A Little Thing That Makes Me Crazy

[harrisonba]

Thanks for the helpful comments.

 

[Dada]

What if they just seek validation for their English? Without ever intending to invalidate your "castellano"...

When I was first learning English, there was no internet yet and we were only two persons in the whole school who could have at least some basic conversation in English. To practice, I would put on funny clothes, go to Prague and pretend I'm a tourist. Asking directions in English, pretending I can't say a word in Czech etc. As a result, I now take it easy when karma hits back to me In fact, I find it entertaining to observe.

I have Spanish friends who insist we talk in English, even though it means struggle for them. Then I have a Czech friend who insists we talk in Spanish. So what, if that's what they need?

The one time my vision turned red was when I spoke to a local stranger in my best Spanish (decent, with correct grammar), and the person would start speaking very slowly, very loud and in infinitives <_<

 

[niceguyeddie]

https://www.youtube....h?v=rxUm-2x-2dM

 

[ElQueso]

Yeah, if you are speaking good Spanish and they want to speak English, chances are most probably they want to show off or practice their English. If you are speaking good Spanish and they can't seem to understand you at all and never try to switch to English (or other language) chances are they are just being dicks - OR your Spanish isn't as good as you think - it could be the pronunciation, not the forming of the sentences/grammar.

I have a few friends who think they speak "passable" Spanish. A couple do indeed, and know their limitations and don't get upset when someone doesn't understand them. But one or two others pronounce the words so horribly that I can't even understand them half the time and they tend to get pissed off, thinking people are toying with them.

I just got back from a trip to the States. I entered the States from Miami and had a good-sized layover. I was walking through the airport and had to ask directions to a smoking place and noticed a couple of airport workers congregated nearby, talking in Spanish. I walked up to them and began speaking in Spanish, knowing full well they almost certainly spoke good English and they didn't bat an eye, even though they probably knew I wasn't a native Spanish speaker from my accent.

Our oldest girl speaks mid-level English and we try to speak in English mostly so she can practice it, but we find ourselves switching back and forth between English and Spanish without even thinking about it. I find that to be rather cool

I've gotten to the point where I enjoy speaking in either language interchangeably and it doesn't bother me when someone wants to speak English, unless that someone is being obtuse in Spanish and says they can't understand me, even with repetitions (doesn't happen very often, but occasionally...) When someone who doesn't speak good English wants to talk to me in English, I don't switch back to Spanish unless they are stuck on something and I'll ask them, in Spanish, to say it in Spanish and then I'll repeat it for them in English.

I find myself wishing now that I know other languages - a certain 4-hour trip through the Tunisian desert, some years ago, with a local driver who didn't speak English and was ticked at me because I didn't speak Italian (in an attempt to find a common language to while away the long trip) comes to mind

 

[AmigoArtistico]

Do not let this bother you. Once I was working at a well known company in Silicon valley, there was this Caucasian dude who married a Chinese woman, and he was speaking perfect Chinese already. He tried to use his Madarine to every Asian he met(which was a little annoying at work place), and people always switched back to English after a few seconds, for many reasons, like people like to show their English, people are afraid that the conversation is not 100% understood, people do not want to be a Chinese grammar teacher, people do not like to go deeper in conversation ... If you are not a native speaker, it's tiring for the native speakers to talk to you for just a normal chat. So it's universal and I have to break potenors a break here.

Sorry for going off topic, but I worked with someone from Beijing when I was in the states, and he was married to a Chinese woman from southern China. They could only speak to each other in English, because the Chinese dialects were so drastically different that they could only understand each other by speaking English.

 

[Bwell]

Thanks for your post I was at the point of giving up speaking in Spanish I thought it was just me. I have been a little nervous of long conversations in another language after arriving in Marrakech a few years ago I headed for the main square it was dusk and all the musicians acrobats snake charmers jugglers etc. where setting up for the evening anyway I got into a conversation in French with this short stocky chap who was stripped to the waist and missing most of his teeth I understood he was one of the entertainers and he started at 9-00pm so I shook hands with him and I said would be there at 9 so as I walked back through the square I caught sight of him surrounded by a large group of people as he walked towards me the crowd parted and reformed around us he shook my hand and held on firmly and explained to me that I agreed to take him on in a bare knuckle boxing match!!!!!

 

[thorsten]

Did you win the fight? Given his lack of teeth, he seemed to be not the best boxer

 

[Bwell]

That's exactly what I thought and at the time I was Karate training three times a week so I decided to give it a go fortunately as my girlfriend was trying to talk me out of it a young man burst out of the crowd hit the little guy hard in the face twice he didn't even blink and then hunted down the young man like miniature Rocky Marciano.

 

[Girino]

It was time to have Chuck Norris down here. Welcome!

 

[Gringoboy]

I like to think of myself as a guest in their country and if they want to speak English or Serbo Croat to me, then that's up to them.