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Ungrateful Natives

 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
139 messages over 18 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 12 ... 17 18 Next >>
Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5140 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 89 of 139
14 March 2010 at 10:44pm | IP Logged 
nissimb wrote:
Yes, in my case, the Japanese. Although I would not call them
"ungrateful", as nobody made fun of my mistakes when I was in studying in Japan and
spoke Japanese with them. They were just unappreciative and disinterested. I always felt
that their attitude was like "you are interested in Japan and have studied Japanese, so
what?". I had really wonderful experiences with Koreans and Indonesians, even though my
knowledge of Korean and Indonesian was (and still is) pathetic.

That's funny -- I went to Japan twice and had the exact opposite experience. They all
seemed to have a much better impression of my ability than I myself had. Not only that,
but I specifically explained that I was there to practice the language and they all
respected my request and made great efforts to help me.
1 person has voted this message useful



Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5140 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 90 of 139
14 March 2010 at 10:45pm | IP Logged 
rlf1810 wrote:
Hello all,

I'm wondering how many of you have problems with natives of your target language being
ungrateful of your efforts.

Since I've been in Slovakia, I've had numerous people make fun of and otherwise
ridicule my mistakes, no matter their seriousness. I really didn't expect such a harsh
reception and it is somewhat discouraging.

How do you deal with these types of people?

-Robert

How do you express your gratitude towards people who study your language?
3 persons have voted this message useful



Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5140 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 91 of 139
14 March 2010 at 11:56pm | IP Logged 
When I was 15, my family and I went to Paris. My first language is French; I'm Québécois.
My interest for languages was just developing at the time. While shopping in Les Galeries
Lafayette, I spotted a lady with an Assimil plastic bag. I really wanted to know where I
could find such a store so I went up to her to ask.

You know what she answered?

"Pourquoi, vous voulez apprendre le français?" [Why, you want to learn French?]

It would have been hard to find a more insulting reply, but hey, life is life.
1 person has voted this message useful



kyssäkaali
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5312 days ago

203 posts - 376 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish

 
 Message 92 of 139
15 March 2010 at 1:01am | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
rlf1810 wrote:
Hello all,

I'm wondering how many of you have problems with natives of your target language being
ungrateful of your efforts.

Since I've been in Slovakia, I've had numerous people make fun of and otherwise
ridicule my mistakes, no matter their seriousness. I really didn't expect such a harsh
reception and it is somewhat discouraging.

How do you deal with these types of people?

-Robert

How do you express your gratitude towards people who study your language?


I don't think that's what people are asking for here at all. I wouldn't start learning a language thinking that its native speakers would worship the ground I walked on because of it. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I myself am not asking for gratitude or praise, but to be treated like a human being and not an outsider because "har-dee-har he made a mistake worse than a child would make in my language." Not that this has ever happened to me, but I have reading comprehension skills and can understand what other people are talking about here. Did you even read the thread?
2 persons have voted this message useful



stout
Senior Member
Ireland
Joined 5130 days ago

108 posts - 140 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 93 of 139
15 March 2010 at 1:13am | IP Logged 
My experiences with French people has been variable.I can recall two experiences one
negative,one positive.My negative experience was in Paris CDG airport.A French woman had asked me in French for directions.I explained in slow,but reasonable French the
directions she wanted to go to.

Then she asked a me question which I did not understand.Then I asked in French to
repeat the question.Then she made a pretty nasty remark in English that "You do not
understand".I was tempted to argue with her but I then I remembered the saying
"Never argue with an idiot".Then I just said "Au reviour madame" and left her go.

My positive experience was with another French woman who was a post office clerk.
I was a sending registered letter to my home in Ireland.I said In French that I wanted
to register my letter and send it to Ireland,she asked me a couple of questions in French which I understood alright.Then she asked me another question in French and this time I did not understood what she said.Then I asked her in French to repeat what
what she said.

The postal clerk then switched to English,but her manner,unlike the woman in the airport was sympathetic and understanding.I know I do not like being spoken to in English by French people,but I knew buy her manner that she was being helpful and we finished our postal transaction.Then I said in French to her "Quelquefois je peux debrouille en francais,quelquefois pas(sometimes I can manage in French,sometimes not).

Then I asked her in French were she learned her English.The postal clerk had informed me that she had spent a while in England and that she had been going to English evening classes for many years in her local area.Then we said "Au revoir"to each other and went our separate ways.

So they are the two sides to France.So it's not always negative.The French are not all surly.You can have your fair share of surly British,Irish and Americans too.


1 person has voted this message useful



tritone
Senior Member
United States
reflectionsinpo
Joined 5879 days ago

246 posts - 385 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, French

 
 Message 94 of 139
15 March 2010 at 3:07am | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
When I was 15, my family and I went to Paris. My first language is French; I'm Québécois.
My interest for languages was just developing at the time. While shopping in Les Galeries
Lafayette, I spotted a lady with an Assimil plastic bag. I really wanted to know where I
could find such a store so I went up to her to ask.

You know what she answered?

"Pourquoi, vous voulez apprendre le français?" [Why, you want to learn French?]

It would have been hard to find a more insulting reply, but hey, life is life.


LOL.

I have been one of those rude people before, simply because I wasn't familiar with their accent and assumed it to be non-native. Actually a lot of English speaking foreigners here get asked, "where did you learn English"? and things like that.

I had trouble understanding a lady I used to work with, and one day out of curiousity I asked her "What's your native language?". To my suprise and embarrasment, she replied "English! I'm Guyanese!"








1 person has voted this message useful



elvisrules
Tetraglot
Senior Member
BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5228 days ago

286 posts - 390 votes 
Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish
Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German

 
 Message 95 of 139
15 March 2010 at 4:47am | IP Logged 
A Flemish aquaintance of mine has been replied to in English by locals in the Netherlands on several occasions when speaking Dutch there.
1 person has voted this message useful



roy2005
Diglot
Groupie
Hong Kong
Joined 6309 days ago

70 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: Cantonese*, English
Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, German

 
 Message 96 of 139
15 March 2010 at 11:56am | IP Logged 
Perhaps the question should be worded as something like:

"Have you ever had unpleasant experience when you speak your target language with
native speakers, like being responded to with ridicule or extreme impatience? How do
you deal with this?"

The title might be something like "Reactions from native speakers".

I'm tired of people keeping replying "How grateful do you want the natives to be?" or
"Why do they have to be grateful simply for your effort to learn their language?"
This is not what the OP is really asking.



Edited by roy2005 on 15 March 2010 at 12:06pm



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