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Ungrateful Natives | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Kubelek Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland chomikuj.pl/Kuba_wal Joined 6639 days ago 415 posts - 528 votes  Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 41 of 139 11 February 2010 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I was taught that Poles and Romanians naturally pronounce Latin the best (I'm not talking about the lenght of a sound, that has to be learned). That means that I need to defend this position, and be an enemy of Latin speakers of all other nations. Latin is still the language of war-loving people apparently. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5456 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 42 of 139 11 February 2010 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I see there are two parts behind the mentality: 1: Slovak has very few native speakers (around 5 million) and the number of foreigners that speak it is tiny. Therefore, Slovaks are not used to hearing foreigners speak their language, and so have not had time to become accustomed to it. 2: Slovak has a pretty complicated grammar. When children are in school they are drilled endlessly on the grammar, and mocked for making mistakes. For a Slovak adult to make mistakes then, is a sign of somebody very uneducated. As a foreigner you are bound to make plenty of mistakes, which to you see trivial, but to some Slovaks will be evidence that you are stupid. When you come across Slovaks who have more exposure to the world outside their country, they will have a better appreciation for the hurdle you face in learning their language, and will not be so harsh to ridicule you. Keep plugging away at it, and as you get better you will find that ridicule turns to respect. Few foreigners master Slovak, and when you do people will say to you constantly "Wow - your Slovak is really good!". You will have proven to them that the language is indeed crackable even by "stupid foreigners". 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Loopy Newbie United States Joined 5498 days ago 37 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 43 of 139 11 February 2010 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I thought only us native English speakers made fun of people attempting our language! :D
My only experience was in Germany and Austria, and they were more than willing to suffer through my broken German with a rural Midwest accent. 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 5343 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 44 of 139 11 February 2010 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I agree that the title for this thread may be unintentionally misleading. Simply take a quick look at the wording...
"ungrateful" - just type this into Google and see what words and negative phrases commonly attach afterwards... "natives" - this is what it warns at the end of my dictionary: "in other contexts, it has an old-fashioned feel and, because of being closely associated with a colonial European outlook on nonwhite peoples living in remote places, it may cause offense." So I guess when you rub these two together, although not intended and meaning well, sparks might fly... I think Iversen hits the nail right on the head here when he says "there are unfriendly people in every society, and they don't need an excuse for being rude". My heart goes out to any poor unfortunate learners out there that are forced to endure heavy negative feedback whilst studying; language learning should be a fun, positive and enriching experience. Special kudos to kyssäkaali for getting there with Finnish in the end, it makes your achievment that much more amazing! So my 2 cents for today is just to keep away from these "bad apples" and let any unwarranted or unconstructive criticism float back downstream, and come back here to the forum where most of us love to hear that you're learning Finnish or Slovak or even Chukchi and where there are plenty of friendly native speakers and ancient language aficionados keen to spur you on to fluency! :) Edited by Teango on 11 February 2010 at 4:02pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| kmart Senior Member Australia Joined 5911 days ago 194 posts - 400 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 45 of 139 12 February 2010 at 11:10pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The best example of the anglophone attitude to other languages that I've heard was from a friend of mine. We were discussing a suggestion in the media that people in service industries in a part of Australia that is very popular with Japanese tourists, should consider learning Japanese. My friend's response was "why should they? If the Japanese want to visit here, they should learn English". Only a few minutes later, when the conversation had veered toward my praise of the excellent standard of English one meets with in Europe, his response was "Well, why shouldn't they? If they want the English-speaking tourists to come to their country they should make it easy for them to communicate." 11 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| LaFee Triglot Newbie Slovakia Joined 5196 days ago 1 posts - 3 votes Speaks: Czech, Slovak*, English Studies: German | Message 46 of 139 13 February 2010 at 1:20am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'm really sorry to hear this... :/ I think it's possible they were not trying to humiliate you but they were laughting on 'distorted' words and sentences because Slovaks are not used to hear their language used incorrectly and to some rude ones this can be a source of fun. My opinion is that in Slovakia very depends who you meet. Some people can be very rude, some are accommodating - accros social classes. I hope you haven't been discouraged from the slovak language after it. ;)
I absolutely agree with this.
I have never heard the opinion that foreigners who don't speak slovak properly are stupid... it sounds like an opinion from some pub. It is true that better educated people care about proper use of language and doubt about those who don't but this can't be applied to foreigners who just learn... And as for my experience with native speakers - my mistakes were tolerated. Edited by LaFee on 13 February 2010 at 1:38am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5539 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish | Message 47 of 139 13 February 2010 at 1:26am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Once, in a night club in Vegas I asked a couple of beautiful Chinese girls for a smoke in Mandarin (I was a little tipsy dieing for some nicotine, and thought they would be impressed, right?). They both giggled and walked away. :(
It was either my accent or they just weren't into me. (probably a combination of both) Other than that I've never had too many problems. Brazilians always seem to be interested in helping me out with my Portuguese Edited by JasonBourne on 13 February 2010 at 1:30am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| zorglub Pentaglot Senior Member France Joined 6787 days ago 441 posts - 504 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Turkish, Mandarin | Message 48 of 139 13 February 2010 at 2:29am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've been told a few times that when trying to speak french in some Flemish speakin g
ares, some people were rude unless you make it clear you 're french or at least not Belgian. Sad social tensions.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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