Does it bother you when people speak their native language?

[Gemma]

ziiiiiiiiing!

But obviously you can't.

 

[Qonfused]

I like listening to French people laugh over Ventrilo. It's hilarious.

<3 your avatar

 

[VirusType2]

Do you have to insult everyone you ever come into contact with, Nuri?

He's Scottish, what do you expect?

Pittsburgh. CMU.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone speak Chinese besides on TV. Is there any explanation for why half of your class in Pittsburgh speaks Chinese? I guess this is a foreign language class?

Furthermore, it's impossible to tell one's religion just by looking at them (minus yarmulkes and religious headscarves). There are Muslim whites, brown Christians, and black Jews.

And that's why some people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

The only real alternative would be to ask someone what religion they align themselves with before wishing them a happy insert-religious-holiday-here. And to me, that seems far, far more offensive.

Another reason why some people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

By all means, say Merry Christmas to your Christian friends and family.

What's stupid is religious people taking offense to others wishing them a good religious holiday that they don't specifically partake in. If someone says "Happy Channukah" to me even though I'm not Jewish, why should I be mad at all? They didn't say "Have a shitty day". They are being nice.

Personally, if someone wishes me a holiday greeting, I say it back to them, no matter which one it is.

 

[Stigmata]

Agreed on all counts. I just think that people who get pissed off when they're wished a happy-holiday-they-don't-partake-in are idiots

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Don't mind. But some languages sound more beautiful than others.

People speaking mandarin from Northern China sounds excellent.
French sounds excellent.
Love German.
Don't really like Vietnamese.
Cantonese sounds great when sung.
Arabic....err..nah.
Hindi is pretty cool
I love Japanese

Can't think of others i hear on a regular basis around Sydney.

 

[Tyguy]

But obviously you can't.

what's with the 'tude? You on your period?

 

[flamingdts]

Don't mind. But some languages sound more beautiful than others.

People speaking mandarin from Northern China sounds excellent.
French sounds excellent.
Love German.
Don't really like Vietnamese.
Cantonese sounds great when sung.
Arabic....err..nah.
Hindi is pretty cool
I love Japanese

Can't think of others i hear on a regular basis around Sydney.

This guy has the right idea.

Personally, my favourite is the old traditional mandarin. They pronounce their words very sharply and strongly, and when they speak poetically it's very very pleasant to hear, though it's usually the woman that I enjoy hearing more. However, people who can speak perfect mandarin will always have a problem speaking english and vice versa because of their tongue movement when pronouncing word.

 

[Gemma]

what's with the 'tude? You on your period?

Pssh...I'm always like this. |:

EDIT: And if you say that again I'll break your legs.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

what's with the 'tude? You on your period?

She's a tweenage girl. Would you expect anything more from her?

 

[nurizeko]

I absolutely hate it when other Hong Kong-nese pretend they don't understand cantonese.

Does it occur to you that not every Asian person is Chinese and not all people of Chinese origin bothered to learn a language of little to absolute no use in their third generation life in an English speaking country?.

Your basically insulting someone for speaking their own language - ENGLISH. Yes thats right, language isn't dependant on skin colour, who woulda thought. That goes for culture to, just because your Asian doesn't mean that your favorate food of all time is raw squid or rice or whatever highly primitive attitude your peddling.


That's a horrid attitude, shame on you sir....

Do you have to insult everyone you ever come into contact with, Nuri?

Nope, just bad people.

I guess they need girlfriends.

In Soviet Russia girlfriend needs you!

I like listening to French people laugh over Ventrilo. It's hilarious.

French people raging over xbox live. Priceless.

He's Scottish, what do you expect?

ICWUDT

But actually the Scottish stereotype is taking exception to anything and everything, Scots aren't famous for insulting people.

 

[VirusType2]

ICWUDT

But actually the Scottish stereotype is taking exception to anything and everything, Scots aren't famous for insulting people.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060908135302AAuHcsl

Many lol's were had

 

[G(ordon)-man]

Ah, living history. I'de be more bothered by your alarmingly primitive attitude towards your neighbours but lets be honest, Russians aren't nice people in general, and that whole invading you and absorbing Estonia into the USSR was a tad unfair.

Yeah, well you didn't have do live in a period where bread and milk was luxury and KGB officers could drag you grandfather to a death camp and kill him because he once talked with a former Nazi.

 

[Azner]

It makes me lol when they try to speak my native languange.

Other than that its ok.

 

[Remus]

It only bothers me when it's a store employee who can't understand basic english. I get the whole "english is hard to lean" notion but if you are going to be in situations where dialogue is an integral part of the job then ****ing learn in.

Same here. If they are tourists passing through or just speaking with friends/family it's fine. However if they are on the job, especially jobs that require talking to costumers, well then ****ing learn the official language of the country your living and working in, damn it.

 

[Jintor]

I think it's very important that people speak their native language, whether it's around people of different nationality or not.

I'm a canadian born Hong Kong-nese (Born in Hong Kong when it was still Britain's "property") myself, and have studied in an international school. I absolutely hate it when other Hong Kong-nese pretend they don't understand cantonese. They speak to store clerks in English, they pretend they don't understand cantonese when spoken to in cantonese, and the worse thing is they don't know how important it is to be more versatile in life.

If you grew up learning english more than your native language, it is vital that you communciate in your own native language amongst your friends so that you don't fall behind. In my opinion, it's embarassing if you can't speak your own language properly. Too bad there are still parents nowadays that raise their child up to speak a different language than their own native tongue. These kids often believe themselves to be of a different nationality just because they can't speak their own.

I understand it when my friends communciate in their own language. They're proud of it. I think it's abnormal if a person of a particular nationality choose to never communicate in their own mother tongue.

I hate you with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

 

[<RJMC>]

french is anoying, is like they have food in theyr mouth

 

[Sulkdodds]

There's actually been a discussion like this before and I made a really long post about it that time, so I hope nobody minds if I just dig that up and repost.

Hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae;
Arborei foetus alibi, atque injussa virescunt
Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores,
India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabaei?
At Chalybes nudi ferrum, virosaque Pontus
Castorea, Eliadum palmas Epirus equarum?
Continuo has leges aeternaque foedera certis
Imposit Natura locis... (1) - Virg
_________________________________________________​

There is no Place in the Town which I so much love to frequent as the Royal Exchange. It gives me a secret Satisfaction, and, in some measure, gratifies my Vanity, as I am an Englishman, to see so rich an Assembly of Country-men and Foreigners consulting together upon the private Business of Mankind, and making this Metropolis a kind of Emporium for the whole Earth. I must confess I look upon High-Change to be a great Council, in which all considerable Nations have their Representatives. Factors in the Trading World are what Ambassadors are in the Pollitick World; they negotiate Affairs, conclude Treaties, and maintain a good Correspondence between those wealthy Socities of Men that are divided from one another by Seas and Oceans, or live on the different Extremities of a Continent. I have often been pleased to hear Disputes adjusted between an Inhabitant of Japan and an Alderman of London, or to see a Subject of the Great Mogul entering into a League with one of the Czar of Muscovy. I am infinitely delighted in mixing with these several Ministers of Commerce, as they are distinguished by their different Walks and different Languages: Sometimes I am justled among a Body of Armenians: Sometimes I am lost in a Crowd of Jews; and somtimes make one in a Groupe of Dutch-men. I am a Dane, Swede, or Frenchman at different times, or rather fancy my self like the old Philosopher (2), who upon being asked what Country-man he was, repied, That he was a Citizen of the World.

Though I very frequently visit this busie Multitude of People, I am known to no Body there but my Friend Sir ANDREW who often smiles upon me as he sees me bustling in the Croud, but at the same time connives at my Presence without taking any further Notice of me. There is indeed a Merchant of Egypt, who just kows me by sight, having formerly remitted me some Mony to Grand Cairo; but as I am not versed in the Modern Coptick, our Conferences go no further than a Bow and a Grimace.

This grand Scene of Business gives me an infite Variety of solid and substantial Entertainments. As I am a great Lover of Mankind, my Heart naturally overflows with Pleasure at the Sight of a prosperous and happy Multitude, insomuch that at many public Solemnities I cannot forbear expressing my Joy with Tears that have stolen down my Cheeks. For this Reason I am wonderfully delighted to see such a Body of Men thriving in their own private Fortunes, and at the same tiem promoting the Publick Stock; or in other Words, raising Estates for their own Families, by bringing into their Country whatever is wanting, and carrying out of it whatever is superfluous.

Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her Blessings among the different Regions of the World, with an Eye to this mutual Intercourse and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the several Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance upon one another, and be united together by their common Interest. Almost every Degree produces something peculiar to it. The Food often grows in one Country, and the Sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are corrected by the Products of Barbadoes: The Infusion of a China Plant sweetnd with the Pith of an Indian Cane: The Philippick Islands give a Flavour to our European Bowls. The single Dress of a Woman of Quality is often the Product of an Hundred Climates. The Muff and the Fan come together from the different Ends of the Earth. The Scarf is sent from the Torrid Zone, and the Tippet from beneath the Pole. The Brocade Petticoat rises out of the Mines of Peru, and the Diamond Necklace out of the Bowels of Indostan. And, as I have heard Dr JOHNSON will soon show, terms Philosophickall come to us out of the Greek, communicated by the Romans, and finally through the French, there to mingle with words brought back from the furthest Americas.

If we consider our own Country in its natural Prospect, without any of the Benefits and Advantages of Commerce and Communication, what a barren uncomfortable Spot of Earth falls to our Share! Natural Historians tell us, that no Fruit grows originally among us, besides Hips and Haws, Acorns and Pig Nutts, with other Delicacies of the like Nature; That our climate of it self, and without the Assistances of Art, can make no further Advances towards a Plumb than to a Sloe, and carries an Apple to no greater a Perfection than a Crab: That our Melons, our Peaches, our Figs, our Apricots, and Cherries, are Strangers among us, imported in different Ages, and naturalized in our English Gardens; and that they would all degenerate and fall away into the Trash of our own Country, if they were wholly neglected by the Planter, and left to the Mercy of our Sun and Soil. Nor has Traffick more enriched our Vegetable World, than it has improved the whole Face of Nature among us. Our Ships are laden with the Harvest of every Climate: Our Tables are stored with Spices, and Oils, and Wines: Our Rooms are filled with Pyramids of China, and adorned with the Worksmanship of Japan: Our Morning's-Draught comes to us from the remotest corners of the Earth: We repair our Bodies by the Drugs of America, and repose our selves under Indian Canopies. My friend Sir ANDREW calls the Vineyards of France our Gardens: the Spice-Islands our Hot-Beds; the Persians our Silk-Weavers, the Poles our Builders, and the Chinese our Potters. Nature indeed furnishes us with bare Necessaries of Life, but Traffick gives us a great Variety of what is Useful, and at the same time supplies us with every thing that is Convenient and Ornamental. Nor is it the least Part of our Happiness that whilst we enjoy the remotest Products of the North and Soth, we are free from those Extremities of Weather which give them Birth; that our Eyes are refreshed with the green Fields of Britain, and at the same time that our Palates feasted with Fruits that rise between the Tropicks, that we may eat in the houses of the Chinese or Thai-Men, the Delicatessens of the Polish and the Italian. just as our Ears enjoy that great variety of Voices which are redolent of all wideness and Difference of all the great things of the Earth.

For these Reasons there are not more useful Members in a Commonwealth than Merchants. They knit Mankind together in a mutual Intercourse of good Offices, distribute the Gifts of Nature, find Work for the Poor, add Wealth to the Rich, and Magnificence to the Great. Our English Merchant converts the Tin of his own Country into Gold, and exchanges his Wool for Rubies. The Mahometans are cloathed in our British Manufacture, in which they go peacefully around our Cities, and the Inhabitants of the Frozen Zone warmed with the Fleeces of our Sheep.

When I have been upon the 'Change, I have often fancied one of our old Kings standing in Person, where he is represented in Effigy, and looking down upon the wealthy Concourse of People with which that Place is every Day filled. In this Case, how would he be surprized to hear all the Languages of Europe spoken in this little Spot of his former Dominions, and to see so many private Men, who in his Time would have been the Vassals of some powerful Baron, Negotiating like Princes for greater Sums of Mony than were formerly to be met with in the Royal Treasury! Trade, without enlarging the British Territories, has given us a kind of additional Empire: It has multiplied the Number of the Rich, made our Landed Estates infinitely more Valuable than they were formerly, and added to them an Accession of other Estates as valuable as the Lands themselves. For on the 'Change though all these figures speak a variety of tongues, they are also in congress in a common Language, that is, the lilting tongue of Commerce, and by extension the universal Currency of Mankind.

Sulkdodds, Saturday, May 19, 1711
The Spectator (No. 69)


(1). "Here corn, there grapes spring more luxuriantly; elsewhere young trees shoot up, and grasses unbidden. See you not, how Tmolus sends us saffron fragrands, India her ivory, the soft Sabaeans their frankincense; but the naked Chalybes give us iron, Pontus the strong-smelling beaver's oil, and Epirus the Olympian victories of her mares? From the first, Nature laid these laws and eternal covenants on certain lands."
(2). Diogenes

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Same here. If they are tourists passing through or just speaking with friends/family it's fine. However if they are on the job, especially jobs that require talking to costumers, well then ****ing learn the official language of the country your living and working in, damn it.

What's to say there aren't tryin got learn it. Learning a new language is not something you do overnight. It's takes a long time to get to the standard of a native speaker. Just because they can't speak your lingo instantly doesn't mean there are not trying.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Woah Milkdudds slow your roll there Mr. Encyclopedia F*cking Britannica.

 

[Eejit]

Bravo Mister Dudds, that was positively bully. A fine example of clear and educated writing that all right-minded men of worth might do well to emulate more often.


Oh and while reading this I remembered a dream I had last night where I found a huge hardback Flashman omnibus the size of an encyclopaedia in a bookshop.

 

[Remus]

What's to say there aren't tryin got learn it.

My point is they shouldn't be hired until they learn it, period.

 

[flamingdts]

I hate you with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

Aww, why would that be?

Please do express your concerns with my post so that we may exchange humble opinions in a civilized and understandable manner.

 

[SimpleAssassin]

If they are talking to their friends or family whatever and i dont know them i dont give a shit, langauges have always interested me and ill just have a listen.

 

[Azner]

English is hard to lean?

Go speak Gaelic you irish -beep-!

 

[The Monkey]

No, most of the non-native languages here are either English or German and neither of those are foreign to me.

 

[Phobie]

I live in a very Indian populated area, and there are a few languages that get chucked about. It doesn't bother me, they don't speak to me in it, they all speak English.

I am also guilty of speaking in a different language in public if on the phone etc, I hope it doesn't bother people D:

 

[AJ Rimmer]

No, most of the non-native languages here are either English or German and neither of those are foreign to me.

German? Really?

 

[CyberPitz]

I was never bothered, because wtf do I care?

Also, the 5 that said yes can burn in hell.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

The polling question was regarding people speaking it among other speakers, not whether they tried to speak it to you, right? It would never bother me if I were to overhear it, and chances are they can speak my language better than I can speak theirs, so bravo for their efforts.

 

[Shamrock]

The polling question was regarding people speaking it among other speakers, not whether they tried to speak it to you, right? It would never bother me if I were to overhear it, and chances are they can speak my language better than I can speak theirs, so bravo for their efforts.

Then my answer should be a never. I'm not bothered when it's amongst themselves, but to me in my place of business is completely different.

Make that a 4 for always and a..... however many there are for never.

 

[Rico]

Then my answer should be a never. I'm not bothered when it's amongst themselves, but to me in my place of business is completely different.

Make that a 4 for always and a..... however many there are for never.

The US has no official language. You are no more speaking the "correct" language than they are.

The US is made up of a collection of immigrants who used to speak different languages. This whole "immigrants are not welcome here" attitude I see people vomit in the US sickens me, especially because *I* am an immigrant, who has worked his ass off to live in the US legally.

I KNOW why people come here ilegally... it's because of hatemongers that spout of garbage like that, that make legal immigration more and more difficult to the point of it being easier/better to come here illegally than to try and do it the right way. Illegal immigrants get better treatment from the goverment than I do. They get healthcare, social security, they don't get taxed... Why in the world would you want to be a legal immigrant in the US?

For a country made up of immigrants this place sure is ****ing full of hypocrites.

The US is NOTHING without immigrants. I look around the engineering department here and all I see are legal immigrants. Hispanic, African, Middle Eastern... from everywhere except America. The school of business on the other hand, is crawling with "Americans".

So go ahead, continue on your blind hate towards immigrants. I hope that one day people realize how ignorant this view of the world is. Maybe you should consider learning spanish or another "foreign language" rather than tell other people how to live their life. If your boss is too stupid to realize they shouldn't hire people who can't communicate, that's not their fault.

Let them do what they want, what do you care?

 

[powell]

Never, why would you call us Americans out like this?

I do find it slightly irritating when about 5-6 Hispanics are around me talking in very fast Spanish, but it doesn't bother me.

 

[flamingdts]

Does it occur to you that not every Asian person is Chinese and not all people of Chinese origin bothered to learn a language of little to absolute no use in their third generation life in an English speaking country?.

Your basically insulting someone for speaking their own language - ENGLISH. Yes thats right, language isn't dependant on skin colour, who woulda thought. That goes for culture to, just because your Asian doesn't mean that your favorate food of all time is raw squid or rice or whatever highly primitive attitude your peddling.


That's a horrid attitude, shame on you sir....

What?
Have you lost your mind?
Of course not every Asian person is Chinese, I never said that. We have indians, koreans, Japanese etc. Where did you get the idea that I assumed all Asians were Chinese. I'm pretty much a Chinese myself and that is a huge insult on every Asian........

By the way, you are completely wrong. It is vital that a person at least knows the basics of their native language, because in the world we're living in, whether you accept it or not, slight prejudice still occurs within our economic society.

You're putting words in my mouth sir, not very nice. Of course I don't think all Asians need to enjoy raw squid or whatever. In fact, it's mostly the Koreans and Japanese that enjoy those food. I believe that everyone should at least know their own native language, because in the society we live in it is absolutely vital to be versatile. You should know by now that companies tend to hire employees of their own nationality, especially in this economy, so working in a foreign country is not always a good idea. In fact, it is beneficial for a person working in their home country to know both their native language and another language (mostly English).

Bottomline is, no matter where you're born, how you're raised or who raised you. You are who you are. Don't tell me just because you're born in England and raised in England means you can go around telling all your friends and relatives you're English. If people can tell you're Asian, then you're Asian. You don't need to be fluent in your own language, you need to know it.

 

[Remus]

Bottomline is, no matter where you're born, how you're raised or who raised you. You are who you are. Don't tell me just because you're born in England and raised in England means you can go around telling all your friends and relatives you're English. If people can tell you're Asian, then you're Asian. You don't need to be fluent in your own language, you need to know it.

Going by that logic no one in the United States is "American" for example.
Also I really don't get why you "have to" learn a language that really isn't your own since you weren't born there. Here's an example:
Say your grate grand parents moved from country A to country B, and you would be the third generation in country B. Would you really be bothered to learn your "native" language.

 

[Danimal]

It only really bothers me if I'm having a conversation with someone, I say something to them, then they just turn to their friend and comment on it in a different language.

Other than that, no dramaz.

 

[flamingdts]

Going by that logic no one in the United States is "American" for example.
Also I really don't get why you "have to" learn a language that really isn't your own since you weren't born there. Here's an example:
Say your grate grand parents moved from country A to country B, and you would be the third generation in country B. Would you really be bothered to learn your "native" language.

Going by my logic, you are absolutely correct, the Americans in United States are in fact not true Americans, I completely agree with you.

Yes it is still important to know your native language no matter what. Here is an example:
Your great great parents moved to England, and every generation after continued living in England. Once you're born, you learn English all your life, and you're better than most native English Speakers yourself. Culturally, you're more English than a native English person. However, racially, you are still your own country's. You will not be seen as English and you will not be treated as one. Racial segregation is and will always be around us, and you're only losing out in life if you can't speak your own native language (You can't work in your own native country). We all know that our ethnicity play a great factor in determining whether we get that job or not.

My point is, it is vital and important for a person to know their native language. We "bother" to learn these because of the tough economic society in life. Don't think for a second that just because you and your grandparents were born and raised in a foreign country makes you any different racially. Plus, everyone should be proud of their own ethnicity and culture, which is why I abhor some of my friends who speak English to a cantonese store clerk (the clerk has trouble understanding english) when they know cantonese perfectly well.

 

[Jintor]

Aww, why would that be?

Please do express your concerns with my post so that we may exchange humble opinions in a civilized and understandable manner.

It's mainly the nationality stuff. Just because my parents are Malaysian/Chinese doesn't make me Malaysian/Chinese. I'm Australian. You implied that somehow it was wrong for me to consider myself Australian.

 

[Sulkdodds]

So basically flaming what you are saying is that "you should do what it takes to get ahead in life and be socially adept" and then wrapping it up some pseudo-nationalist silliness.

 

[flamingdts]

So basically flaming what you are saying is that "you should do what it takes to get ahead in life and be socially adept" and then wrapping it up some pseudo-nationalist silliness.

Yes and No. I don't consider recognizing your own ethnicity a type of pseudo-nationalist sillinest, of course our opinions may differ. In fact, the getting ahead in life is basically a nice little package that comes along with knowing your own native language as well as a foreign language.

It's mainly the nationality stuff. Just because my parents are Malaysian/Chinese doesn't make me Malaysian/Chinese. I'm Australian. You implied that somehow it was wrong for me to consider myself Australian.

I apologize if I offended you, I should've elabourated. I don't consider it "wrong" to consider yourself Austrailian, but I consider it wrong if you don't recognize yourself as Malaysian/Chinese. My humble opinion of course, but get where I'm going?

 

[Eejit]

I generally judge people's nationality based on their accent. It's not entirely foolproof, tone-deaf people are crap at picking up new ones.