All About Languages

[Guest love990024501]

I think it's cool how people try to learn languages outside of their own, especially Korean... Cuz I'm Korean.

The only cases where I hate it is when people write, say words in a different language squeezing them in their daily lives. I think it's pretty pathetic...

If they only do it occasionally or sometimes, I think it's cool/cute, but I just can'tt stand it when they try to act Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese or whatever by doing that.

[Guest longtusk]

I don't really get made fun of when I attemt to speak another language to someone who's a native of it, but they seem not to (pretend not to?) understand a word I'm saying anyway.

I mean I'm well aware of the fact that my accent is probably terrible, but surely it can't be THAT bad. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking

Makes me think of that thing I heard about that if a non-Asian person speaks Japanese to a Japanese person, even fluently, they won't get what they're saying because it doesn't compute with them that non-Japanese can speak Japanese. It's probably not 100% true of course, but pretty funny nonetheless.

But yeah.. I know I really admire it when people try to learn English, because it is HARD to learn a language, and the fact that they're even putting the effort in in the first place is really good. I hate it when someone's language skills aren't perfect and other people pretend not to understand them, like say if an Asian exchange student's trying to say something to a white person and they're just like "What? What? I can't understand what you're saying!" @_____@ It seriously PISSES ME OFF. It's like IT'S KIND OF OBVIOUS WHAT THEY'RE SAYING!!! MAYBE YOU SHOULD ACTUALLY PUT SOME EFFORT IN AND LISTEN TO THEM INSTEAD OF BEING SUCH AN @SSHOLE! *sigh* I dunno... and like with migrants and stuff.. it's hard enough already for them, so why can't people just put out a little and try to be nice?

Haha anyway sorry that got a little off-topic ^^;;

[Guest minwoogrl]

I think it's cool how people try to learn languages outside of their own, especially Korean... Cuz I'm Korean.

The only cases where I hate it is when people write, say words in a different language squeezing them in their daily lives. I think it's pretty pathetic...

If they only do it occasionally or sometimes, I think it's cool/cute, but I just can'tt stand it when they try to act Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese or whatever by doing that.

I'm trying to learn korean and sometimes I'll say hello in korean to my mom/dad/... just so I can learn/remember it and how to pronounce it. It's just my way of learning and that's how I become more comfortable with using it, when I actually do use it.

My friends like it's cool that i'm learning korean on my own, they don't make fun of me, but then they're not really suppose to becuase they're my friends:sweatingbullets:

[Guest urbanature]

I admire people who try to learn new languages. However, some people don't take the language seriously enough. Some annoying behaviors include:

1. Pronouncing words sloppily, and not making an effort to pronounce them correctly. I know that it's difficult to hear sound differences in foreign language, but some people don't even make an effort to acquire the proper accent. I grew up in the United States, and I don't know any Tagalog or Swahili, but I can discern when an American English-speaker is pronouncing Tagalog or Swahili badly. If I can hear someone's American-English accent in a language that I don't even know, then that person is not trying hard enough to pronounce the words correctly.

2. Grossly inflating one's competence in a language. Some idiots are unreasonably proud of the fact that they know how to say hello and goodbye in Korean and know the names of the ten Korean dishes that they frequently order at a restaurant. I took three years of Spanish in high school, but I don't claim to "know" Spanish. A language is a gigantic thing to master; one should be humble in the early learning stages.

3. Assuming that words/phrases in a foreign language directly translate into English, and vice versa. Have you ever met someone who asks, "How do you say ___ in [X language]?" And you tell that person how to say ___ (sort of, cause X is different from English), and that persons goes off and repeat it incorrect situations, or without the proper modifiers for tense/mood/whatever. But then when you tell the person, "No, actually, that's not entirely correct" that person is upset at you and doesn't even care to listen to your explanation. Yeah, I hate asshats who act like that.

I especially agree with number 2. I've had multiple people come up to me and say, "I CAN SPEAK CHINESE!!" only to hear "Hello" in Mandarin. And then when I tell them I speak Cantonese, they don't seem to understand that "Chinese" is vague and there are many dialects =_=

Of course, there are those people who really don't care, like at my school. They're in Spanish class and don't even bother pronouncing the SIMPLEST words correctly. Ie. the word "para" means "to/in order to". And they STILL pronounce it "pear-uh" as opposed to "pah-rah" like it's supposed to be. Don't even get me started on those who don't bother rolling their R's.

THOSE people deserve whatever they get their way, because they obviously just don't care enough. But that's Spanish, not an east Asian language... you get the idea though.

I take Spanish II...and I can't roll my R's >_<;; I really can't, I've tried many times and it doesn't...work, haha.

[Guest dream_weaver]

learning a language is probably one of the best ways to open up your mind, I wouldn't harbor ill feelings against anyone learning one even if they can't speak that well or are learning for funny reasons...

I think alot of us native English speakers take it for granted when other people try to learn English though..people who learn languages of smaller or less known countries tend to get quirkier reactions from the natives because alot are surprised that someone would want to take the time to learn their language, whereas with places like America it's basically expected of people to learn the language

I met a chinese guy who spoke almost flawless danish (asian vikings yo) and a black girl with good swedish, as second languages as well (english was their native language), they didn't even grow up there..it was awesome..would like to see it happen more often..I've been learning Japanese for years, I haven't felt any hostility at all..just curiosity

but I suppose certain diaspora groups in the US who feel their identity is threatened would react negatively to people trying to speak their language, and then again some people are just douchebags (unfiltered swear teehee)

i agreed with everything you just said. great post tamago!

[Guest nobody knows]

I take Spanish II...and I can't roll my R's >_<;; I really can't, I've tried many times and it doesn't...work, haha.

I think it's actually in a person's genetics to determine whether or not you can roll your R's

I think what she means is that

they don't care enough about the language to try to roll their r's

[Guest Malice_Kaiser]

I take Spanish II...and I can't roll my R's >_<;; I really can't, I've tried many times and it doesn't...work, haha.

Sorry, that was a poor choice of words. Rolling your R's is one thing, trilling them is another. Everyone can trill, not everyone can roll (two Rs calls for rolling, one R calls for trilling.) Trilling basically sounds like a D, hah hah. And yet people still don't do it even when they can. They just don't make any attempt to have a Spanish accent. I dunno, it just irks me, especially when the teacher never corrects them.

[GOOMBA]

i have this korean friend. he says that his friends that are korean usually make fun of the people who try to say korean words. that theyre wannabes or something.

i'm brought up in an area where i hear that every single day LOL

[Antz]

i love how we can learn new languages. it opens our minds and it's great to try something new. i love learning new languages. <3

and when someone is actually really good at the language... i'm totally amazed.

[Guest fei por]

I think it's very nice when people try to learn other languages. I have a Korean friend that teaches me Korean, and she's really nice and patient. I always pronounce the words wrong, but she doesn't laugh at me^^. She even tries to teach my other friends Korean.

[Guest tasty]

I hate it when someone's language skills aren't perfect and other people pretend not to understand them, like say if an Asian exchange student's trying to say something to a white person and they're just like "What? What? I can't understand what you're saying!" @_____@ It seriously PISSES ME OFF. It's like IT'S KIND OF OBVIOUS WHAT THEY'RE SAYING!!! MAYBE YOU SHOULD ACTUALLY PUT SOME EFFORT IN AND LISTEN TO THEM INSTEAD OF BEING SUCH AN @SSHOLE! *sigh* I dunno... and like with migrants and stuff.. it's hard enough already for them, so why can't people just put out a little and try to be nice?

lmao.

anyway, i think it's great.

hm . . . i'm learning korean right now, but i'm korean. i can understand, read and write basically. i want to be fluent in korean in 3 years time, just in time for graduation from uni.

i want to be fluent in spanish too but that'll take me forever.

[Guest XhoXho]

Whatttt?? THat is so mean. T.T

Sure I make fun of artists when they are speaking Japanese...like Uknow hahahaha. But it's all in good fun. I do get super annoyed when people say things really incorrectly, but said in context (like they don't just say it 'cause they think it's all I know or something <___<), it's really cool when people are learning and are practicing!

[Guest mal3ficum]

just cuz you wanna learn another language it doesn't make you a wannabe. i mean most (or all) schools give you another language to learn...

ppl usually learn another language for fun or because they want to know more about the culture ^-^ and theres absolutely nothing wrong with that

[Guest mickey012]

i have no problem teaching/helping other people if they want to learn chinese. i'm currently learning japanese myself...so i'm definitely not one of those "haters".

altho...if someone gets TOO into a language, then yes, they start to move into the "wannabe" group and that annoys me. i met this white girl last summer in japan thru my friend and she was super annoying. she would criticize you if you didn't know everything there is to know about japan...wth?

[Guest namlee]

I'm Korean but I suck at Korean.. I need some white Kpopper to teach me!!

[ChunJin]

Some are really amazing !

I found this on youtube in "most watched" videos thingy when you click the videos tab hehe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gps4LsEMBi0

I don't know how it sounds to a Japanese person but to me it sounds pretty good lol... o_O

[Guest azn_angel]

its really cool that people try to learn different languages ,

it's like they want to learn about different cultures and experience new things .

i'm flip and i was watching this filipino game show and these two white guys were on it ,

and they had to speak tagalog to play this game and i was really amazed at how good they were .

sure they didn't pronounce some things right but out of ten i'd give their tagalog skills an 8 .

like i don't consider them wannabes or anything , they just want a new adventure !

[Guest Joanne <3]

i personally havent encountered a person that seriously looked down on someone for trying to learn a language. i mean the usual haha at someone who makes a little mistake when trying to speak a foriegn language is normal, usually its only in a joking way.

Yeah, that's about the only type of looking down I've ever seen. Anyone who does otherwise is stupid. :| At least, that's how I see it.

so how about you? in your opinion do you think a person should just stick to his/her own language? does trying to learn a different language make you a wannabe? im especially looking for what sort of reaction a korean or japanese person would have on a foreign person learning korean, but i also want to see what other ethnicities[spelling?]think about language learners also.

A person should be able to choose to take up another language if they wish to do so. I mean, why put them down for it? O_o I just don't see the point. I'm Vietnamese, studying Japanese - nobody has ever put me down before, and if they were to do so, I'd slap them in the face. Likewise, I would never put anyone down for trying to learn Vietnamese - I find it difficult myself - so I would moreso respect them, rather than say nasty things.

in my case, im vietnamese and ive encountered many people who have wanted to learn my language, because i used to go to viet school to improve on my reading. i think its fine, sometimes a little funny when they continually say a word wrong, but nothing wrong in getting to know a culture better. usually the reactions i hear from my peers or the vietnamese teacher when non-native speaker does well is, "wow theyre really good, thats so interesting" i dont hear much about wannabes and such.

In contrast, I've actually never encountered anyone here studying Vietnamese. I never hear about wannabes either, thankfully.

[Guest yeppmusic7]

im only half korean and i REALLY

want to get better at Korean

i know a lot of stuff

not just the letters and numbers

but my vocabulary is large

but im not perfect at it

and a lot of my friends ask

me thing about the language

and if i dont know the answer

they'll just be like, oh but you're

Korean, you're SUPPOSED to know

everything, but i dont

just because you're Korean

doesnt mean you know everything

about the language =(

[Guest StylishAzNx07]

They are a**holes if they do that.

Everything has the right to learn.

Whether you are korean or something else...

OF COURSE esp if you aren't born and raised in korea, japan, etc...

you ARE going to have an accent...at least you'll make some mistakes..

and people should understand that...

I'm full korean but I was born/raised in the states, so I do make mistakes when I speak korean...

I speak it okay but I do make quite some mistakes...

And I absolutely hate it when a FOB or something....someone born in korea, etc...speaks flawless korean..

and they LAUGH at you cuz you have some accent.

It's like WTF .... ???

It's really tough gettin a language totally down....esp the accent....

Its hella embarassing but what can you do?