Speak english, please.

[alltherage]

I think lots of people would agree that whispering in front of someone is very rude, and that it creates a paranoia that whatever is being whispered is about you.

That being said, it really chaps my ass when people talk in another language right in front of me. I'm not talking about random people having personal conversations on a bus or something, but when you are engaged in a conversation with someone and they turn to someone else to say something in another language. It's like that stupid TD Canada Trust commercial with the asian couple thinking about granite counters and such, and the financial planner says something about a breakfast nook... the couple says something in what I think was Chinese to each other and then look at the planner and say "No, we're not nook people."

I bloody hate it. I repsect that other people want to exercise their language and so forth, but I think it should only be done in personal conversation or at home. It should be common courtesy.

[BlackArcher101]

Where's that popcorn emoticon?

edit: Thanks alltherage!

[alltherage]

Haha, no worries.

[Devils'Advocate]

I think a lot of this was covered here:
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...hlight=english

I dunno. I was in the lunch room the other day with two Chinese people.

Chinese fellow A: "Do you have a wife?"
Chinese fellow B: "Yes, yes I do."
Chinese fellow A: "I lost mine. Can I borrow yours?"
Chinese fellow B: "HOW DO YOU MEAN?!?!"

Hilarity ensued. Evidently fellow A meant "knife", but me and the other guy definitely heard "wife".

And that's a case where they would have been better off talking in Mandarin and not converted to english just because I was there.

And I am as guilty as all sin as per the OP original complaint. I'll be in a meeting where I know for a fact that there is a unilingual francophone in the room, and if I can't find the words to ask the question I need to ask or I can't express my opinion in the way that I need to in french, I'll switch over to english. If it is something that that person needs to know, I'll ask that what I said be translated. Call it rude if you will, but I think it more important that we accomplish the goals of the meeting than it is to be 1000% inclusive.

[PIMking]

come to iowa!

We have mexicans that cant stand this country and bad talk the country but yet refuse to go back because my taxes pay for their medical and they dont pay taxes and yet refuse to learn english.

I know german also (german mother and being born and lived in germany for my first 5 years on this planet)

I am tired of these tree huggers love hippies that these mexicans should get everything that we americans earned.

It sucks that everything has spanish on it. It sucks that you cant get a job in alot of places because I refuse to learn spanish.

[Ozy_Flame]

I agree. It's also pretty rampant at some Asian restaurants around the city. While I know they're more comfortable talking in Chinese / Korean / Vietnamese or what have you, I just find it a little rude, like you're not supposed to know what they're talking about, which also leads me to believe they offer different menus to people who don't speak their language. My Chinese friend explained this to me; they'll give you another type of menu if you're not Chinese and can't speak Chinese at a Chinese restaurant.

I find it rude as well.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

And I am as guilty as all sin as per the OP original complaint. I'll be in a meeting where I know for a fact that there is a unilingual francophone in the room, and if I can't find the words to ask the question I need to ask or I can't express my opinion in the way that I need to in french, I'll switch over to english. If it is something that that person needs to know, I'll ask that what I said be translated. Call it rude if you will, but I think it more important that we accomplish the goals of the meeting than it is to be 1000% inclusive.

There's a difference between switching to another language out of necessity and what (I think) the OP is talking about, where 2 or more people start talking in another language just because.

I've experienced the latter, where 2 people I've been out to dinner with, who are completely fluent in english, turn to each other and start conversing in German, which they know the other three of us don't speak a lick of.

IMO, there's no difference between that and leaning over and whispering, and both are very rude.

[HelloHockeyFans]

This actually just popped into my head while reading this thread, but I spent four years in Ottawa while in university and people would do this all the time to me, except in French.

Is that different because French is an official language even though they know I don't speak it?

[Option84]

I repsect that other people want to exercise their language and so forth, but I think it should only be done in personal conversation or at home.


The logic is astounding!

[TheCommodoreAfro]

Meh. If you don't know another language, in my experience this is a defense response to cover up some kind of deep seeded insecurity. Defense response is "I can't figure out what's going on so it's got to be something THEY don't want me to hear". Most of the time it's just a more efficient way of communication, and it has nothing to do with getting something secret over on you.

My advice is to not worry about unless they begin pointing and laughing at you. Try and learn a language yourself and you lose this response right away, especially if you find yourself in a foreign country where you can't get by solely on your mother tongue.

PIMking said: We have mexicans that cant stand this country and bad talk the country but yet refuse to go back because my taxes pay for their medical and they dont pay taxes and yet refuse to learn english.

I would think that your taxes largely go into a fund to help fund a war in Iraq. On a dollar paid basis, those Mexican folks living in your country get maybe 0.00000000001% of your tax dollar. And in terms of assimilation, maybe they refuse to speak English because of an unrealistic expectation that they are supposed to immediately assimilate into your country and speak perfect English. As an American, I would think that if you were in China you'd probably hang out with other native English speakers and see no problem with it - there's no difference with Mexicans in the US, IMHO.

[Thor]

I'm assuming those of you complaining are usually not immigrants or people who speak 1 language?

My family emigrated here in the 80's, the parents took some time getting the finite part of english down and we'd often run into situations where they'd say something in Icelandic to us to ask what the word was in English or to clear something up.

I've spoken Icelandic in public tons, the 99% of the time in the 20yrs I speak it in public is because of comfort for the person I'm speaking to, lately thats just visitors or family from Iceland, not because I'm talking about you or talking behind peoples backs.

Oddly enough, even in another language, the first inclination of a foreign speaking person is not to talk about you, its to talk to each other in a language that is comfortable to speak for them..

Its not ironically all about you

[Joborule]

Ya, I get this with some of my friends. Makes me wonder why they do it...

[Drunk Skunk]

Originally Posted by PIMking

come to iowa!

We have mexicans that cant stand this country and bad talk the country but yet refuse to go back because my taxes pay for their medical and they dont pay taxes and yet refuse to learn english.

I know german also (german mother and being born and lived in germany for my first 5 years on this planet)

I am tired of these tree huggers love hippies that these mexicans should get everything that we americans earned.

It sucks that everything has spanish on it. It sucks that you cant get a job in alot of places because I refuse to learn spanish.

I call BS. There are a lot of places that will hire you without having to speak Spanish.

[OilersBaby]

Yeah but what happens in parts of California is that more people speak Spanish or Vietnamese or an East Indian language than English.......so then should everyone speak that other language because the other language is majority (usually happens with Spanish)? The English language becomes a minority in many Californian areas.

[jtfrogger]

I think it depends on the context. And I believe that in most cases it is okay.

In the TD commercial you're are talking about, it is clear that English is not their first language. They changed languages to figure out what a breakfast nook was. It was obvious what was going on. If you get insecure about something like that, what do you think they talk about when you leave the room?

I've been on both sides of this. I grew up in a bilingual home and switching languages was normal and natural. There were times when other people in the room didn't speak one language or the other. I know we have had brief discussions in a language that someone didn't understand, usually about some mundane task like putting out the dishes or something.

I've also been on the other side of the table, and have never been bothered by it. It is usually pretty easy to figure out the context of the discussion.

Now, if it was a lengthy conversion or was accompanied by pointing and laughing, then I would consider it rude. But I have personally never seen this happen outside of a junior high setting.

[4X4]

Heh, I was just laughing the other day because I was riding with a polish friend and another polish friend called and they spoke english. I used to be mildly annoyed that some of my friends would speak polish or tagalog or something and now that I couldn't give a rat's arse, they don't do it anymore. Maybe it's because they've passed the halfway point where they've lived in Canada longer than they lived in their old country.

And on that note, when I lived in Italy, I often felt bad for conversing in English blatantly. It really made me think about how I used to be annoyed by other people speaking their native tongue in front of me. I guess it really opened my eyes. It takes much more than that to annoy me now (like left laners!)....

[Russic]

Agreed with OP. Speaking another language is fine, but having a private conversation within the context of a group when not everybody knows the language is basically the same as whispering ... which is about the most annoying thing in the world. God i hate people that whisper in group settings.

^^ I also see 4x4's point. Often times when individuals complain about people speaking another language I wonder what I would do if I picked up and moved to China or India. Would I learn the language? Of course. Would I speak it all the time? Absolutely not. As long as people aren't using the language in a way that I would deem to be rude, I really don't care what they speak.

[Ice]

My office has a lot of Spanish speaking people. I find rudeness really depends on the situation. Sometimes its obvious that they sort of slip into Spanish because that's their first language. However, when they do, one of them will usually look toward those of us who don't speak that language and say something like "sorry, we were saying we might need an earlier flight in order to make the meeting on time." I think that's a great way of including people around you who can't understand you. Its not like you're in a setting of having a private conversation when there's a group present.

Years ago, I worked with some girls who spoke Spanish and they'd sit in the breakroom and talk about other people who were in there. Every day at lunch, they'd be at a table gossping in Spanish. Now, I'm not totally comfortable speaking Spanish, but I did take it for three years in high school and three years in college so I understand A LOT. I'll never forget this one day when a client spoke to me in Spanish because he couldn't speak English. I had no choice but to answer him and continue a conversation in Spanish. The look on the gossipy Latina girls faces were priceless. They never spoke Spanish around me again, because they knew I could understand them. Hilarious.

[RougeUnderoos]

Shucks.

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by Ice

My office has a lot of Spanish speaking people. I find rudeness really depends on the situation. Sometimes its obvious that they sort of slip into Spanish because that's their first language. However, when they do, one of them will usually look toward those of us who don't speak that language and say something like "sorry, we were saying we might need an earlier flight in order to make the meeting on time." I think that's a great way of including people around you who can't understand you. Its not like you're in a setting of having a private conversation when there's a group present.

Years ago, I worked with some girls who spoke Spanish and they'd sit in the breakroom and talk about other people who were in there. Every day at lunch, they'd be at a table gossping in Spanish. Now, I'm not totally comfortable speaking Spanish, but I did take it for three years in high school and three years in college so I understand A LOT. I'll never forget this one day when a client spoke to me in Spanish because he couldn't speak English. I had no choice but to answer him and continue a conversation in Spanish. The look on the gossipy Latina girls faces were priceless. They never spoke Spanish around me again, because they knew I could understand them. Hilarious.

Did you videotape their faces? Were they priceless faces, like .