conversation from where I am standing, sitting, etc... then it is not a private conversation.
For privacy, speak really low, speak in some sort of special code, or talk privately in your home. It's not my fault if people are loud, or louder than normal because they think no one around them understands. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6596 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 12 of 12 07 April 2015 at 10:27pm | IP Logged |
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Use earphones so that people thought you're listening to something else. I often do this naturally while abroad, when I'm listening to music and then pause it to listen to a conversation.
Also, if you look at the people attentively, it can come across as creepy and objectifying, especially if you're a man looking at women like that. If you're enjoying the sound of the language, try not to show that too much. Even when there's no sexual undertone, this may still look like you're sitting back and entertaining yourself. This is a bigger deal with "exotic" languages and people. Or it may seem like you disapprove of them speaking their language in public/are paranoid that they're talking about you. This is especially true of low prestige languages. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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