What ever happened to a little patience?

[DirtyDawg]

Quebec is a clear example of a situation where LACK of a common language has led to disunity. When Britain took over Quebec at the end of the Seven Years War they allowed the French speaking communities to continue using French as their official governmental language -- since then there have been periodic surges of secessionist emotion exploited by politicians.

 

And Switzerland has four official languages and doesn't have periodic surges of secessionist emotion. Now that's one example for your assertion and one against. The question is, is Switzerland the the exception or the rule? Or is Quebec? We can debate that until the cows come home but it is way too far off topic for this thread.

 

Be patient, we''ll get to it.;)

[navybankerteacher]

And Switzerland has four official languages and doesn't have periodic surges of secessionist emotion. Now that's one example for your assertion and one against. The question is, is Switzerland the the exception or the rule? Or is Quebec? We can debate that until the cows come home but it is way too far off topic for this thread.

 

Be patient, we''ll get to it.;)

 

While Switzerland has four official languages, it is populated largely by multilinguals - many of whom speak at least three and virtually all of whom speak at least two fluently - so there is not the divisive effect which exists in Quebec where very many speak just English or just French. I think we can agree that Switzerland is extremely exceptional in many ways - how many countries in Europe profited so very handsomely in the 1940's?

[parallax]

I think succession movements are extremely complexed and based on numerous issues. Language ma play a limited part but it may also have no relevancy. Scotland's movement to succeed from the UK is a prime example.

[DirtyDawg]

I think succession movements are extremely complexed and based on numerous issues. Language ma play a limited part but it may also have no relevancy. Scotland's movement to succeed from the UK is a prime example.

 

Darn another example of Navy's assertion that speaking different languages leads to secessionist emotions. Can you understand anything a Scotsman says.:p;)

[chengkp75]

And Switzerland has four official languages and doesn't have periodic surges of secessionist emotion. Now that's one example for your assertion and one against. The question is, is Switzerland the the exception or the rule? Or is Quebec? We can debate that until the cows come home but it is way too far off topic for this thread.

 

Be patient, we''ll get to it.;)

 

And New Brunswick is officially bilingual, and I've never heard of them striving for independence.

 

I took 3 years of high school French, and I can barely string three words together in any coherent fashion. I agree that the US public education model of language learning is vastly flawed.

 

I can't remember where its from, but the quote "everyone understands English if you say it loud enough", is to me an embarrassing fact of life today.

[DirtyDawg]

And New Brunswick is officially bilingual, and I've never heard of them striving for independence.

 

I took 3 years of high school French, and I can barely string three words together in any coherent fashion. I agree that the US public education model of language learning is vastly flawed.

 

I can't remember where its from, but the quote "everyone understands English if you say it loud enough", is to me an embarrassing fact of life today.

 

Don't forget about the Yukon (English and French), NWT and Nunavut (English and several Inuit languuages). But to be fair, I do hear rumblings that Nunavut wants to join up with Turks and Caicos.:eek: But I don't think it's a language thing.;)

[chengkp75]

Don't forget about the Yukon (English and French), NWT and Nunavut (English and several Inuit languuages). But to be fair, I do hear rumblings that Nunavut wants to join up with Turks and Caicos.:eek: But I don't think it's a language thing.;)

 

Would ice floes constitute "offshore" banking? :D

[DirtyDawg]

would ice floes constitute "offshore" banking? :d

 

lol :d:d

[cruznjan]

I find one reason some people don't understand foreign speakers is because as soon as they hear the accent, they stop listening. I think the unfamiliar speech pattern causes the shut-down. I used to work in customer service and my co-workers would complain about not understanding the people on the phones. I had no problem because I listened. If you really don't understand what has been said, ask the person to repeat it.

[SeaMystique]

I thin a lot fortress attitudes depend on where you're from and how much exposure you've had to other cultures. I taught ESL in the Los Angeles public schools for years, and I'm use to every variety of accent. Filipinos are a major ethnic group here; communicating with my steward was a snap because I'm familiar with his accent and inflections. There were 29 languages spoken in the high school where I taught. If you don't live near or spend time with people from other cultures, you may end up acting like some of the not-beautiful Americans we've all seen abroad.

Travel is supposed to broaden your horizons -- let it! Otherwise you might as well sail on a Cruise to Nowhere. [emoji1]

[SeaMystique]

Wo, I mean "I think a lot of people's attitudes", etc. Apple thinks it can spell better than me, but it can't read my mind... Yet.

[wishIweretravelling]

I used to have a job that required me to speak with people from all over the world on a daily basis. In the conversations in English, the people I had the most trouble understanding were from Birmingham, England. Non-native English speakers were usually much easier to understand.

 

Oh, and eastern Tennessee accents are close to Birmingham. There's something in the pronunciations that my ear just seems to tune out.

[Velvetwater]

I used to have a job that required me to speak with people from all over the world on a daily basis. In the conversations in English' date=' the people I had the most trouble understanding were from Birmingham, England. Non-native English speakers were usually much easier to understand.

 

Oh, and eastern Tennessee accents are close to Birmingham. There's something in the pronunciations that my ear just seems to tune out.[/quote']

 

My Brummie friends would take great offence to being compared to a Southern accent! Both are fine to understand but then again I live a short train ride from Birmingham so its pretty normal for me.

 

Part of my responsibility in my teaching profession is looking after all the newly arrived children from different countries in our school and thats a lot as we currently have 40+ different languages with 13 different ones in my own class. A good 70% of my parents still speak their Urdu/Mirpuri/Punjabi accent and its fine (we also have staff with the same tongue if they really cannot speak english).

 

I really enjoy communicating and helping these children and their families and I hate it when people just speak louder in English to try and make someone else understand or get impatient with people that do not speak their language. I probably met the same proportion of languages on the ship as I do at school and no communication barriers at all...I even knew a few phrases in the European languages of the staff I encountered.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Velvetwater

[navybankerteacher]

As an ESL instructor with Literacy Volunteers my most challenging student was a Pashtun speaking Afghan who had been temporarily sheltered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in a UK staffed camp. His most interesting comment as we went through our early struggles to communicate was that American was a little like English.

[Talisker92]

I was standing inline under the Eiffel Tower waiting for my appointed time to go up. I turned to the man in front of me and asked in French if it was the line for 9:30.

He looked at me and snarled,"English", so I asked him again in English. Turns out he was from the Midwest

[pseudoware]

I was standing inline under the Eiffel Tower waiting for my appointed time to go up. I turned to the man in front of me and asked in French if it was the line for 9:30.

He looked at me and snarled,"English", so I asked him again in English. Turns out he was from the Midwest

Wow, did that jerk call you a frog or something, too?

 

"Je suis désolé. Je ne comprends pas le français" is the first thing I learned for my first visit to France.

[sail7seas]

I thin a lot fortress attitudes depend on where you're from and how much exposure you've had to other cultures. I taught ESL in the Los Angeles public schools for years, and I'm use to every variety of accent. Filipinos are a major ethnic group here; communicating with my steward was a snap because I'm familiar with his accent and inflections. There were 29 languages spoken in the high school where I taught. If you don't live near or spend time with people from other cultures, you may end up acting like some of the not-beautiful Americans we've all seen abroad.

Travel is supposed to broaden your horizons -- let it! Otherwise you might as well sail on a Cruise to Nowhere. [emoji1]

 

Most of us don't have the professional training and experience with language as you. We don't all have an ear for 'languages'. Frankly, there are many U.S. born and 'educated' people who can barely put a sentence together let alone a paragraph. :eek: