Do We Have Any Members Here

[JR]

Even though I don't particulary care for Parisians in general as I think the majority I have dealt with are very rude to Americans. Frankly.. I would never visit Paris again and spend my money. Having said that... I would visit the French country-side where I found the non-Parisians extremely friendly,

I've had my run-ins with Parisians. I have determined, though, that they are pretty much like New Yorkers. It's a big, tough city, and sometimes there just isn't enough time in the day to deal with foreigners. Other times you meet wonderfully helpful people. C'est la vie.

JR

[ironhat]

[quote=gerti;407293]My first language is German. What drove my wife (Minnesota Girl) crazy in Germany is that Germans trying to be helpful tend to correct foreigners, which ticks most Americans off who think it is rude. Different cultures...
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[quote]

That explains something for me. A couple of lifetimes ago I was a teacher. During an open house I introduced myself to a mother as Mr. Eisenhuth (eyes-en-hooth). She shot back, "Ice-en-hoot. Ack, nebah de 'h' "(on the end). Heck, I thought it was cool that I had learned to correctly pronounce my last name. Not offended at all. You said, diffferent cultures and I'll add, different personalities.

[dbhost]

My first language is English. OK, American English. It doesn't bother me when I hear someone with a different first language try using English. But it does bother me to have to call customer service, when they send the call to India or some other country (one of my pet peeves). I almost always have a real hard time communicating with them.

Ed

I know that feeling!

Honestly, If I am calling customer service, for a company that is based in the United States, say Computer Maker A, to get warranty parts or whatever... I HATE having to talk to somebody that can hardly speak understandable English, let alone the technical nomenclature of the computer industry or whatever...

When I called the hotel in Cancun LOML and I stayed at, I tried carrying the conversation on entirely in Spanish. I failed, but I tried. They were nice, friendly, and helped me find the words I was missing when they could understand me enough.

I would hate to say the rude folks in Quebec are representative of French speaking people everywhere, or of Canadians... Or even of Quebec... The Canadians I have met have almost all been first rate. I run into more jack***es in traffic in Houston... Maybe not quite as bad as New York or L.A., but close enough... I swear cities are designed to drive people to be rude and crazy sometimes...

[vaking]

France is the only country I know at this time that has laws protecting purity of french language. French radiostations, newspapers are made responsible by french government for making sure they use proper french words and not polute their language with english words. So I think that french is a particular case here.
There is one more thing I want to add. Being friendly to a person on a street asking directions is not the same as willing to maintain official conversation in a foreign language. I am not a native english speaker (I am from Eastern Europe). At some point in the past I emigrated to United States and in the process my wife and I had an interview with US ambassador in Italy. That meeting was deciding whether we get our American Visas or not, so it was important to us. I made a point of utilizing the interpreter provided by the embassy. I had 2 reasons for doing so. Firstly -my wife at the time was not fluent in English and I wanted her to be a full participant in the conversation. Secondly - going through the interpreter gave me extra time to think of my answers. I wanted to use every advantage I could during an important interview. Please note - during my emigration I was working myself as english interpreter in another organization. I really did not need help and would have been more than willing to speak english in different settings. So if you are speaking with customers, discussing warranty terms or some other intricate subjects - I can see customer pushing for you speaking his language. Just because he can - does not mean he can do it as easily as in his native tongue.

[footprintsinconc]

the french from quebec have a different problem with english. the orthodox type of french quebec natives are at war with the rest of english speaking canada. i mean, we had to learn english all the way to grade 9. the rest of canada, has to bend backwards to keep them in canada.

everything in canada has to be in both english and french except of course in quebec, it only needs to be in french. stop while you are in quebec and ask for directions in english, they'll just ignore you. nothing in quebec needs to be in eglish. every years, hundred of thousands of dollars are spent in translating everything the govt documents into french, all labels on merchandise, .... its simply a waste.

so when the guy refused to speak to you in english, its because he has a grudge and an axe to grind agaist english. plain and simple, but its sad.

[shoottx]

Like many of you my native language is American. I forget who commented that England and the US are two great nations separated by a common language.

I have had the good fortune to travel all over the world, and the only place I could not be understood in english was in London.