How much of a problem is the language barrier in your daily life as an expat?

[Rich One]

I can only dream of dreaming in Spanish!
I was out with a bunch of people speaking spanish the other night, all good until they started drinking and interrupting each other and one told a rapid-fire joke that was apparently hilaaaaaaarious.
I was ready for bed after that. Totally left in the dust.
Then a lady on the bus the other day was all, 'i don't understand you at all!' and rolling her eyes when I was slightly off pronouncing a word... I looked it up immediately after, and I was like, sooooo close. But no cigar.

I'm sure there's papers written in linguistics about the ability to understand your own language when it's badly mangled; I think that's where my talents lie. I look back at the 'English' I was able to decipher from tourists in NYC; they were getting more of the sounds wrong than right, but I could make sense of it. How does that work? All of the vowels were wrong and half of the consonants, but I still understood it. I think English speakers deal with a lot of diverse regional accents, that's my theory.

My talents do not lie in being able to remember irregular verbs in spanish. Fact.

When I listen to the Dustin video, he doesn't sound like a true porteno, because I can understand him; it's super clear pronunciation as opposed to the guy who installed my ACs this week, Mr. Mumbles.

1. The ability to learn foreign languages decreases with age.... !
2. Bilingual individuals have higher ability to understand mispronounced words. For instance understanding the Chino at the super.
3. Less educated persons sort of block themselves when hearing a mangled language.
4. Better use the voice translator

 

[ShoeMakerLevy9]

I would politely suggest that you go back and re-read the definition of Dunning-Kruger effect.

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. It was first described by David Dunning and Justin Kruger in 1999. Some researchers also include the opposite effect for high performers: their tendency to underestimate their skills.

As can be seen from the above, what you are citing is not the main thrust of it, but a corollary which is not universally accepted..

I was tempted to read the 50 pages long pdf but eventually gave up.
My understanding is that they both observed two independent phenomena: the high-skilled underestimated how capable they were and the opposite happened with those who scored low.
I fail to see why the result involving high-scorers is a corollary of the main conclusion. While we agree on what the main thrust of the study is, people who know less overestimate their abilities, you could do a study focused only on experts underestimating themselves and you'd get similar results.
If I'm wrong feel free to correct me; I don't feel like quoting the DK effect and end up being a perfect example of it.

 

[ShoeMakerLevy9]

I think the reason why most native English speakers can understand English, regardless of how broken it is, is the fact that you're exposed to non-native speakers using it all the time.
Although I have to say many out there simply don't care and don't make the effort to make sense of what you're saying if you're not speaking phonetically flawlessly.

 

[LuckyLuke]

I look back at the 'English' I was able to decipher from tourists in NYC; they were getting more of the sounds wrong than right, but I could make sense of it. How does that work? All of the vowels were wrong and half of the consonants, but I still understood it. I think English speakers deal with a lot of diverse regional accents, that's my theory.

This is one of my pet peeves. Growing up in Los Angeles, I was well accustomed to listening to broken English spoken by foreigners from all over the world. However, I've found the vast majority of Argentines that I've encountered are completely unprepared for even slightly broken Spanish. Even mild verb substitutions confuse them. The other day I was asked why I was in line at the bank and because I said "para charlar con el cajero" instead of "para hablar con el cajero", the lady got confused. God forbid I use "platicar" instead. Moments like this really highlight just how homogenous and unexposed most Argentines are.

Don't get me started on English words phonetically pronounced down here. I recall my first moment landing in Ezeiza and asking in Spanish for a "waffle" from starbucks only to be met by a blank cashier stare. She finally realized I wanted the "wafflay". I can update my status on "faybook" or ask for the "weefee" code.

Reminds me of this nugget of gold...

 

[FrankPintor]

It's really not that bad here. If you really want to struggle, go to Brazil, where there is an absolute need to add a vowel to every word, particularly foreign ones. Pingy pongy (for table-tennis) and Pinky-Floydjy (for the band) are well enough known.

My favourite, personal, anecdote is from when I was working on a pretty awful project in Sao Paulo, and towards the end of the month the workload would pile up, so on those evenings it was necessary to make it to the local shopping centre before 11pm to stock up on food and refreshment.

One late night I happily discovered a kiosk selling healthy fruit juices (fruit juice in Brazil is amazing), so I scanned the menu over the kiosk and told the girl, because I dare to string a few words together in Portuguese: "Quero um suco red por favor". This was to be a juice made from red fruits like raspberries, strawberries, and the like, perfect for the all-nighter I was about to pull. And "red" is "red", no arguments, I pronounced it like it's meant to be. Of course, I got a completely blank expression in return, even after several tries, with the girl unable to even pronounce the word "red".

So we had a few frustrating minutes (for me) of pointing at the menu, her twisting her head to see the menu and counting down the column, until we finally identified the correct line and enlightenment dawned on the girls face, and she said: "Ah!! Um suco hedgy"! "Hedgy"!! It's at times like that when you just want to give up and go home

On the other hand, there was a place selling "escondidinho" in that shopping centre, so comfort was at hand

 

[jbeas176]

in my second year of studying spanish i used to dream in spanish alot using words i didn’t know. go figure

 

[mageesa]

1. The ability to learn foreign languages decreases with age.... !
2. Bilingual individuals have higher ability to understand mispronounced words. For instance understanding the Chino at the super.
3. Less educated persons sort of block themselves when hearing a mangled language.
4. Better use the voice translator

4. I ran a WA message from a driver through the translator, and it couldn't understand it either. I felt a bit vindicated when my local amiga couldn't understand half of it; but she figured out enough for me to hire the flete. In person, I could hear him better; especially the curses as they hauled my ropero up a flight of stairs...

 

[msachen]

As a limited linguist, the mental gymnastics of thinking about what I want to say in English , then thinking about what I can say in Spanish, then piecing it together in my mind and speaking it aloud is draining. Then trying to listen to the response in Spanish, translating it in my mind to English… damn, I’m a frigging idiot!

 

[Rich One]

This is one of my pet peeves. Growing up in Los Angeles, I was well accustomed to listening to broken English spoken by foreigners from all over the world. However, I've found the vast majority of Argentines that I've encountered are completely unprepared for even slightly broken Spanish. Even mild verb substitutions confuse them. The other day I was asked why I was in line at the bank and because I said "para charlar con el cajero" instead of "para hablar con el cajero", the lady got confused. God forbid I use "platicar" instead. Moments like this really highlight just how homogenous and unexposed most Argentines are.

Don't get me started on English words phonetically pronounced down here. I recall my first moment landing in Ezeiza and asking in Spanish for a "waffle" from starbucks only to be met by a blank cashier stare. She finally realized I wanted the "wafflay". I can update my status on "faybook" or ask for the "weefee" code.

Reminds me of this nugget of gold...

Your XP with the "Cajero contact" at the bank was hilarious. Same thing happens to Spanish speakers from other Spanish speaking countries.

 

[iggysnacks]

it never fails to amaze me how many long time expats in BA have such limited spanish. i’ve been here 5 years, starting with virtually no knowledge of the language, and here is a list of things i have done in spanish:
-negotiated rental contracts
-fallen in love
-received a dressing down from a government inspector
-sufficiently charmed the government inspector as to avoid fines
-pitched and closed 100kusd of investment in a restaurant (local argentine funder)
-broken hearts
-interviewed on national TV
-managed obreros in two different worksites

this is all without taking classes or using duolingo, but with a heavy emphasis on making argentine friends and refusing to hang out with other gringos. y’all who have limited spanish just need to go out more and actually have conversations with people who aren’t your maid or the guy in the carnecería!