I was recently talking to a friend that said people treat her poorly because of her accent, and at parties they tend to cut her off and walk away. Do you do this? Why do you think people are rude?
2007-04-25 08:02:52 · 12 answers · asked by trueblue88 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
I try to be as polite and patient as possible when talking to people whose first language is not English, because my grandparents, who came over from Sweden, were never fluent in English and I remember the rudenesses they had to suffer.
Plain fact: English is a difficult language to speak, and for people to learn it as an adult is really hard. Some people just can never speak it well, and that does not make them bad people or stupid people.
I think people countenance rudeness to non-English speakers because of a lack of compassion or understanding, or a (mistaken) sense of superiority. Or, worse yet, a kind of jingoism: "If you can't speak English, go back to where you came from!"
Sad. There seems to be shortage of compassion in the world.
2007-04-25 08:51:54 · answer #1 · answered by Karin C 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. I think people with accents are fine, and I try to learn something of their language if possible.
In my opinion, if you have a store owner down the street that has a hard time speaking English, you should befriend him or her and try to learn some of their language. In the exchange, they will learn more English, and you will become smarter by virtue of knowing some pieces of another language.
The human brain is capable of learning many languages. If Americans were multilingual -- I.e. not just knew English and maybe a smattering of Spanish but several languages each, we would be an incredibly competitive country.
All parents should make sure their children can speak English and Spanish. If the children could also learn Chinese or Indian, that would be fantastic.
2007-04-25 08:13:42 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm not rude to people but I know what you're talking about...
People tend to have this feeling of dominance when in America especially with minorities. So they think that they can just push them around because they are the "majority"
I'm Asian and even if I don't get treated poorly people in my town have this extreme portuguese pride and my when I'm around my friends, they have these inside portuguese jokes and ofcourse they are in portuguese and they know that I'm right there and I'm not going to understand. So yeah..I think it's because there's a majority, or atleast they think they are the majority and so they act like they're more dominant. Which sucks.
2007-04-25 08:09:53 · answer #3 · answered by Save A Tree [Remove a Bush] 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not at all. I think that's a horrible thing to do! I live in the US where most people speak either English or Spanish. When someone comes here and at least attempts to speak English to me, I'm kind to and patient with them, even if I do have to ask them to repeat themselves a time or two.
2007-04-25 08:22:04 · answer #4 · answered by brevejunkie 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not rude I just simply say (loudly) "I don't understand the words that be comin' out yo mouth"! You do know the louder you talk, the easier it is to understand.
Ok, I'm kidding but people always do that-if they don't understand you or whomever, they will raise their voice as if that makes them easier to understand. Funny!
2007-04-25 08:23:12 · answer #5 · answered by happyfacemommy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No but I think it has to do with the rudeness that Americans have. Think about it, when we go on vacation to other countries we expect the locals to speak English and if they don't speak it we talk to them loudly and slowly as if that will help. I think it's just ignorance.
2007-04-25 08:09:13 · answer #6 · answered by Enterrador 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't because they might reroute my flight to Phoenix
Or send me out the wrong food order
or . . .
Maybe people just drift off on her because they can't understand her .
Or , maybe she talks too long ? ( I've been known to babble )
Tell her to stop being paranoid and whining . . .
That for sure will get people to treat you rudely !
2007-04-25 08:18:58 · answer #7 · answered by kate 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not intentionally, but I am sure it comes across that way to them when it is such a heavy accent that I cannot understand their words.. the same way it comes across to me when they don't understand what I am saying.
2007-04-25 08:13:09 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I try not to be rude to people i can't understand.
as for why people do this, people fear that which they cannot understand, so they push it away from them, even if they don't realize it.(I know how that feels...)
2007-04-25 08:23:12 · answer #9 · answered by Black Hayate 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've encountered this. I just say "I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding you, can you speak slower?"
2007-04-25 16:01:06 · answer #10 · answered by Classy Granny 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋