Vocabulary - Help foreigners get the best of your forum

[Michaelson]

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Also, why do people pretend not to speak English?

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The following conversation literally happened:

Me, as slowly and clearly as I can: 'Excuse me miss, we would like to buy a pair of shoes.'

Her: 'Je ne comprends pas. Ne parle pas anglais, desolee.'

Me: 'Nous voudrions acheter des... <gesture> shoes!'

Her, with no accent at all: 'Ah, you want shoes? What kind of shoes? (..) To get into the casino? We have a bunch of nice shoes over there, have a look!'

WTF?

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Believe it or not, there are people in the world who think their language is pretty nifty and would like for you to make at least a minimal effing effort to speak it when your in their [censored] country.

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Why do you (and a lot of people in France) feel so strongly this? Do you consider it a personal insult if people address you in Engish?

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Not that I've ever experienced this issue, but if tourists in my own country habitually expected me to converse poorly in their language so as to save them the hassle and effort of having to converse poorly in my language, I'd find it pretty freaking annoying.

[Frelo]

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Is it true that the French planted trees so that the Germans could march in the shade?

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Dunno. High school is long ago.

[Frelo]

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So I can't think about a word that would mean the same as douchebag.

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What about "con", Frelo? I think that's close.

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Could be.

BTW "con" originally means vagina.

[Frelo]

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Why do you (and a lot of people in France) feel so strongly this? Do you consider it a personal insult if people address you in Engish?

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You can't prevent people from being... douchebags.

[Kimbell175113]

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Also, why do people pretend not to speak English?

...

The following conversation literally happened:

Me, as slowly and clearly as I can: 'Excuse me miss, we would like to buy a pair of shoes.'

Her: 'Je ne comprends pas. Ne parle pas anglais, desolee.'

Me: 'Nous voudrions acheter des... <gesture> shoes!'

Her, with no accent at all: 'Ah, you want shoes? What kind of shoes? (..) To get into the casino? We have a bunch of nice shoes over there, have a look!'

WTF?

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Believe it or not, there are people in the world who think their language is pretty nifty and would like for you to make at least a minimal effing effort to speak it when your in their [censored] country.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why do you (and a lot of people in France) feel so strongly this? Do you consider it a personal insult if people address you in Engish?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not that I've ever experienced this issue, but if tourists in my own country habitually expected me to converse poorly in their language so as to save them the hassle and effort of having to converse poorly in my language, I'd find it pretty freaking annoying.

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In the quoted story, she didn't speak poorly in his language, she spoke perfectly and accent-free.

[Dale Dough]

I do realize that if they genuinely don't understand me, that's my problem and not theirs, I'm the visitor. I also totally understand if a person knows a little English, but hasn't had a lot of practice, and is uncomfortable with it. Speaking a foreign language you don't know that well can feel kind of embarrassing. Takes getting used to.

So, Foreign Pissed-off Guy et al., I usually do make that effort, I consider it a sign of respect. However, it shouldn't be mandatory. That day I just happened to be dog tired. If you won't speak English with me because you can't or don't feel comfortable enough with it, that's fine. But if I'm polite, and you are more than capable of answering me, but just flat out won't because of some stuck-up principle, it is you that is rude.

DISCLAIMER: of course there are countries where people have legit reasons for this behavior, and I respect that. France, however, hasn't been among those countries for a long, long time.

Reminds me of this story: my uncle and his family were yelled at and refused service at a Czech gas station for speaking German - until they heard him speak another language (Dutch) with his children, at which point they apologized and were more than happy to assist him. In German.