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Do you get angry when people speak a foreign language?

Do you get angry when people speak a foreign language?

  • Total voters
    122
camlok said:
Perhaps you can explain why students being exposed to knowledge in high school is a bad thing.
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Students can be exposed to knowledge more effectively because there are 15 languages being spoken, that's as silly
a statement as I've digested this month. In high school I studied Latin & Spanish and did just fine. In college German
& Homeric Greek I enjoyed learning. Throughout high school & college I do not recall conversing or even hearing people
conversing with others in a foreign language, yet I was exposed to knowledge even knowledge of languages 2 of which are no longer
spoken.

Being exposed to knowledge in high school is a good thing. Having students with over a dozen native tongues in the same high school
I should think would be a hindrance.
 
Dragonfly said:
Are you the kind if person who gets angry or even afraid when you hear others around you speaking in a language you don't understand?

If you're an American citizen, do you get angry when people in America speak a language that isn't English?

Would you ever confront someone speaking a language you don't understand and yell at them to stop speaking that way?

Personally, I find foreign languages quite intriguing and often times beautiful to listen to.
When members of the opposite sex speak a language I don't understand it can quickly become quite sexy in my mind.

I can't imagine getting pissed off at anyone for simply speaking in a language I don't understand.
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Ignorant Americans only speak one language. So, they get all jealous when they see brown people who are smarter than them speaking fluently in another one.
 
Freedom of Speech, applies to everyone, even prospective citizens and non citizens. Like it, don't like it, doesn't matter. Anyone can speak any language they damn well please. And the Government, can't do a damn thing about it, and they can't require a certain language because that would be a violation of the freedom of speech. As it would be restricting a human being from communicating in the way they wish.
 
slick said:
Students can be exposed to knowledge more effectively because there are 15 languages being spoken, that's as silly a statement as I've digested this month.
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No one is advancing the ludicrous notion that classes are being taught in anything except English, nobody but you.

In high school I studied Latin & Spanish and did just fine. In college German & Homeric Greek I enjoyed learning.
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The study of language is not the same as learning a language.

Throughout high school & college I do not recall conversing or even hearing people
conversing with others in a foreign language, yet I was exposed to knowledge even knowledge of languages 2 of which are no longer
spoken.
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And this matters to the present issue, how?

Being exposed to knowledge in high school is a good thing. Having students with over a dozen native tongues in the same high school I should think would be a hindrance.
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Thank you for your uninformed opinion. Being exposed to over a dozen languages while in high school is a perfect example of "Being exposed to knowledge". That is thee number one way to learn a language.

If a body is ranting racist slogans and ideas, the chance for any acquisition of knowledge is tiny. Save for Breitbart/Storm Front/Trumpian knowledge.
 
Mason66 said:
If you hear a Spanish speaker that says their S with their toungue between their teeth, they are from Spain.
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Cubans and Venezuelans don't pronounce their S at all. They treat S as silent.
 
camlok said:
You think. Okay, it is your uninformed opinion.

Do immigrants also have to accept the war mongering nature of the USA? Do they have to sign up to go and kill more people of color that have never done a thing to Americans or America?



That ignorant putz of a lawyer illustrated it is a demand, a strong one, that flows from the mouths of many racist Americans. Personal freedom is personal freedom and that is central to the American "ideal". American ideals are always very slippery things. That comes from them being propaganda tools not reality.
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War mongering nation and racists....

I am done with you.....bye
 
tres borrachos said:
Never. Why would I? I admire people who are multilingual. And it's never my business what language people speak to each other. I don't care if you speak Spanish, German, French, Ubi Dubbi, Nell Twin Speak, or the mystical language only your imaginary friend understood.

And people who confront others who aren't speaking English are jackoffs.
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I hate to be a stickler, but how often do you hear others speaking a foreign language while out in public?
 
I'm around foreign language speakers everyday. In fact it's common for me to traverse entire neighborhoods where the predominant language spoken is Spanish. The second most common foreign language I hear on a daily basis is Arabic, and 3rd would be Chinese. Sometimes it does get frustrating, particularly when the communication barrier is so great that I can't understand the person I'm talking to, and they can't understand me.
 
I speak 4 languages so when I hear people talk in one I don't understand my brain automatically starts trying to learn it. Once you get into your third language, you start to hear language patterns more clearly. They become less mysterious. So no, I'm not bothered at all. It's just humans being humans. When I first learned French (my second language) I was so excited to break through the fluency barrier, only to discover that people are talking about more or less the same crap as English speakers. Day to day stuff.

I think Americans should have to learn a second language in school, just so that they can understand the human realities around them. Being monolingual is fine, but I feel it's a major contributor to the xenophobia in America. Nothing demolishes your preconceptions like learning another language.

Except Finnish. Their language is from another planet.

phattonez said:
The real question is this: why are we allowing people to immigrate who can't speak English? Does that really benefit Americans?
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What kind of benefit are you looking for?

If they can lead a productive life in their native language then does that not still benefit America?
 
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camlok said:
That is not true, Nickyjo. All languages are difficult to learn for ADULTS because they have lost the innate ability that children have and they are usually taught in the typically crazy fashion that English teachers in school use to "teach" English. Plus, ESL/EFLs are often taught all those totally silly "rules" that all native speakers were taught, the ones that have no connection to reality or the English language.



I'm surprised at the number of insecure people.



That'll make the take back of all the land the USA stole that much easier.
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Funny, Mexican friends used to joke that the Southwest was merely "prestado," loaned, to us. They also used to note that the three largest cities in Mexico were, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Los Angeles.

That aside, the techniques if the ESL system we used involved the teacher telling the student to, say, "give her your pen," then explain what they did. It was pretty loose, focusing on conversation, not grammar.
 
truthatallcost said:
I hate to be a stickler, but how often do you hear others speaking a foreign language while out in public?
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All the time. And except for my general nosiness, I don't care.

This can be a problem in the workplace, however.
 
camlok said:
You think. Okay, it is your uninformed opinion.

Do immigrants also have to accept the war mongering nature of the USA? Do they have to sign up to go and kill more people of color that have never done a thing to Americans or America?



That ignorant putz of a lawyer illustrated it is a demand, a strong one, that flows from the mouths of many racist Americans. Personal freedom is personal freedom and that is central to the American "ideal". American ideals are always very slippery things. That comes from them being propaganda tools not reality.
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What you call "warmongering" is a desire to fix a problem instead of just whine about it. Life doesn't function in Venezuela; drug cartels really do kill families in Mexico. It's the can-do American mindset for some to say "maybe we should do something about that". However, dictatorships are not comprised of just one person. There's an underlying culture that enables repression. Do we really want to import that culture here? If we did invest lives and treasure forcing Maduro from power for example, would Venezuela just elect another carbon copy who promises more "free stuff"?
 
My town is 95% French. But we all speak English if we have to, well, some people don’t but most people can get by.
We are a minority surrounded by English speakers, to think that English isn’t necessary is crazy. However, to answer the OP’s question, no I do not get mad when I hear another tongue, in fact, it makes me curious and happy.
 
Nickyjo said:
Funny, Mexican friends used to joke that the Southwest was merely "prestado," loaned, to us. They also used to note that the three largest cities in Mexico were, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Los Angeles.
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Sounds reasonable to me. If you heard some neighbors talking about Mafia that had stolen things from your yard but given their power, you had little chance of getting them back, mightn't you resort to this kind of humor.

That aside, the techniques if the ESL system we used involved the teacher telling the student to, say, "give her your pen," then explain what they did. It was pretty loose, focusing on conversation, not grammar.
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What you describe IS a focus on grammar, using conversation, which is the only effective way to learn any language. Note how well it works with the children of any language in the world.

If we relied on English classes for native speakers to learn English, everybody would be mute.
 
Northern Light said:
I speak 4 languages so when I hear people talk in one I don't understand my brain automatically starts trying to learn it. Once you get into your third language, you start to hear language patterns more clearly. They become less mysterious. So no, I'm not bothered at all. It's just humans being humans. When I first learned French (my second language) I was so excited to break through the fluency barrier, only to discover that people are talking about more or less the same crap as English speakers. Day to day stuff.

I think Americans should have to learn a second language in school, just so that they can understand the human realities around them. Being monolingual is fine, but I feel it's a major contributor to the xenophobia in America. Nothing demolishes your preconceptions like learning another language.

Except Finnish. Their language is from another planet.



What kind of benefit are you looking for?

If they can lead a productive life in their native language then does that not still benefit America?
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Finnish does seem crazy hard. I took a few years of Spanish and can pick up parts of a conversation when I hear Spanish and French. I can also pick up bits and pieces of a conversation when I hear Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish as some of its similar to English. We have two adopted girls from China and I have tried to pick up some Mandarin over the years, but its incredibly difficult. Even when we visit China, I have a hard time picking up very much of the language. I think if you dropped me in a Spanish or French speaking country I could be pretty conversational within 3 to 6 months. If you dropped me in Germany or one of the Nordic countries (other than Finland), I could be pretty conversational within 6 months to a year. If you dropped me in China, it would take 3 to 5 years to get to the same point. The only thing easy about Mandarin is the grammar.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Finnish does seem crazy hard. I took a few years of Spanish and can pick up parts of a conversation when I hear Spanish and French. I can also pick up bits and pieces of a conversation when I hear Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish as some of its similar to English. We have two adopted girls from China and I have tried to pick up some Mandarin over the years, but its incredibly difficult. Even when we visit China, I have a hard time picking up very much of the language. I think if you dropped me in a Spanish or French speaking country I could be pretty conversational within 3 to 6 months. If you dropped me in Germany or one of the Nordic countries (other than Finland), I could be pretty conversational within 6 months to a year. If you dropped me in China, it would take 3 to 5 years to get to the same point. The only thing easy about Mandarin is the grammar.
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My mother was 1/2 Danish and she had a friend from Denmark who we kids referred to as Aunt. I learned some Danish as a youngster living there. My mother and her friend would converse and it was not uncommon for the conversation to seamlessly incorporate both English and Danish. I don’t hear much that is common to Danish/English. Languages are much easier for kids to pick up.
 
phattonez said:
The real question is this: why are we allowing people to immigrate who can't speak English? Does that really benefit Americans?
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That's a bit overkill. My parents couldn't speak English when they immigrated, but they also didn't expect handouts or a bunch of govt assistance. They learned the hard way by living in the American environment. They fully expected to meld into American culture, though they maintained some of their traditions. Never the less they spoke German much of my life, but usually English when out. But I imagine it was a transition early on as they learned English. They taught me German at home, and never pushed me to be 'German'.
 
Rexedgar said:
My mother was 1/2 Danish and she had a friend from Denmark who we kids referred to as Aunt. I learned some Danish as a youngster living there. My mother and her friend would converse and it was not uncommon for the conversation to seamlessly incorporate both English and Danish. I don’t hear much that is common to Danish/English. Languages are much easier for kids to pick up.
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Both English and Danish are Germanic languages. They share over 1500 words. The sentence structure is largely the same as well.
 
Skeptic Bob said:
Nope. I personally enjoy listening to other languages. The only time I EXPECT a person to use the language of majority where they are is if they are performing a customer service function.

Also, some conversations work better in different languages. There is usually a lot of humor in conversations among friends and humor is something that just doesn’t translate well.
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I agree. This is the only time when I find it difficult to converse with someone who doesn't have a good grasp of English. This recently happened when I bought my daughter a goat-milking machine. The small company that sold it was headed up by a gentleman with a very strong Asian accent. The machine broke on the second use and I contacted the man for advice. He wanted to "face time" with my daughter to walk her through the steps of the machine. They tried for over an hour but she couldn't understand anything he said. We finally had to ship the machine back for a refund. It would have been very beneficial (mostly for the man) had he been able to adequately express himself in English. But, I don't think anyone was mad at him -- just disappointed in the lack of communication.
 
Mason66 said:
Who said they can't speak English?
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It doesn't matter. Why is English not the common language in our country? Why would we want to introduce tribalism to our politics by solidifying separate cultural identities?
 
RabidAlpaca said:
That wasn't at all "the question" or in any way relevant to the thread. Millions of Americans speak languages other than English at home and in public, and that's their freedom as Americans to do so, so quit your bull****.

On a side note, did you scream at a bunch of people for speaking Spanish in an NYC restaurant recently?
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Just answer the simple question: why is this a good thing?
 
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