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Tristano’s log 2015 [EN|FR|NL|RU|ES] | ||
Tags: Lithuanian | Burn-out | Dutch | Portuguese | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Russian | English | French | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| albysky Triglot Senior Member Italy lang-8.com/1108796Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4188 days ago 287 posts - 393 votes  Speaks: Italian*, English, German | Message 57 of 177 02 February 2015 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't swear a lot in Italian , even less so in English . I feel more inhibited when I speak a foreign language
in this regard. I don't think that swearing in English is more impolite than in Italian , it certainly depends on the people you are with . Nice the restaurant scene , I would have liked to be there :-) Edited by albysky on 02 February 2015 at 7:54pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5528 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 58 of 177 02 February 2015 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||
I think many foreigners face this issue. English is so widespread that swearwords are known by most people, it's not always the case with other languages. I have to admit that it makes me cringe sometimes to hear foreigners speaking a too slangy version of English (it doesn't necessarily mean vulgarities). I don't know what it sounds like to native spakers' ears, though. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 3847 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 59 of 177 03 February 2015 at 11:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Ja, the last two days I made my effort but I caught myself to swear in the middle of a
sentence where no emotions were involved. It's just a bad habit, it will take a while to revert. Most of my colleagues speak the same way, and most of them don't swear a lot in their native languages. My friend told me about a british colleague that came here and was shocked by the way the people was speaking, even people with high professional positions, and he needed a while to get used to it. I also noticed that when I speak unemotionally I have a much better pronunciation and better grammar than where I speak emotionally. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 3847 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 60 of 177 03 February 2015 at 8:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just finished my very first conversation in Spanish (also my first out of 20 hours in the Italki challenge).
It has been successful! We spoke about a lot of different topics and I didn't have problems to express myself, only occasionally I looked up some words in the sentences I was formulating in my mind when the teacher was talking. In the end he told me that he's very surprised because my level is 'muy muy muy bueno' and generally people needs much more then my 2 months to reach this level. In particular he told me that I understood perfectly what he told me and that me answer were immediate and I was very comfortable and laid back during the whole session. My first action point is to study the verbal tenses in order to be able to use them consciously. Then I saw that I often wasn't sure whether to use ser or estar, por and para, mucho and muy. Very very very encouraging first session. I can feel a certain self-esteem boost. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4090 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 61 of 177 03 February 2015 at 9:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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As a native Anglophone, I can say that saying "shít" and "f_ck" on a regular basis,
especialy in a workplace enviornment, is usually considered completely unacceptable. I would not be surprised if it could be grounds for some sort of suspension in ANglophone countries, especially in front of superiors. Even on television it is strict, in the UK and Canada it is less strict, you can say some things on informal television like "shít" that I have heard a few times on Canadian and British televisio. In the USA, though, they are much more puritanical against cursing. Even "damn" is bleeped, not to mention "shít" and "f*ck", which are completely censored n American television. That is why some even have to resort to "gosh-darn" instead of "goddamned". Also as a native speaker, it just sounds bad when non-natives swear excessively. It sounds like they learnt swear words more than the real language and are using them out of place. It would be like if I kept saying, "Tabernacle!" in Québec, "Godverdomme" every 5 minutes in the Netherlands, "¡Ay Joder, hombre, coño!" in Spain, "Maldito carajo, ay boludo eh" in Argentina all the time, all as a non-native. It sounds silly and uneducated, and I would say that this is taken much more seriously in Anglophone countries than others (especially USA). There was a time I remeber few years ago in university (in the UK) I was in the university canteen with some friends, mostly British native Anglophones, and two Romanian immigrant students. It was a bit quiet since it was not rush hour/busy time for food, but he blurted out to us, "Shít, mate, I am f_cking tired!" and we immedaitely received a bunch of looks from the staff and other students. My other friend had to whisper to him, "Mate, what are you doing? Tone it down!" Amongst close friends is different of course... I would not say to stop swearing just to make you sound "morally better" or anything like that, I swear quite a bit myself, the closer the friend the more I swear. But in public, as in, like when there are other strangers around, I quit completely. In a workplace, I would recommend never. Imagine if I worked in a major petrochemical, pharmaceutrical, or technological company, and one day during a team meeting with a team leader in the room, and all present, I came in and said, "Aw shit, good f_cking morning, how the f*ck is everyone?" even in a playful way, I would be waiting for the human resources person to approach me after the meeting and tell me to clear out my workplace cubicle of my stuff and to vacate the premises immediately. So not to stop swearing, just to know when to do it and when not, because many Anglophones are much more sensitive to swearing than other cultures. I am an exception though, when strangers are not present, I really do not care too much. Edited by 1e4e6 on 03 February 2015 at 11:05pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| redflag Senior Member Australia Joined 3642 days ago 123 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Indonesian, French | Message 62 of 177 03 February 2015 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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In my workplace, swearing is completely acceptable amongst ourselves including with and
in front of superiors. That's unusual though. I'm used to it now if I went to work somewhere else I would probably have a hard time more strongly policing my language. If an English learner used the occasional "Bloody hell!" in Australia it would endear them to us, we would love it, but that would be a culturally specific thing I guess. I like to say the French swear words I pick up on Engrenages to myself, but I wouldn't use them in my Alliance Francaise class or indeed in France unless it was obviously the right content for a joke. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s.mann Groupie United States lang-8.com/973514/jo Joined 3438 days ago 55 posts - 76 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 63 of 177 04 February 2015 at 12:36am | IP Logged | ||
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As one of those puritanical Americans referenced above, I have to agree with 1e4e6, the cursing at
work sounds completely rude. My mental picture of an office with bunch of accented English peppered with curse words seems completely bizarre. Our biggest cultural export is movies, but I'm not so sure it's a good way to learn about the culture. For what it's worth, it's only network TV that has those rules about cursing, and they let up at night, past the typical child's bedtime. Roseanne had to move the broadcast time to 9pm to get to be the first to say "bîtch" on TV for instance. If you think that's bad, try watching a movie on Indian satellite TV if you want to see the bleeding edge of censorship. As an office worker who works with friends who I could curse with at a bar, it is acceptable to curse privately if frustrated at work, but certainly not to use the "all-purpose" f**k throughout daily tasks and conversations. It's not even really a daily event in my circle of friends, as they are at minimum university-educated and would use a wider variety of words or phrases for emphasis or insult. Curse words are "shock" words and should be used as such, IMO. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5528 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 64 of 177 04 February 2015 at 8:55am | IP Logged | ||
Great point and I think it applies to all languages. When we speak a different language we are entering a new world. A world of different taboos, do's and don'ts, cultural references and we all should tread carefully. And swearwords come with an extra emotional baggage so we should be sensitive to that. I'm not saying "don't swear ever", because some people can do it with great style and imagination, just know the right time and place. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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