# Do you feel uncomfortable with a foreign speaking your language?



## dreampeppers99 (Jan 23, 2013)

I went to San Francisco with my basic (going to poor) level of spoken English and I felt very good, people were very patient and gentle.

In the other hand I was in vacation then I visited a "spanish" speaker country (I won't say it, because it can sound very specific but I don't think this reflects the whole country) with my better spoken spanish and I felt that the people were laughing at me because my mistakes and my accent.

Anyway, I tried to keep my mind open and I tried to remember some foreign speaking my native language but I didn't it was funny, I just remember somebody trying very hard to communicate which is good.

Do you feel uncomfortable (or think it is fun) with a foreign speaking your language?


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## Yepi69 (Jan 23, 2013)

Actually yeah, but I do tend to correct them on some words just to help them


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## Par39 (Jan 23, 2013)

A bit yeah, since Finnish has letters like Ä and Ö, which are not used in all the other languages. Also the amount of letters in words can make a huge difference (tuli means fire, while tuuli is wind, and kukka means flower, when kuka means who) so sometimes it's really hard to understand what they're trying to say. Finnish is a rather difficult of a language in other aspects too.


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## chris888222 (Jan 23, 2013)

Not to be racist or offensive, but I do feel quite surprised and a bit uncomfortable when a black or indian speaks Chinese. 
Unless they have Chinese parents or relatives that is.


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## pyromaniac123 (Jan 23, 2013)

dreampeppers99 said:


> I went to San Francisco with my basic (going to poor) level of spoken English and I felt very good, people were very patient and gentle.
> 
> In the other hand I was in vacation then I visited a "spanish" speaker country (I won't say it, because it can sound very specific but I don't think this reflects the whole country) with my better spoken spanish and I felt that the people were laughing at me because my mistakes and my accent.
> 
> ...


 
Only when I have an ak47 pointing in my face and the person is calling me an infidel.


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## Issac (Jan 23, 2013)

Nooo, I find it utterly charming when people try to speak Swedish  (Unless it's people who have lived here for 30+ years and still can't speak, then I think they're kinda rude)... But a girl I know, speaks really good Swedish, although only living here for 2 years.. Sure it has some Russian accent, but it's just cute.


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## Arras (Jan 23, 2013)

Honestly people speaking a foreign language in my country makes me somewhat uncomfortable (very slightly though), but I don't have any problems with foreigners speaking my language. Hell, one of our neighbors is a foreigner.


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## DinohScene (Jan 23, 2013)

I'm used to it.

African, Middle eastern, English, American, Scandinavian, Eastern European.
I've heard them all speak me language.
It's pretty funny sometimes but I can't be bothered with it.
Mainly because I prefer english above me own.


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 23, 2013)

And the funniest this is they guys who did make fun of me, they just know how to speak Spanish!

When I see a Germany dude trying to speak Brazilian Portuguese I think: "Man, I wish I could speak Germany as this guys does in pt_BR"


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## Minox (Jan 23, 2013)

I do not mind it one bit.

I think it's absolutely lovely if someone has taken the time and effort to learn the language. Sure, mistakes may be made but instead of making fun of them it's much nicer to try to help people improve upon their language skills.


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## Twiffles (Jan 23, 2013)

I enjoy when people broaden their horizons by learning other languages, really.

Though, I learned four languages just so I can harass people that think they can hide behind their native languages to bad talk someone while in front of them.


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## Yepi69 (Jan 23, 2013)

Arras said:


> Honestly people speaking a foreign language in my country makes me somewhat uncomfortable (very slightly though), but I don't have any problems with foreigners speaking my language. Hell, one of our neighbors is a foreigner.


I'm learning dutch because I'm going to live to netherlands again, such a great great country.


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## chavosaur (Jan 23, 2013)

I find it to be adorable when foreign girls try to put into words what they're trying to say. Had a friend from Germany, and she kept trying to translate what she wanted to say, but couldn't, so I kept laughing at her and making her mad XP
And I find accents sexy  Russian and German ones to be specific.


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## dickfour (Jan 23, 2013)

America is a nation of immigrants. I worked in retail for years and every day I came into contact with people that didn't speak the king's English well at all. Helping people out with broken English was just a part of every day life. If I spent time making fun of the way people spoke. I wouldn't have had time to get my job done.


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## Depravo (Jan 23, 2013)

I don't find it uncomfortable or amusing in the least. If anything I find it slightly humbling as I don't speak anything other than my native language. Unfortunately in the UK learning foreign languages isn't taken as seriously as it is in other countries. The attitude seems to be 'Meh, Johnny Foreigner is learning English so fuck it.'


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## Hells Malice (Jan 23, 2013)

I have issues with some foreign accents/pronunciation, but only because my hearing is fairly bad and so it's just plain hard for me to understand people sometimes.
Not really sure what you'd call the accent >.> but the indians around here have a pretty thick accent I just can NOT understand.
But in contrast there are times with thick Eastern Canadian accents (very stereotypical Canadian speech patterns...), I can't understand a god damn thing they're saying either...and i'm Canadian. But i'm far enough west that I barely -ever- hear steretypical Canadians.

But otherwise i'm usually fine, and even quite enjoy foreign accents. My girlfriend sounds pretty cute with her accent when we talk.
Even if foreign people can't pronounce every word properly I can generally understand exactly what they meant, it's not too hard.


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## BORTZ (Jan 23, 2013)

...no? If I see that, i try to help them though the difficult swamp of the English language. Cause its nuts.


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## dickfour (Jan 23, 2013)

Uncomfortable? My grandparents spoke shit English and I had no idea how to speak in their native tongue.


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## sliver123 (Jan 23, 2013)

Lol some people in my country in italy are too perfect with language, i am also italian but if i make only one little mistake they become very angry


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## science (Jan 23, 2013)

Issac said:


> Nooo, I find it utterly charming when people try to speak Swedish  (Unless it's people who have lived here for 30+ years and still can't speak, then I think they're kinda rude)... But a girl I know, speaks really good Swedish, although only living here for 2 years.. Sure it has some Russian accent, but it's just cute.


 
Sounds like someone has a crush!


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## Deleted User (Jan 23, 2013)

Yepi69 said:


> I'm learning dutch because I'm going to live to netherlands again, such a great great country.


yay for dutch  =D


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## Issac (Jan 23, 2013)

science said:


> Sounds like someone has a crush!


Shut up!!! I don't have a crush!!!! :3 hah


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 23, 2013)

One thing that I must admit it is one fact:

When you are in a party outside of your country, your accent can help !


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## Nah3DS (Jan 23, 2013)

I doesn't bother me at all. I won't ever make fun of someone trying to speak in another language, because I know how difficult it is.

I hope that it didn't happen in Argentina... but it wouldn't surprise me. Sadly, most people here are dicks... specially in Bs. As.
Btw... I'm not a dick, I'm a nice person  (and I don't live in Bs. As.  )


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## Yepi69 (Jan 23, 2013)

riyaz said:


> yay for dutch  =D


beste land ooit 


dreampeppers99 said:


> One thing that I must admit it is one fact:
> 
> When you are in a party outside of your country, your accent can help !


Thank god we Portuguese understand you


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 23, 2013)

NahuelDS said:


> I hope that it didn't happen in Argentina... but it wouldn't surprise me. Sadly, most people here are dicks... specially in Bs.


It was not on ARG ;D but man it is the third time an Argentine tells me that!


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## Nah3DS (Jan 23, 2013)

dreampeppers99 said:


> It was not on ARG ;D but man it is the third time an Argentine tells me that!


maybe because it's true
in fact, I'm starting to believe that the "BS" doesn't stand for "Buenos"


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 23, 2013)

Yepi69 said:


> beste land ooit
> 
> Thank god we Portuguese understand you


We can understand each other BUT it is a bit more complicate than
EN_uk *VS* EN_us


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## HiroshiYamauchi (Jan 23, 2013)

Yeah, that's true. Sometimes it's hard to understand what a fellow Portuguese is saying.

I work for a big international oil company, so it's like a babel tower, you have to talk or try to talk in so many languages on a single day that we don't even have time to feel unconfortable.


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## science (Jan 24, 2013)

Issac said:


> Shut up!!! I don't have a crush!!!! :3 hah


 
Hey, I feel ya man. I'm dating a Russian girl, so I got your back. The key to their heart? Potatoes (ka-torsh-kee).


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## chavosaur (Jan 24, 2013)

science said:


> Hey, I feel ya man. I'm dating a Russian girl, so I got your back. The key to their heart? Potatoes (ka-torsh-kee).


Oh my god i just laughed so hard at this because the German chick from back in texas LOVED potatoes XD


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## Deleted member 318366 (Jan 24, 2013)

Russian girls are so hot.


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## Issac (Jan 24, 2013)

science said:


> Hey, I feel ya man. I'm dating a Russian girl, so I got your back. The key to their heart? Potatoes (ka-torsh-kee).


Well, I think my chances for success would increase if I wasn't me. And, yeah, maybe she likes potatoes... she's vegetarian 

HOWEVER, I got to say some African people talking Swedish is quite hard to understand, because they often have a very different tempo on their pronunciation, along with an overall weird pronunciation.


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## Shinigami357 (Jan 24, 2013)

We get foreigners here speaking Filipino quite often, even if it's just the token 'Salamat po' [thank you] and other basic stuff [usually if a singer/band/musician is in the country for a concert]. There are a number of foreigners who do speak the language really well, albeit with an accent [those people are usually the ones who stay/live here, though].

Most Filipinos think that the accents are 'cute', anyway, so I guess nothing wrong there. I've heard the opinion that it's a rather hard language to master, though, so kudos to anyone who can learn it as a second language, really.


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## Pong20302000 (Jan 24, 2013)

*Do you feel uncomfortable with a foreign speaking your language?*

nope
im glad someone went out of there way to at least try

lol a Heavily British Accent speaking Japanese makes you sound like an Old Samurai


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## The Real Jdbye (Jan 24, 2013)

Arras said:


> Honestly people speaking a foreign language in my country makes me somewhat uncomfortable (very slightly though), but I don't have any problems with foreigners speaking my language. Hell, one of our neighbors is a foreigner.


Same, except for me foreigners speaking my language is annoying at times when I don't understand them, or they don't understand me.


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## pwsincd (Jan 24, 2013)

I dont really come into contact with many non english speakers , generally it will be on the phone to some customer service centre , and they just dont understand what im trying to say , usually cause of my northern Manc dialect but its frustrating when im usually calling to discuss a greivance of some sort and they just dont get the anger/annoynace in my voice. Locally though we just have the usual Asain shopkeepers who blatantly speak their tongue so you dont know what their saying which i find rude.


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## xist (Jan 24, 2013)

dreampeppers99, don't let morons make you a lesser person. It's amazing that you've learnt other languages and are trying to put them to use and you mustn't be discouraged by small minded idiots. After all you only get better and perfect something through practice and the best way to do that with a language is amongst native speakers.

Some people are dicks....looks like you had the misfortune to run into some. People like you ensure foreigners visiting from overseas get a good reputation and not a bad one....so keep doing what you're doing and don't be put off by childish behaviour.


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## DarkStriker (Jan 24, 2013)

Norway is a multi-cutural country because of how we accept all kind of people into our country so it doesn't surprise me to see any people from any kind of country speaking norwegian. That being said its more funnier to speak english to them as 99% will respond in english.


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 24, 2013)

xist said:


> dreampeppers99, don't let morons make you a lesser person. It's amazing that you've learnt other languages and are trying to put them to use and you mustn't be discouraged by small minded idiots. After all you only get better and perfect something through practice and the best way to do that with a language is amongst native speakers.
> 
> Some people are dicks....looks like you had the misfortune to run into some. People like you ensure foreigners visiting from overseas get a good reputation and not a bad one....so keep doing what you're doing and don't be put off by childish behaviour.


Thanks for such kind words!


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 24, 2013)

DarkStriker said:


> Norway is a multi-cutural country because of how we accept all kind of people into our country so it doesn't surprise me to see any people from any kind of country speaking norwegian. That being said its more funnier to speak english to them as 99% will respond in english.


Owww a new country to visit!


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## koimayeul (Jan 24, 2013)

Being more patient than not i appreciate the efforts and help in any way i can a foreign person to progress speaking / writing French.


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 24, 2013)

koimayeul said:


> Being more patient than not i appreciate the efforts and help in any way i can a foreign person to progress speaking / writing French.


The stories I used to hear are that French people are very very gentle/kind with anybody which tries to speak French (even the worst French ever)!
But in the other hand when somebody starts or speaks only English you don't feel so good about it.

Sure this is all stories I heard it through the grapevine!

Is it right? (relatively speaking)


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## RodrigoDavy (Jan 24, 2013)

dreampeppers99 said:


> The stories I used to hear are that French people are very very gentle/kind with anybody which tries to speak French (even the worst French ever)!
> But in the other hand when somebody starts or speaks only English you don't feel so good about it.
> 
> Sure this is all stories I heard it through the grapevine!
> ...


 
Heard the same thing about french people. I also heard that it's very difficult to find someone who speak English in Germany. I do feel however that it's preferable to speak in the country's language since you're visiting it (because many people don't understand English quite well)


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## koimayeul (Jan 24, 2013)

RodrigoDavy said:


> Heard the same thing about french people. I also heard that it's very difficult to find someone who speak English in Germany. I do feel however that it's preferable to speak in the country's language since you're visiting it (because many people don't understand English quite well)


Hehe some stereotypes exist for a reason i guess.. Yes it is very uncommon in my part of France to come into any English speech at all, i stay in North-Eastern part close to Metz we are direct neighbor with Germany. I can only speak for myself but most people i know are welcoming and show genuine curiosity and interest with foreigners speaking our language, mostly German folks obviously in my case. For myself i feel really uneasy speaking English, i have a terrible forced accent.. As for listening spoken English i must focus very hard and miss a ton for sure, no offense but it get worst with British accent it just get my brain dizzy..


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## FAST6191 (Jan 24, 2013)

I try to keep a basic ask for directions/ordering food command of several languages* and can still just about watch a film/sports broadcast in French (nobody really uses Latin or I might add that to the list) and would learn more but I find learning more science, history, electronics, computing..... far more engaging and I am all about the self pleasuring. However picking apart a language (written, spoken and in general) and seeing how it works (and how it came to be as such) is something I really like doing and it is no strange sight to see me reading up on this until the early hours, that said it comes in quite handy for a lot of ROM hacking and computing stuff (various clients have dealings all over the world and if I am the one that gets to punch their website/word processor into a form that can handle it so much the better). Part of learning history also calls for reading most of the religious texts so I am told I probably should get around to learning Arabic and related languages and probably Hebrew as well as translation there is an interesting game.
As for the matter at hand with most languages worth a damn being a mish mash of several prior languages and hundreds of years of history they are all largely illogical, counter intuitive in general and counter intuitive between each other (applying grammar of one language to another fails more often than it works in my experience) messes that would not be tolerated in almost any other intellectually driven field save for when it is a law of physics being the unintuitive one. Similarly language is a skill most are encouraged to pick up early on and is fairly deeply ingrained (several have already mentioned the difficulty in listening and different sounds between languages is a fairly well considered part of the study of different languages). To that end if someone feels like overcoming the ingrained thing and doing the borderline memory test that playing in other languages entails (let alone in real time) I can see no good reason to do anything negative.

*I do not usually find this so bad to learn and deal with, trouble comes when people want to pepper directions with slang, mumbling or a nice amount of adjectives... trouble is I also find myself doing the same when asked unless I force myself not to.

Re: accent at a party- the position of token foreigner is an esteemed one at any party. Should you find yourself in a party where that is not the case my advice would be to leave as you are wasting your time there. Bonus points if you end up with the situation reversed with yourself in the middle of it one day, granted that usually falls hand in hand with your token foreigner friend seeing if anybody wants to ride shotgun in a flying visit to wherever they came from and those are equally amusing even if you do not end up at an impromptu party.

I mentioned it in the last few similar topics but I do feel the need to share my two favourite experiences here- one was walking through Liverpool in 2005 or so and a couple of ladies were speaking in Arabic before switching to pitch perfect scouse (truly pitch perfect- if I said piss take most people jump to the hamming it up style but that would not be what I meant if I said piss take here). The other was a couple of years later when I was in Amsterdam in an Irish bar- the barmaid there had apparently been there for years and developed what can only be described as a completely neutral but heavily pronounced* Irish accent.

*head into the sticks in NI or ROI and you still know you are there but only just if you expect Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Galway or Omagh to be the only accents available.

Re potatoes. If the little flag in the bottom left of your posts reads USA consider that it is as galling to walk into a supermarket when stateside and see potatoes called just that* as it would be for others to assume soda/pop/fizzy drinks/soft drinks come in just cola and lemonade forms (if you have not met that yet a warning that you will should you venture into much of Eastern Europe and especially outside the bigger cities there).
My favourites-
http://www.shrubs.co.uk/ekmps/shops/shrubscouk/images/potato-second-early-anya-2-kg-14981-p.jpg

*there is such a thing as a potato aisle in most supermarkets that aspire to be more than a corner shop.


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## Nah3DS (Jan 24, 2013)

dreampeppers99 said:


> The stories I used to hear are that French people are very very gentle/kind with anybody which tries to speak French (even the worst French ever)!
> But in the other hand when somebody starts or speaks only English you don't feel so good about it.
> 
> Sure this is all stories I heard it through the grapevine!
> ...


I've been in Paris like 10 years ago, and yes.... if you talk in other language (I tried with english, italian and spanish) most people go , but not everyone.


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## Kouen Hasuki (Jan 24, 2013)

Makes me feel uncomfortable in some situations and I don't mind in others it depends on the situation I find


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## Issac (Jan 24, 2013)

By the way, when I visited a German friend in Cologne we spoke in English all the time, since my German is horrible (and his Swedish non-existent). Two younger girls waited for a bus when we walked past them, they heard us talking in English and one said to the other quite loud in German "Hey, look at those cute Englishmen!".. They didn't think we'd know German  Well, I didn't, but my friend obviously did.

... he turned around, and smiled at them


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 24, 2013)

> I try to keep a basic ask for directions/ordering food command of several languages


Cool tip, I rely on google translator but sometimes the 3G/Edge is not available.


> Re: accent at a party- the position of token foreigner is an esteemed one at any party.


LOL


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## nando (Jan 24, 2013)

i have patience and appreciate foreigners trying to speak the language. some accents do sound totally funny tho and some are completely adorable and i have giggled, but not making fun of the person.

spanish has so many regional accents and slang, many sound funny to me. it is what it is. but i wouldn't make fun of you for trying.
also spanish has a lot of homophones which makes the slightest mistakes very funny, so that might have something to do with it.

edit: quick story. in Bart(train) there were a couple of drunk french guys and they were ranting out all kinds of crazy stuff in french. one of them was saying, "no one here can understand what we are saying, it doesn't matter." i don't speak french but i can understand a great deal of it, i can watch french movies without subtitles. so i just gave them my patented stink eye and the guy was like "vous compris?" and i was like "oui" and he was all embarrassed and apologized.

also this one woman in france hit me in the head after giving me directions and i came back to her still lost.


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## RPG Hacker (Jan 24, 2013)

dreampeppers99 said:


> Do you feel uncomfortable (or think it is fun) with a foreign speaking your language?


 
It actually depends on the language and the person speaking it. Some mistakes are pretty funny, indeed, or certain accents in general. But the better a person gets at language, the less funny it usually gets.

However. I never really feel uncomfortable with foreigen people speaking my language. Usually I enjoy it a lot.


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## bowser (Jan 24, 2013)

chris888222 said:


> Not to be racist or offensive, but I do feel quite surprised and a bit uncomfortable when a black or indian speaks Chinese.
> Unless they have Chinese parents or relatives that is.


Ni hao, Chris! 

But seriously....I thought there's no such thing as a language called 'Chinese', there are two languages spoken in China called 'Cantonese' and 'Mandarin'. Right?


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## Minox (Jan 24, 2013)

bowser said:


> But seriously....I thought there's no such thing as a language called 'Chinese', there are two languages spoken in China called 'Cantonese' and 'Mandarin'. Right?


From what I gather there's a fair share of different dialects, but they all share a common writing system.


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## Hop2089 (Jan 25, 2013)

If they speak English at least halfway decently as in I can understand what they are saying, then no, I'm not expecting advanced or native level fluency, but intermediate fluency gets the job done in the average situation.  Any lower and I start getting concerned they will get jipped/scammed/exploited.


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## chris888222 (Jan 25, 2013)

bowser said:


> Ni hao, Chris!
> 
> But seriously....I thought there's no such thing as a language called 'Chinese', there are two languages spoken in China called 'Cantonese' and 'Mandarin'. Right?


There's actually so much more besides Cantonese and Mandarin. There's Minnan (Hokkien), Teochew, Hainan, Foochow, Taishan (quite close to Cantonese), Hakka etc. 

For me, I'm a native Hakka. Some of my uncles are Cantonese so I picked that up as well. Our government also forced Mandarin into our studies. These are all part of this vague term known as "Chinese". Some countries call it languages of Chinese, while others call them dialects.


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## SilverArcher (Jan 25, 2013)

chris888222 said:


> There's actually so much more besides Cantonese and Mandarin. There's Minnan (Hokkien), Teochew, Hainan, Foochow, Taishan (quite close to Cantonese), Hakka etc.
> 
> For me, I'm a native Hakka. Some of my uncles are Cantonese so I picked that up as well. Our government also forced Mandarin into our studies. These are all part of this vague term known as "Chinese". Some countries call it languages of Chinese, while others call them dialects.


The official language of China is Mandarin(putonghua). I think Chinese people have no difficulty to live in Singapore. : P


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## Chary (Jan 25, 2013)

I find myself feeling appreciative towards anyone who tries to learn English, and speak it. It's difficult to find anyone at all speaking English in Texas anymore...


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## Nah3DS (Jan 25, 2013)

Issac said:


> By the way, when I visited a German friend in Cologne we spoke in English all the time, since my German is horrible (and his Swedish non-existent). Two younger girls waited for a bus when we walked past them, they heard us talking in English and one said to the other quite loud in German "Hey, look at those cute Englishmen!".. They didn't think we'd know German  Well, I didn't, but my friend obviously did.
> 
> ... he turned around, and smiled at them


and then?


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## triassic911 (Jan 25, 2013)

Nope, it's cool. I like helping those my age who have trouble speaking either English or Spanish.


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## Wabsta (Jan 25, 2013)

I do feel uncomfortable when speaking english. I'm pretty good, but we dutch people have this awfull accent. So while I'm perfectly comfortable typing english, you won't find me on skype/ teamspeak/ etc. with foreign people real quick.

Also, I LOVE it when french girls/ women speak english with that gorgeous accent.


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## chris888222 (Jan 25, 2013)

SilverArcher said:


> The official language of China is Mandarin(putonghua). I think Chinese people have no difficulty to live in Singapore. : P


Our government only recognizes Mandarin as the official Chinese language in Singapore. 
Plus we are also using the simplified script (unlike HK/Taiwan), so yeah.

Our spoken Mandarin is closer to the ROC version though.


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## The Catboy (Jan 25, 2013)

I don't mind it really and in some cases it's really cute


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## DarkStriker (Jan 25, 2013)

Kouen Hasuki said:


> Makes me feel uncomfortable in some situations and I don't mind in others it depends on the situation I find


Wait... Dont you live in Norway ?!?!?!?


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## Kouen Hasuki (Jan 25, 2013)

DarkStriker said:


> Wait... Dont you live in Norway ?!?!?!?


 
...Yea... Why?


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## DarkStriker (Jan 26, 2013)

Kouen Hasuki said:


> ...Yea... Why?


Shouldn't you be used to seeing africans speaking norwegian or asians speaking norwegian then? Its already been like more than 30~ years since they came to Norway, or a part of that. That being said its kinda annoying though when i meet poles(not pole but poles yes) and they dont understand norwegian. True their there for working black or most of them, but atleast try to learn the language to the country you live in.


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## Kouen Hasuki (Jan 26, 2013)

DarkStriker said:


> Shouldn't you be used to seeing africans speaking norwegian or asians speaking norwegian then? Its already been like more than 30~ years since they came to Norway, or a part of that. That being said its kinda annoying though when i meet poles(not pole but poles yes) and they dont understand norwegian. True their there for working black or most of them, but atleast try to learn the language to the country you live in.


 
I'm native English British not Norwegian


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## Guild McCommunist (Jan 26, 2013)

Why is this a question? What am I, Japan?

It's better than a "foreigner" speaking a language I don't understand so I can't communicate with them.


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## Its_just_Lou (Jan 26, 2013)

Kouen Hasuki said:


> I'm native English British not Norwegian


 
"They aren't Swedes, Mac, they are Norwegian."


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## Pleng (Jan 26, 2013)

dreampeppers99 said:


> And the funniest this is they guys who did make fun of me, they just know how to speak Spanish!


 
Is it possible that by saying a word incorrectly, what you were saying became incredibly funny? If the people who you were talking to can't speak English, then it would be difficult for them to explain why exactly they were laughing.

When I began out learning Thai, I was trying to ask for a big bottle of water. Didn't know the term bottle, so I figured 'big water' should do it. So I asked the lady in my hotel for big water. Big water. She was looking alarmed and I kept on saying the words, altering my pronunciation of the work for 'water' time and time again until I got it right. The girl looked relieved when I'd finally made myself clear. And took her hand off the phone, which she had grabbed half way through my futile attempts to express myself.


I didn't know it at the time, but the girls reaction made a lot more sense a couple of weeks later when I found out what I'd been barking at her.

Turns out that the pronunciation of the word for water in the Thai language isn't a million miles away from the pronunciation of the word for 'tits'.


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## DarkStriker (Jan 26, 2013)

Kouen Hasuki said:


> I'm native English British not Norwegian


Explains, explains! You should feel lucky because its like one in every 100000 that dooesnt speak english. Feels awesome because you can like speak english with everyone as if it were nothing. That being said some people might have hard time on the british language though.


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## Kouen Hasuki (Jan 26, 2013)

DarkStriker said:


> Explains, explains! You should feel lucky because its like one in every 100000 that dooesnt speak english. Feels awesome because you can like speak english with everyone as if it were nothing. That being said some people might have hard time on the british language though.


 
Drunk Norwegian's trying to talk English thinking there fluent in English makes me cringe


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## dreampeppers99 (Jan 26, 2013)

Pleng said:


> Is it possible that by saying a word incorrectly, what you were saying became incredibly funny? If the people who you were talking to can't speak English, then it would be difficult for them to explain why exactly they were laughing.


 
Yeah It could be, it seems reasonable !


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## narutofan777 (Jan 29, 2013)

no if they have a bad accent, i feel bad for them because it's kind of hard for me to understand them.

if they speak fluently then i'm like wtf. tbh I only know a couple of words in my native language although I can understand like 30% of what people say to me. so if a foreigner can speak better than me its embarrassing.


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