Should people try to speak the language of the land when visiting?

by JH 24 Replies latest jw friends

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  Scully

  On the other hand we have some people immigrating to Australia who have lived her for decades and still not learnt to speak English. I find that frustrating. I admit this is a minority group however.

  It isn't a minority here, that's for sure.

  It's very frustrating trying to provide care/service for someone who doesn't understand what you're saying and vice versa. We actually have a pictorial chart so that patients who speak neither English nor French can point out to us what they want. But it sure makes for a very difficult time trying to assess the patient's social supports and emotional resources. We don't have any pictorials for "are you being abused at home?" and sadly sometimes it's fairly obvious that it's happening, but unless we can overcome the language barrier, we can't really have a meaningful exchange with them to help them remedy that. They're usually just thankful that they're in Canada.
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  JH

  Scully, that's very interesting what you posted.

  I'm sure many Quebecers don't even know that French people would be served in their language in Ontario.

  Too many people here generalize about other provinces not providing services in French.

  Now with the parti Quebecois having a new leader, that's all you hear of here....Sovereignty...I'm fed up.
• 

  Narkissos

  This has to be unfair...

  If you speak English you rarely need to speak anything else. If you speak French you have to know at least some English.

  What I find most frustrating (from a French standpoint) is having to speak English in Italy, for instance. Most of the time my "intuitive Italian" works but not always...
• 

  fairchild

  No I don't think that people should learn the language of a certain country if they are only going to visit for a few days. It would be a waste of time, and once they're back home, chances are they'd never speak that language again and end up forgetting it completely.

  However, when someone moves to a different country, it is rude not to learn the language of that country. I know a woman from Germany who has lived in the US for over 40 years and she still does not speak English. That is ridiculous. It is also inconvenient for herself and for the people around her.

  When you live in a country where more than one language is spoken, I have noticed that some will make effort to learn both languages, while others refuse.. I used to live in Belgium where people speak French and Flemish. My estimate is that only 20% of the Flemish people spoke French and only 10% of the French people spoke Flemish. Speaking of inconvenient..
• 

  Why Georgia

  My next door neighbors are from Portugal and have lived here for 40+ years. Aside from Hi & Bye they don't speak any English to us...when they have tried to speak to us....ARrrggh! I almost have to break out in interpretive dance to get them to understand.

  On the other hand, we have a bunch of Cambodians down the road who speak better English than a lot of people who have been born in the USA.

  WG
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  defd

  I think if you are just VISITING as your topic says, NO I dont feel someone should know the language. If someone MOVES in and becomes members of society, then yes.

  D.
• 

  Mysterious

  JH, all government services in Canada are required to be provided bilingually, and since health care in Canada is provided through the government it would be included. The closer you are to Quebec the more likely you can get service in French, the west coast it is of course far less likely because it is far less necessary. In fact on the west coast it'd probably be more beneficial to provide service in Mandarin or Punjabi.

  I had a ball helping to translate for an exchange student for a day while I was in high school. She of course came over on exchange knowing very little English. Though there were immersion students far more qualified to translate than me no one else was willing to go out on a limb and embarass themselves. She seemed very relieved that someone could at least give her a rudimentary understanding of the project instructions the teacher was spouting at everyone. She came to our language class later on and we all tried to have a conversation with her. Quite often we understood her questions but were not sure of how to answer her properly in her language. It was still a very interesting experience.

  I've always had quite a fascination with linguistics and to be sure any time I went to another country I would make sure to learn the local language as much as possible even if I was there for just a short time. Unfortunately there is not much opportunity around here to practice my french and I fear it's only a matter of time until I lose a lot of it.

  Interestingly enough with linguistics not everyone is created equal. Only a small percentage of the population can learn to speak without an accent after reaching puberty (they were often highly sought out as spies especially during the cold war era when most of this research was being conducted for its military application). Similary a likewise very small percentage after puberty finds nearly or entirely impossible to pattern their brain to function in another language at all. Most people fall somewhere in the middle range though.
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  SWALKER

  When I was trying to learn a little Spanish before travelling to Mexico, both my sons told me to stop! (While laughing hysterically and rolling on floor!) Both my sons took Spanish in school and can understand it better than speak it...but they seemed to speak enough for us to get by on when we were in Mx. I can get my point across in any language however! (My sons tell me that speaking louder doesn't make them understand me anymore than before...but they do know that I want something!!! Ha!) I wish we didn't have the language barrier...it's hard enough to understand different accents!!! (Southern verses Northern)

  Swalker
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  Navigator

  I was stationed in Germany with the USAF for three years and made a considerable effort to learn German. The Germans in my area generally spoke French in addition to German as that area was controlled by France between WWI and WWII and there were few English speakers. I found that Germans generally appreciated it if you attempted to speak their language and would let you know quickly if their English was better than your German. And it generally was! I usually attended a German protestant church as the sermons were always in good German without a lot of local dialect.
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  theinfamousone

  AWESOME THREAD... i always have that debate with my anglo saxon friends here in ontario... they believe that everyone should speak english and their defense is not that it is a national language, because they know i would say, then we better speak french... their defense is that english is the most wide spread language in the world!!! BS! actually english is not number one, its nmot even number 2.... but thats not the point, i am bilingual but have noticed that when someone is at least courteous about asking if they speak some english, the clerks in stores or so are more than willing to try... instead the white folk tend to walk in, noses high in the air saying things like "these people better speak english here, or i wont buy anything..." its ridiculous and unfair, and to be honest, ITS DOWNRIGHT RUDE!!! be polite, cuz im agine a french person trying to speak to you in french in your retail store... by the way, i do it all the time here in ontario, go into a store and speak french to the clerks... ITS HILARIOUS!!

  the infamous one