Getting people not to speak English (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Getting people not to speak English
Tags: Language Banditry \| Convincing native speakers \| Immersion \| Swedish \| Learning Technique/Method \| Accent \| English \| German \| French \| Spanish
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

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QiuJP
Triglot
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Singapore
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Message 145 of 169

07 December 2010 at 8:44pm | IP Logged

I realized that if you are an Asian travelling in Europe, most people are still only
willing to talk to you in English. This is because there are simply too many other Asians
that speak only English to foreigners in Europe (they only know basic English learnt in
their school)!

I avoided that by perfecting my pronunciation in the target language. If all else fails,
they can try Mandarin or Russian with me. Most people are either do not speak these two
languages or very reluctant to speak them.
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Darklight1216
Diglot
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United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: English*, French
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Message 146 of 169

11 December 2010 at 7:52am | IP Logged

So Europeans will speak English to Caucausians and Asians, but what about African Americans (or perhaps African would be the assumption)?

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Budz
Octoglot
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Australia
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Message 147 of 169

13 December 2010 at 12:29am | IP Logged

Could it in fact all come down to accent? I've travelled a heap and for Romania and Bulgaria I spent a few months learning Romanian and Bulgarian... and I never had this problem that everyone is talking about. Similarly in Germany. Though my German is pretty good. Ditto for Ukraine and Russia but my Ukrainian and Russian aren't so good... but it's possible that my fluidity give the impression that they are.

Oh, and during a month in China I also didn't have any of these problems. In fact, at Beijing University I decided to help some girl who was practising her English out in the campus somewhere, to herself... but when I went over to her to offer help... she basically insisted on talking to me only in Chinese.

Sometimes I wonder whether it's the 'where'. Perhaps if you go to Germany and stay in some big hotel and hang around the tourist areas you'll almost have to speak English - ditto for China, but as soon as you're in normal suburbs this just doesn't happen. Well, not to me.

KingM wrote:

I used to have this problem when I started learning Spanish. Almost nobody will do this, however, when your ability in their language exceeds their ability in yours. The trick early on might be to work on your accent to give the illusion of superior language skills.

Of course, this must be trickier with a language like Dutch or Swedish where so many people speak English fluently. Traveling in Mexico or Central America there are many people--plenty of them educated--who speak very little English. They are usually pleased to have a real conversation with a foreigner.

Edited by Budz on 13 December 2010 at 12:30am
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Budz
Octoglot
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Australia
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Message 148 of 169

13 December 2010 at 12:34am | IP Logged

That's absolutely brilliant!!!!!!! and hilarious.

slymie wrote:

Once you get better at speaking the language people stop doing this automatically. I'm at a disadvantage being in China with a white face as people will just expect you to speak English, but I've found the easiest way to get them off the idea if they persist is to engage then in a conversation about politics, current events, or anything their limited vocabulary won't see them through. You can even do it at a fast food place.

i.e.

Me (in mandarin) "Can I have the pork bone soup and two steamed buns."
Them (in broken English) "oklay sir, you wan soup and 2 bun. for here or go?"
Me (still in mandarin) "oh right, I was wondering does the oil you use in the pork bone soup contain trans fat? I'm trying to avoid them.Also what kind of meat and vegetables are in the steamed buns, do they contain genetically modified products?"
Them ".......... "

for a language this is not possible with, I would recommend greeting their English with a smile, and politely say (in their language) "I'm sorry, I don't speak French"

I actually got this the other way around, when I first started learning and a lady responded to my mandarin with "I'm sorry, I don't speak Shanghainese" it worked against me, so now I use it the other way! :)

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Budz
Octoglot
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Australia
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Message 149 of 169

13 December 2010 at 12:39am | IP Logged

This is weird as on airlines you just know that the staff either only speak English or if they do speak the language of the airline they will definitely speak English as well. Yet even on any of the Chinese airlines, on a flight from Australia, if I speak Chinese they always switch to Chinese.

Unfortunately it puts the pressure on you a bit, as you know they speak English, and they know that you know they speak English, so if you miss what they say and have to ask them to repeat what they said... you're in trouble ;)

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QiuJP
Triglot
Senior Member
Singapore
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Speaks: Mandarin*, English^C2, French
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Message 150 of 169

13 December 2010 at 7:11am | IP Logged

Darklight1216 wrote:

So Europeans will speak English to Caucausians and Asians, but
what about African Americans (or perhaps African would be the assumption)?

English or French. There is 50% chance that an African comes from a Francophone country.
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Iversen
Super Polyglot
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Message 151 of 169

13 December 2010 at 1:13pm | IP Logged

Well, not quite 50% - the really population-heavy countries in Afrika are 'Anglophone' (Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa). And in Angola and Moçambique the preferred colonial language is Portuguese.
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Darklight1216
Diglot
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United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German

Message 152 of 169

14 December 2010 at 1:44am | IP Logged

QiuJP wrote:

English or French. There is 50% chance that an African comes from a Francophone country.

Good to know.

Iversen wrote:

Well, not quite 50% - the really population-heavy countries in Afrika are 'Anglophone' (Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa). And in Angola and Moçambique the preferred colonial language is Portuguese.

All right... so English, French, or Portugese. Maybe if I just keep speaking French they will play along.

Edited by Darklight1216 on 14 December 2010 at 1:45am

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