New Pet Peeve

[siouxbrew]

yeota,
leveling?
i find it difficult to find anything of relevance that u posted about

[yeotaJMU]

[ QUOTE ]
yeota,
leveling?
i find it difficult to find anything of relevance that u posted about

[/ QUOTE ]

no not leveling that just pisses me off... and i usually dont post in oot

[siouxbrew]

ok,
so how does your response about someone calling you and not leaving a message have anything!! to do with a mexican that only responds to orders in his native language as far as we know it may have been a mexican restaurant.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

[ QUOTE ]
op,
the point of your post is what?
that a normal american should not know how to speak spanish?
i agree but this may be the stupidest thread that i have ever seen, i really hope no one else responds to this.

[/ QUOTE ]

not that he shouldn't know how to speak spanish but he clearly was not proficient in it while the mexican guy clearly could speak and understand english. why did this guy go out of his way to speak spanish with this guy? it was a forced and embarrassing attempt to look cultured and it is insulting to the mexican guy.

[Jay Riall]

English speaking people do this all the time when they go to France/Italy wherever. The locals usually humour them for a little while and then reply in good English. Nothing new about this atall.

[Sponger.]

[ QUOTE ]
English speaking people do this all the time when they go to France/Italy wherever. The locals usually humour them for a little while and then reply in good English. Nothing new about this atall.

[/ QUOTE ]

At least they don't go expecting everyone to speak and understand their language without even bothering to learn or try to speak the language of the country they are in. I don't understand how I've seen some people in Mexico say things like "hole-ahh, i would like some...how do you say water in spanish again. ummm, do you have W-A-T-E-R?"

[disjunction]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
op,
the point of your post is what?
that a normal american should not know how to speak spanish?
i agree but this may be the stupidest thread that i have ever seen, i really hope no one else responds to this.

[/ QUOTE ]



not that he shouldn't know how to speak spanish but he clearly was not proficient in it while the mexican guy clearly could speak and understand english. why did this guy go out of his way to speak spanish with this guy? it was a forced and embarrassing attempt to look cultured and it is insulting to the mexican guy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Whether it's insulting depends on how bad the guy behind the counter speaks English. When I am in a foreign country I am so bad at languages and am relieved when people suddenly break into (broken) English. Also, if the customer has seen him speaking Spanish to some other customer or somebody else in the restaurant, he is fair game. For the customer to be the first in the room to use Spanish is rude, in essence it says, "your English sucks, I can tell you are different".

But like lots of people in this thread have said, the motivation is to practice. Anybody who is traveling to a Spanish speaking country and wants to get out would be a fool not to take any opportunity to practice in everyday situations with native speakers here.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

[ QUOTE ]

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

[/ QUOTE ]
i see this all time the traveling. retards.

[otnemem]

[ QUOTE ]
I've never seen what you describe, but on the other end of the spectrum: Same Hispanic guy behind the counter (can understand peoples orders, but is obviously not fluent in English), middle-aged to older white man or woman in front of me in a longish line:

"Is your grilled chicken sandwich 100% organic?"

or

"I see the value meal is $4.99, how much would it be for the meal without the chips?"

or

"Whatever happened to the other Quiznos over on South Main?"

or

"Can I get a small roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese on one half, cheddar on the other half, and mayo just on the half the swiss"

I made a rare trip to McDonalds for breakfast last Saturday, It was hugely busy, and at least 3 people in front of me in line asked ridiclous questions that cashier clearly wouldn't be able to understand/answer and persisted in repeating themselves multiple times, asking follow-up questions and finding other ways of holding up the line.

[/ QUOTE ]
If your major annoyance here ISN'T the fact that the guy behind the counter doesn't speak enough English to answer simple questions or write down a picky order, then there's something wrong with this post.

[NT!]

i would agree that this could be mildly annoying for the mexican guy who is here in the states and speaks english. i think it's a little different if you are in someone else's country and try to speak the native language (even if they probably speak english), that shows some respect / desire to learn local ways, etc.

one strange permutation of this that i have encountered is when there are several employees with different levels of english proficiency. for instance, i have been to a couple places here in NYC where there is a guy making sandwiches who has minimal or no english (maybe just enough to take orders, maybe none at all), and the cashier will be fluent.

(my spanish is pretty decent and my accent is good, although i speak much better than i understand).

if i need to make a request or ask a simple question i will ask the guy in spanish, or sometimes ask in english first and then translate if he doesn't understand. sometimes, rather than respond in spanish, the guy will actually tell the counter guy what to say, and the counter guy will translate it into english for me, even though i asked in spanish.

this is also something that some guys will do if you ask a question in spanish without being prompted. they will answer in english because they assume you won't understand. this makes sense because a lot of people can actually piece together a question ok but native speakers are too fast for them or they don't get the dialect at all.

anyway, at first glance this new pet peeve is kinda silly, but when you think about it, it actually makes sense that this would be irritating, because experience tells the cashier that if he answers the kid in spanish the conversation will take twice as long. he's not there to give language classes, he's trying to sell some [censored] sandwiches.