Foreign languages in public

[RantyRaymond]

I live in a city that has had a large influx of people from the middle east, and the city is changing. I don't mind that part, honestly. It's cool to have a sub-culture in the city.

What bothers me is so much is that many businesses in the heart of this part of town have completely switched to Arabic signage, and don't have ANY english in the store.

Furthermore, it is really starting to annoy me that in public (like at the Civic center gym) many of these people will be talking (sometimes in english) and when I get close enough, I hear them speaking in arabic.

I get it, it's your primary language. I don't mind if you use it at home or somewhere that everyone understands, but when 10-25% of people can't?

Anyway, thanks for having a place to go off, this has been bugging me for a few weeks.


OH, AND THE CAR THAT PULLS UP TO THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE TWICE A DAY AND HONKS THE SECOND THEY PULL UP: STOP IT ALREADY.
*huffs*

[Spud17]

Furthermore, it is really starting to annoy me that in public (like at the Civic center gym) many of these people will be talking (sometimes in english) and when I get close enough, I hear them speaking in arabic.

I get it, it's your primary language. I don't mind if you use it at home or somewhere that everyone understands, but when 10-25% of people can't?

You're just butthurt because you couldn't eavesdrop on someone else's convo and understand them. The reason why people revert back to their native tongue when nosey strangers are approaching is for privacy.

So, these arabic speakers should only speak in that language in the privacy of their own homes, and somewhere amongst other arabic speakers? I'm English and am fluent in arabic. What would you have me do - stand in the corner waiting for permission to speak? Get a grip, get a clue, get a life, get something ffs.

Leave your house once in a while, seriously.

[RantyRaymond]

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought this was a place to RANT, let off a little steam, without being politically correct.

I'll leave now.

[Spud17]

How is political correctness connected to you not understanding a convo?

[sporkium]

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought this was a place to RANT, let off a little steam, without being politically correct.

this absolutely is a place for ranting, but you just seem to be bitching and whining. additionally, you bitch and whine unsmartly.

if the arabs don't want you to over hear them while they talk about their terrorist plots, that's their business; stop being so nosy.

[srijantje]

yes,and please stop using that sign language at street corners,I don't get it at all

[land_stander]

Being an English speaker in a not-so-much Eng speaking country, I sometimes take advantage of and ENJOY that cloak of secrecy that changing languages gives you.

On the torrent forums I can't understand the ranting against video files with subtitles. These files may have other issues but the complaint that the subs RUIN there viewing experience is provocative./

Along that vein, it seems like a rather new thing (isn't it?) that there are more American TV drams which use subtitles - I'm thinking of Heroes, and more recently The Bridge.

In the past (it seems like) it was enough on TV to just know that a group of characters were speaking foreign - and they were terrorists, or they were being grateful or nutty or whatever... no need for subs or translation.

Has the Amer viewing audience actually expanded their tolerance or hearing foreign languages, in contrast to the op's rant?

(This post was last modified: 10-11-2013, 06:29 AM by land_stander.)

[System Folder]

Rather than merely complaining that they're not speaking English, why not use your curiosity as an incentive to learn Arabic?

[suicide boi]

Well? I though English speakers are notorious for going into non English speaking countries and insisting on speaking English to them.

[velvetfog]

People who have English as their mother tongue suffer from a significant handicap when it comes to learning other languages.
English is actually the world's easiest language to learn, which makes it far easier for non English speakers to learn English,
than it is for English speakers to learn other, much more complex languages.
Personally I speak several languages.
When I was a child, my parents would switch to Brazilian Portuguese when they didn't want us kids to understand their private conversations.
Because my parents had spent many years stationed in Rio de Janeiro, they were both fluent in Portuguese, which my sister and I did not understand.

In private conversations, people are entitled to use whatever language that suits them.
When I talk on the phone to my cousin in New York, we usually speak a European language dialect that only around 200,000 people understand.
If you are upset because you are unable to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, perhaps it is time for you to start taking some foreign language courses.

(This post was last modified: 11-26-2013, 05:44 PM by velvetfog.)