Imagine if French people learned English and chose to speak it online/in-game instead of assuming everyone speaks French as if it is still the lingua franca.
Not all Germany is like that. I was in Freiburg last winter and the can’t/don’t want to speak English. Only the most tourist places would speak English, I guess.
This doesn’t reflect my housemate’s experience in Italy at all. Evidently if they detect an American accent in your “buongiorno” they’ll just spend the rest of the day mocking you in Italian and occasionally just yelling “DONALD TRUMP HAMBURGER TRANSGENDER” at you.
Norway might not be accurately described in this map. While walking through the airport, every airport worker kept trying to speak to me in Norwegian. I don’t know any words in their language. It would be cool if I did, but I don’t. Anyway, they always looked confused, repeated themselves more slowly, and waited for a response from me. Eventually, I realized one of them was asking me about my backpack.
Also I feel like the French really appreciate it if you try. Or at least hate you a little less. In my experience, after showing off my best (still bad) bonjours and mercis all of the people I talked to turned a lot friendlier and were even willing to speak a little English.
I feared someone answering me in French and I’ll be like “yeah I understand 40% of what you’re saying”… never expected someone to answer me in my native tongue and slang.
This is what one of Edmond Dantes alter egos did in the Count of Monte Cristo. “Lord Wilmore” was an eccentric Englishman who understood French perfectly well, but refused to speak it:
… Lord Wilmore appeared….His first remark on entering was, “You know, sir, I do not speak French?”
“I know you do not like to converse in our language,” replied the envoy.
“But you may use it,” replied Lord Wilmore; “I understand it.”
Friend of mine went to a school which fashioned itself as “the old school” (as in historically old school). They learned latin and old greek instead of anything useful. He was furious when he came back from vacation in Greece and he only found one person, an old professor in Greek history, who he could talk to.
I always had better grades in French than in English. Which bothered me, because I hated French almost from the start and thought English was/is much more important.
Tu détestes le français spécifiquement, ou juste le fait d’avoir eu à apprendre une autre langue?
Le français, je peux comprendre un peu, il y a quant même plusieurs spécificités étranges à cette langue. Ce n’est pas pour rien qu’on passe plusieurs années à l’apprendre avant d’éventuellement passer à la littérature. Je crois que les cours d’anglais langue première font cette transition beaucoup plus tôt.
Détester le fait d’avoir eu à apprendre une autre langue, là je ne comprends pas du tout!
I guess I have my answer ;) I don’t know Russian but I know enough Ukrainian to know you’re talking about French and Italian, lol. And I know barely enough German to know you’re talking about learning languages (Sprachen).
Not quite sure what you hate accoustically about French, though… The “r” sounds? I guess they’re very different from most other languages, but you seem to like German… If you’re comparing to Spanish (among others), I guess the overall stressing of sounds in a sentence is pretty different, too.
Also, what kind of French did you have to learn? France has a very different sound from Québec for example… Altough if I look closely I see you’re on the sh.itjust.works instance and you mention having to learn it in school, which tends to indicate you’re Canadian. I guess hating on French is par for the course, then…
I guess I have my answer ;) I don’t know Russian but I know enough Ukrainian to know you’re talking about French and Italian, lol.
I said that I hate French specifically and that I regret never having learned Italian properly. In German I said that I have no problem with learning new languages if it wasn’t for lack of time.
Not quite sure what you hate accoustically about French, […]
Reading and writing French is OK(ish, if I didn’t vocalize it in my head). I really hate the sound of that language. It sends shivers down my spine. I think for one thing I prefer harder/rougher sounding languages. Also, I’m an unforgiving person. We were told we can start learning a third language when we are in 7th grade. I was pondering whether to pick up Russian, Italian or Swedish. Then 7th grade comes around and the school’s like: Yah, you can choose between French and Latin. Well, fuck you too school. I hate our school system for this (and other reasons) to this day.
but you seem to like German
Being German, I’m kind of stuck with it. Not that I particularly dislike it, though.
If you’re comparing to Spanish (among others), I guess the overall stressing of sounds in a sentence is pretty different, too.
I dislike French, the language, not the people. I slightly dislike Spaniards, but not their language. Italian people speak loudly because they talk across the street. Spanish people do that while standing right next to each other. I think I’ll never get used to that.
Sorry I mistook you for a Canadian. There were just a couple clues pointing in that direction. I totally get you though, loving or hating a language isn’t something rational; I used to have a strong dislike for Spanish for pretty irrational reasons.
If you like rougher languages, you should listen to some Québec French, then. There’s actually a song about how it sounds really different from France’s French: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgiNoNqYXMA
Add comment