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Language intimacy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6393 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 1 of 37 30 April 2011 at 11:09am | IP Logged | ||
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I'd like to hear some experiences and comments regarding the "intimacy" of languages, that is, the connection
you get from people just by speaking the language. For example, a stranger coming to the US, speaking English (maybe with a noticeable accent), won't really face any special treatment. It's assumed that everyone, including foreigners, are able to speak English. In China, if you speak Mandarin, people will light up and happily chat with you (if you have a white face). There is a larger degree of intimacy. And if you come to the Guangdong province and speak some Cantonese, people will be extremely welcoming, in my experience. I like this phenomenon as I see it as the one advantage smaller languages have over bigger ones. Mandarin might be more "useful" than Cantonese, but the response you get from speaking Cantonese is warmer and more familial. I guess another factor influencing how intimate the language is would be the setting. If you're in a small rural village in Cambodia and encounter another person who also speaks English, there's sure to be some language intimacy. I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts and experiences. I'm especially interested in hearing about Esperanto and the colloquial Arabic languages, but any discussion on any language is of interest. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Declan1991 Tetraglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6250 days ago 233 posts - 359 votes Speaks: English*, German, Irish, French | Message 2 of 37 30 April 2011 at 12:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Certain older French are just delighted to speak French, you can see them light up when on holidays! Irish is in an odd sort of limbo in regards to this in Ireland, there's no surprise from native speakers when Irish people can speak Irish very well, but also a presumption that they'll hideously mangle the language.
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| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6281 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 3 of 37 30 April 2011 at 12:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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Meeting another Esperanto speaker is like meeting a friend you didn't know you had. I
believe that the phenomenon is particularly strong for Esperanto for three reasons: 1) It's a small language. 2) In a way, learning Esperanto says something about yourself, more so than learning e. g. Korean. People like meeting other Esperanto speakers because they assume tolerance & open-mindedness and suspect common interests such as foreign cultures, foreign languages, traveling, possibly also participation in one of the various subcultures that feed into Esperanto. Esperanto speakers are interesting people (if you're the type who'd learn Esperanto). Of course there are lots of interesting open-minded people who like studying foreign cultures and languages who never learn Esperanto, as this forum is proof, but looking for Esperanto speakers is a way to ensure that you'll meet almost nothing but such people. In a room full of random Esperanto speakers, I'd have several times as many interesting conversations than I would have in a room full of random English or French or Greek speakers. And the international meet-ups are just awesome because it will be several hundred random Esperanto speakers my age, making it even more likely we'll be on the same wave length. 3) The thing is, everyone in Guangdong can speak Cantonese every day, so there's nothing special about speaking the language, they might be more interested in speaking English with you. Outside possibly the World Esperanto Association's headquarters and the Bona Espero farm/school for the poor, I cannot think of anyone who'd be so surrounded by Esperanto that they'd become complacent about it. So people will be as interested in speaking Esperanto with you as you are in speaking Esperanto with them. Edited by Sprachprofi on 30 April 2011 at 12:31pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5770 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 37 30 April 2011 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | ||
I think this is a cultural difference. The response mentioned has very little to do with whether the person is really warmer or not. Updated for clarity. Edited by Snowflake on 30 April 2011 at 6:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5082 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 5 of 37 30 April 2011 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Swedish people were very delighted to see a foreigner that cares to learn their language. Majority of Austrians were the same, when I spoke German to them. Germans were positive also, but some people had this "speak perfect German or don't speak any German" attitude.
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| Phantom Kat Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4874 days ago 160 posts - 253 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Finnish | Message 7 of 37 30 April 2011 at 8:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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My mom always loved it, when we lived in central Texas, when she found someone who was white but was able to communicate with her in Spanish instead of her trying to make herself understood with her minimal English. Even if it was some high school student in a store that was using broken Spanish she was grateful and impressed. Though the person wasn't in Mexico there was definitely language intamacy in him knowing Spanish. A lot of the attitude my mom got when she asked, "Do you speak Spanish?" was the side-long look that said, "You're here in the United States. Learn English and don't expect us to learn Spanish to accommodate you."
- Kat Edited by Phantom Kat on 30 April 2011 at 8:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Humdereel Octoglot Groupie United States Joined 4789 days ago 90 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written), Turkish, Persian, Urdu Studies: Russian | Message 8 of 37 30 April 2011 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have experience using the Egyptian and Levantine (umbrella) dialects during my time in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. When I was just beginning to tap the dialects, I often used MSA to at least be understood and to read the media and other literature. When I spoke MSA, and I told them I wasn't a native speaker, most of the people were very interested and welcoming. It wasn't the everyday variant of communication, but they were gleeful for the fact that I tried learning some form of Arabic nonetheless.
As for the two dialects, they were further welcoming, since they thought it was rare for a foreigner to consider their variety as interesting as MSA. Overall, the language has offered me intimacy to great levels. Once in a while, though, there was a native speaker that either didn't seem impressed or preferred me to speak the "proper" (MSA) Arabic over the colloquial, or vice versa. This was very few, for me, however. Turkish speakers were also very welcoming when I was practicing their language, much like those who spoke Arabic. My samples for Persian and Urdu are small, but those few I've been able to speak with were quite welcoming as well. Edited by Humdereel on 30 April 2011 at 9:52pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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