# Listening non-natives speak your language, poorly...



## meili

Hola Forer@s!

What or how do you feel when you hear a non-native speak your language - and not being so good at it? (sentence and grammar construction, appropriate words, and the like included).

Do you feel bad, annoyed, good or happy that people are trying (or learning) to speak your native toungue?

Is it the same case when you listen to them over the phone?

(I am very eager to hearing your answers.  I am not a native English or Spanish speaker but I speak both language - and having a hard time with Spanish.  Sometimes I feel so confident, sometimes I feel so lost - and cry).


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## redwine

I had a japanese classmate when I was in senior highschool, who was trying then to speak my language. well, i wasnt annoyed when she tried to converse in my language but when i felt that i need to clear up what she was trying to say, i had to answer her in japanese.

I am not that stringent when foreigners trying to speak my language....


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## timpeac

This only annoys me in those who, when you are visiting in their country, speak terrible English so you can't understand, but then refuse to speak their own language when you speak to them in it, and carry on talking unintelligible nonsense. But apart from that - no it doesn't annoy me when someone has a go at speaking English, especially if they're not very good at it, because they are only doing their best to communicate.


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## GenJen54

I am never bothered by someone trying to speak to me in English - even if they are speaking it poorly.  I always try to "tune in my ear" a bit more to catch what they are trying to say.  When all else fails, I either try to communicate with them in their language (assuming I have an understanding of it), or use a pen and pencil and ask them to draw something for me. 

As for correcting them, I only do so if the error is very obvious, or if they are really struggling with a word.  Otherwise, I let them carry on and do my best to understand them.

Either way, I find it a wonderful opportunity to connect with others. 

Likewise, I also hope others don't mind when I am attempting to speak to them in their native language.  I have always tried, as a tourist, to at least make a minimal attempt, even if it is a quick "hello" or "thank you."  The only time I have ever run into extreme difficulty was when visiting Budhapest. Yikes!


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## timpeac

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> I am never bothered by someone trying to speak to me in English - even if they are speaking it poorly. I always try to "tune in my ear" a bit more to catch what they are trying to say. When all else fails, I either try to communicate with them in their language (assuming I have an understanding of it), or use a pen and pencil and ask them to draw something for me.
> 
> As for correcting them, I only do so if the error is very obvious, or if they are really struggling with a word. Otherwise, I let them carry on and do my best to understand them.
> 
> Either way, I find it a wonderful opportunity to connect with others.
> 
> Likewise, I also hope others don't mind when I am attempting to speak to them in their native language. I have always tried, as a tourist, to at least make a minimal attempt, even if it is a quick "hello" or "thank you." The only time I have ever run into extreme difficulty was when visiting Budhapest. Yikes!


 
Yes I completely agree with this. I recently went to Greece for the first time, and it was only once I had arrived that I realised I had forgotten to learn the simple phrases, even hello and thank you. I was mortified! The first thing I did was buy a small phrase book. I think that even if all you can say is just a couple of words people really appreciate the effort.


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## LanceKitty

I don't mind those who speak English poorly... especially when you can see their effort to speak it right with hand gestures and facial contortions/expressions. But if they're obviously showing off that they know the language (albeit poorly because they know just the basics to get by) and slip up too many times then I'm bound to flinch. I must admit, the annoyance kicks in when I _read_ poorly written English. If the grammar is off, I can't help but cringe.


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## *Cowgirl*

Listening to non-natives speak my language incorrectly doesn't bother me.... On the other hand, listening to natives speak the language with no regard for basic grammar drives me up the wall. (especially if it's on billboards/marquees)


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## Edher

Saludos,

           I always find it quite flattering when I hear a non-native *actually * attempt to speak my mother tongue. I think it is one of the biggest complements one can receive because it shows the person's interest in your culture. Therefore, even if they sound horrible, the mere fact that they try is flattering. 

       However, the people that stupidly try to sound as though they are talking Spanish by answering "si" instead of "yes" or by saying "gracias, se~or" instead of "thank you" or "hola," I find it very rude and annoying. I take it as "I'm not really interested in your language, in fact I take it as a joke." 

Edher


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## MiriamArg

I've met French, British, Australian and American people in my city. Some of them could speak decent Spanish, others made lots of mistakes, and yet some others couldn't utter a single word in my mother tongue.
I don't think there's a point in getting mad at any of them. I don't see why I should get mad at all. There is no rule saying that you must speak Spanish in order to come to Argentina. If you speak the language, fine; you'll enjoy your stay. If you don't, then things will probably be a bit difficult for you. But then, what you do is up to you. Many argentinians speak more than one language, but it is not *our* duty to speak every language in the world only to understand or help foreign visitors. I do try to help them if I can, and I do it because I want to, not because I think I have to.
Now, my next comment is different from what I've read here so far, but, just as I don't feel I angry when foreigners don't speak Spanish, I can't say I feel flattered when when they do. Honestly, I think it would be silly on my part to believe they "are making an effort" or "seeking my approval". Perhaps they just want to understand and be understood while they are here, and that's all. Which, by the way, is ok with me.
 
I have an English friend who can't put two words togeher in Spanish that will make sense. Yet, we are friends. Languages are not high on my list of priorities when it comes to liking or not liking people. There are other things I consider far more important.
 
Now, hearing someone who can't make sense in their *first* language does make my mad, really mad.

Regards,
 
Miriam


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## mzsweeett

I do not get upset when non-native speakers try to talk with me. I only get bothered when after several attempts to politely correct or request clarification of pronounciation I get nowhere.

IMHO, non-native speakers should try to speak a bit more slowly so that the native speaker can more easily understand what they are trying to say. If you are speaking too fast with improper pronounciation.... the communication is going to be very difficult.

Other than that I love to hear non-natives speak.  I like the attention paid to good communication and interest in culture. 

Sweet T.


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## Swettenham

I love the way she whispers to me...

I could correct her little errors, but I wouldn't dare break the spell...


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## Benjy

YES. when i am perfectly capable of speaking to someone in their own language and they insist on garbling unintelligable english at me.. it makes me insane. 

also: maybe i'm the one with the problem BUT sometimes, there are times when it is really important to understand one another and when that is not happening i tend to get really frustrated.. not at the person talking, but at the situation. if that makes any sense?



			
				timpeac said:
			
		

> This only annoys me in those who, when you are visiting in their country, speak terrible English so you can't understand, but then refuse to speak their own language when you speak to them in it, and carry on talking unintelligible nonsense. But apart from that - no it doesn't annoy me when someone has a go at speaking English, especially if they're not very good at it, because they are only doing their best to communicate.


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## Markus

I think that people visiting this board are going to, in general, be pretty patient with non-native speakers.

As for the general population, I would like to make a broad generalisation. I think that English speakers are probably less patient with non-native speakers than speakers of other languages are. This is because we are relatively ignorant to the world outside our borders and very often we know _only_ English, so we have never had the experience of trying to learn another language. Also, we think that English is the only language that matters so we find it strange when someone doesn't know it well enough to communicate. It's like they don't even care enough to try to keep up with the modern world. All in all, this fits in quite well with the stereotype of the ignorant American who goes to France and jabbers away at everyone in English without even asking them if they speak it (and this stereotype is _true_ -- I've personally witnessed it at least five times in one month, just randomly on the street).

We also don't have any particular pride in our language like other cultures do. That is because we don't feel anything in particular robbing us of it. We're sort of like the heterosexuals who say, "Why do you need a gay pride parade? We don't need a straight pride parade!" Therefore we don't feel any particular pride when someone tries to speak English, unlike other languages who will feel proud that others are attempting to learn their language and will help them along.

Anyway, I'm finished making broad stereotypes. I'm even going to throw the British into that pile just for fun. If they would like to debunk me they are more than welcome.


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## Benjy

i think most english people are amazed by the lengths that other people go to to learn english. mostly because we are so bad at learning foreign languages ourselves.

on the continent in my own experience i (and other fellow brits who have lived abroad that i have spoken to) have found that the second someone realises that you speak english (in general) they will switch. sometimes i find it flattering, other times when they cant string two words together it gets very annoying.



			
				Markus said:
			
		

> I think that people visiting this board are going to, in general, be pretty patient with non-native speakers.
> 
> As for the general population, I would like to make a broad generalisation. I think that English speakers are probably less patient with non-native speakers than speakers of other languages are. This is because we are relatively ignorant to the world outside our borders and very often we know _only_ English, so we have never had the experience of trying to learn another language. Also, we think that English is the only language that matters so we find it strange when someone doesn't know it well enough to communicate. It's like they don't even care enough to try to keep up with the modern world. All in all, this fits in quite well with the stereotype of the ignorant American who goes to France and jabbers away at everyone in English without even asking them if they speak it (and this stereotype is _true_ -- I've personally witnessed it at least five times in one month, just randomly on the street).
> 
> We also don't have any particular pride in our language like other cultures do. That is because we don't feel anything in particular robbing us of it. We're sort of like the heterosexuals who say, "Why do you need a gay pride parade? We don't need a straight pride parade!" Therefore we don't feel any particular pride when someone tries to speak English, unlike other languages who will feel proud that others are attempting to learn their language and will help them along.
> 
> Anyway, I'm finished making broad stereotypes. I'm even going to throw the British into that pile just for fun. If they would like to debunk me they are more than welcome.


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## timpeac

I think native English speakers are kind of a separate category here. Because - rightly or wrongly - English has become the international language if people speak a foreign language it tends to be English. So Greeks and Italians meeting in Spain will speak English to each other - probably.

I think this is relevant to the present discussion for 2 reasons
- many people are likely to have a passing knowledge of English, in much the same way many people have a passing knowledge of maths or history. It's just one of those things that educated people do. Thus they may well be more likely to have a go at speaking English to "a foreigner" (not specifically because they know they are English) just because it's the done thing to speak to foreigners in English.

- it is undisputable that English speakers are not the best at learning foreign languages, however I think we should cut them a little bit of slack. A fairer thing to compare English speakers against would be the number of French (say) that speak a foreign language other than English. The English speakers would still probably come off worse in such a comparison, but not to the extent as if you only look at foreign speakers of English.

I regularly have the opportunity to hear foreigners of different nationalities talking English together, and it is a very different animal to that of native speakers - messages are more direct and "floweriness" of expression is gone. This doesn't annoy me at all though - it is just English being used primarily as a tool.

Anyway, all this means that English people should be (and often are) quite forgiving on hearing English spoken by foreigners. We hear it so often then we are ready for the pronunciation differences that may occur, and are not offended at all. On top of this, because we don't prioritise foreign languages, if anything the feeling is more likely to be one of admiration, in the same way that someone who can't add up is amazed at someone adding up their shopping in their head.


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## liwanag

My native language is tagalog and i dont mind it at all when i hear foreigners try 
to speak the language,in fact it pleases me to know that they actually want to learn it..It makes me laugh to hear them talk because the accent is really obvious and when you teach them a word,they use it every opportunity they have even though sometimes its already out of context but still i admire them 
for at least giving it a try.


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## me82

i personally find it very cute when someone is trying to speak my language, even if they don't do it very well yet.  it can never annoy me.

But when it comes to me speaking English, i feel very nervous because i want to speak and understand perfectly... and when i don't, i'm afraid to annoy people.


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## nycphotography

As a native english speaker, I will say that the degree of annoyance is 90% dependent on the CONTEXT of the communication, and the ATTITUDE of the speaker.

If I'm trying to conduct business, and the company in question has routed me, as an english speaker, to a (obviously to the dregree that it impairs effectiveness) non-native speaker, I am going to be upset.  Not at the speaker, rather at the company that employs them, for being so incredibly disrespecful to my value as a customer.

But anyone who is learning english, and is honestly trying, will get nothing by help from me.

I do have one dilemma though... imagine a coworker from India.  Speaks good english, but in an incredibly annoynigly pedantic way with a piercing accent.  Been here for years, and is able to communicate very well, but I find the pedantic style almost intolerable, and I also notice (by and large) an absense of any contuing effort at improving the accent.

Honest answer, I just avoid talking to her in general.


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## Vanda

My country has a history on receiving during its whole existence people from
almost all part of the world. In my hometown, for example, the population was divided into Arabs (Lebanese, Syrian, Turkish and others) and Italians, mainly. The old generation , those who came first, could never speak a good Portuguese. Actually they spoke that intermediate language foreigners create
(BRazilians, for example, speak a good Portuñol  PT/Spanish) to survive in a different country. We never had problems with it, _au contraire_. 
As for all over the country, we have always had and still have people from all nations using that intermediary language and, in fact, we don't mind at all, many find it charming and flattering.
I always try to help people having problems in making themselves understood,
but being careful enough to not overcorrect them. An example very close to my heart is my boyfriend, he's Czech, being a German citizen and has lived here for 5 years. While in here he spoke a fairly good Portuguese, now being far from here for several years , he can speak a very poor Portuguese. The e-mails he sends nowadays are a mixture of Czech/ Serbian/Portuguese attempting. What do I think of it? I love it! Don't correct everything he says, only help with the crucial parts of the speech. 
Someone has already said above that nobody is supposed to speak or understand other people languages. All we have to do is find a good way to communicate. GenJen and others related their experiences - I always behave like them- learning some useful words or sentences in the target language to use if the people in that country I am visiting can't communicate in English. 
In small towns in Czech Rep I made a good use of gestures at supermarkets, stores, bakeries  and had a splendid time even when I was alone! Jana can tell you, there are some words in Czech that are unpronounceable  by non-natives (my mouth doesn't obey me at all when trying)...
All in all I think that people are more understandable concerning other people languages in this globalized world of ours.


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## Lucyernaga

I will always admire people who are not affraid of communicating, no matter the language barriers . Can't be annoyed. I learned Italian in Italy, and only when I forgot about trying to be _perfect_, I could learn. 

Their other option is to stay in their hole until death, and they choose to meet the world. I have a friend who studied English, same as I: five years in highschool, four in college, she only watches TV in English language and still can't have a conversation because she is affraid to make mistakes .

Isn't it a little bit the whole world history? Isn't it about non-native speakers who traveled and changed languages, traditions, etc.?


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## Amityville

That's true Lucy, I admire them too - some people succeed in communicating through sheer force of personality and through common humanity - I'm not one of them but try not to get too hung up on grammatical correctness in conversation, you can lose the plot completely.

I haven't looked at this thread for a while so have just seen Tim and Benjy's posts and the annoyance at being forced to speak in English in France really struck a chord. I suffer intense irritation particularly  in these two cases.
A French person in a shop or somewhere who has apparently been employed for their bilingualism but whose English is rudimentary. They have to justify their employment by speaking it especially if the employer is hanging around.. I was forced to go through that charade in the vet's recently complete with holding up fingers to signify numbers, extravagant gestures and speaking loudly and slowly. Not going back there again.
If it is a native English speaker in the same situation, it is equally annoying. Because I am in France because I want to speak French I dont want to be singled out as English and assigned to an English 'operative' so in this situation to avoid detection I have to fully camp up ! Do I have a problem ?

At work, I try not to be guilty of the same things that annoy me when I am the customer.  I sometimes have to deal with English customers so if their French is up to the job I continue in French but then one person accused me of enjoying making him sweat ! I thought he'd twigged but ...If I do switch to English,and it would only be because they were struggling for a word or there was a misunderstanding, some of them still take offense. Each case has to be assessed on its merits I guess.


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## swift_precision

nycphotography said:
			
		

> I do have one dilemma though... imagine a coworker from India. Speaks good english, but in an incredibly annoynigly pedantic way with a piercing accent. Been here for years, and is able to communicate very well, but I find the pedantic style almost intolerable, and I also notice (by and large) an absense of any contuing effort at improving the accent.
> 
> Honest answer, I just avoid talking to her in general.


 
LOL this made my day right here...lol I understand precisely where you're coming from in this matter.


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## LV4-26

Let's take an usual situation : an Englishman is asking me for directions in my home town. I try to gauge whether he speaks better French than I do English*. If so, I answer in French. 
 Otherwise, I answer in English even if he's been using French in his question. 

I've just realized by reading some of your posts that I may have annoyed these people simply because they'd come here to practice their French. So I'd just deprived them of the opportunity to do so.

I had never been really aware of that before, so this thread has been useful in that sense. However, the people I've helped so far have never been anything other than grateful. But maybe they were hiding their feelings and thinking "come on, I came here to speak French. Would you just let me speak it ?"
------------------------
* usage issue : can you use _gauge_ before a whole clause or has it got to be a noun ?


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## timpeac

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> Let's take an usual situation : an Englishman is asking me for directions in my home town. I try to gauge whether he speaks better French than I do English*. If so, I answer in French.
> Otherwise, I answer in English even if he's been using French in his question.
> 
> I've just realized by reading some of your posts that I may have annoyed these people simply because they'd come here to practice their French. So I'd just deprived them of the opportunity to do so.
> 
> I had never been really aware of that before, so this thread has been useful in that sense. However, the people I've helped so far have never been anything other than grateful. But maybe they were hiding their feelings and thinking "come on, I came here to speak French. Would you just let me speak it ?"
> ------------------------
> * usage issue : can you use _gauge_ before a whole clause or has it got to be a noun ?


 
Haha, for me I was really talking about situations where the level of English was just terrible - and I'm sure yours is excellent.

However, in answer to your question I can tell you a story a friend of mine told me the other day. She and a couple of friends were chalet girls in a French resort and when socialising they could never find any French people willing to talk to them in anything other than English. So they invented a story, one pretending to be Hungarian and the other Finnish or something like that was unlikely to be spoken by someone else at the time and even then people still tried to talk to them in English and so they pretended not to speak English only their "native" Hungarian-Finnish and French.

As I say, that's not my story but theirs. For them they spoke very little French and so I suppose many French people correctly gauged that their English would be better than their French, and went straight for English not giving them a chance to practice their French. For me it is an easier situation than for them, for a long time now I've spoken French well enough to have a good conversation and I am also rather unshy and overselfconfident so when I am in France and people reply to me in English I tend to reply in French anyway and usually the conversation will revert to French.

An interesting difference between French people and Spanish people is that I have found that the Spanish do not tend to speak English to people who speak to them in Spanish (although I have seen rare exceptions to this).

Edit - in answer to your question, your use of gauge is perfect.


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## Markus

LV4-26, it does annoy me a little when I speak French to someone and they reply in English. That's why I had to come to France instead of trying to learn French in Montreal -- no one there would let me! (that's a half-joke, I had many other reasons to come to France, so no lectures about where in Quebec I can learn French ) It happens much, much less frequently here that someone speaks to me in English. And like timpeac, when someone does I just keep speaking in French anyway and the converstaion usually continues in French.


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## OlivierG

Even if being answered in English when expecting to speak French can be frustrating, please keep in mind that it's probably not intended to put the accent on your supposed bad French, but an attempt to be kind, to make the effort in your place, to make you feel comfortable.

I'm really glad, while travelling outside France, when a native tries to speak French with me, and I forgive all his mistakes. I'd have many other occasions to practice my English, maybe he finds here a unique one to practice his French?


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## Amityville

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> Let's take an usual situation : an Englishman is asking me for directions in my home town. I try to gauge whether he speaks better French than I do English*. If so, I answer in French.
> Otherwise, I answer in English even if he's been using French in his question.
> 
> I've just realized by reading some of your posts that I may have annoyed these people simply because they'd come here to practice their French. So I'd just deprived them of the opportunity to do so.
> 
> I had never been really aware of that before, so this thread has been useful in that sense. However, the people I've helped so far have never been anything other than grateful. But maybe they were hiding their feelings and thinking "come on, I came here to speak French. Would you just let me speak it ?"
> ------------------------
> * usage issue : can you use _gauge_ before a whole clause or has it got to be a noun ?


 

This is what usually happens - after preliminary sparring it's usually obvious which of you has the greater competence in the other's language and you tacitly agree to communicate in that language, I find, or, if there isn't a lot of difference switching between the two. The awkwardness arises if someone is determined to battle on unilaterally in the language of lesser combined competence, especially if the level is such that it becomes a pantomime, that's quite a lot to ask of your interlocutor without expressly asking their permission.

The question of what language two English people speak in France is a bit different. It feels a little bit artificial to speak French even if the level is adequate but if other French people are present it seems just good manners to do that

LV and Olivier, if I ever met you, I think yours would be the greater competence so I wouldn't be offended if you spoke English, it would be my pleasure - curtseying smiley.


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## VenusEnvy

Like others, I usually don't get annoyed when non-natives speak English and make mistakes. I, personally, find them (the mistakes) rather cute and endearing. I also _admire _ anyone who attempts to learn our crazy, mixed-up language.  At times, though, it can be _frustrating _ when someone's English is so bad, I can't even attempt to understand what they're trying to say. 

When speaking to non-natives, I usually make it a point to speak more clearly, and articulate myself better than I would a native speaker.

Consequently, it DOES annoy me when _native _ speakers make gross errors in speaking. It just makes me cringe... Sorry, all, but it does!


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## meili

I agree with the posts.  I am neither a native English or Spanish (or French - actually I do not know French, except for merci, shhh) speaker but I continue on practicing the language.  I am comfortable with my English but holds the other when it comes to my Spanish.  (I have read in an above post that people who are learning Spanish and are not confident in using the language are the ones who are most likely to find it difficult to learn it the soonest.. I think I can be categorized to be one of them).

I worked as a customer service representative for a particular company, and since I was one of those who knows the basics of the language, I was endorsed as a bilingual agent.  While most of our Spanish customers are very glad that there are already agents who can understand them despite the 'bad grammar and not-so-good accent', most of those who I think have already stayed in the country (the US) for a long time now and knows English are the ones who gets annoyed easily.  Like they will tell you, "Ok, you can speak to me in English.  I don't understand your Spanish."

I really do not know what to say, but instead shift into English.  (I had the feeling that those who do not speak Enlish at all are probably hearing a different language and are, like us, ingesting every word and sentence and translating them into the language that they understand).

Anyway, problems were and are still resolved.

BTW, I am glad to be reading so many replies


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## Roi Marphille

I am full of emotion when somebody tries to speak my language. I just want to hug them!


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## Hakro

I didn't find here anyone who would confess to get annoyed when somebody speaks poorly his/her language. OK, that's fine. Or did I miss someone?

I speak poorly English, German and French, and just a few words of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

My experience is that in Spain and in Portugal, one or two words is enough; they are willing to understand me. 

In Italy it's even better: I can speak Finnish (and use my hands) and they'll understand me. 

In Britain and US people are generally used to hear bad English. In spite of that, I have met people who are apparently annoyed to listen my lousy pronunciation. When I ask someone to repeat because I didn't understand, he/she doesn't repeat it slower and more clearly but louder, as if I hadn't heard it. But after all, these are only exceptions.

There's only one country where I have got into a situation where a native has turned around and went away when I have tried to express myself in local language: it's France! (Excusez-moi, les français, ce n'est pas toujours, enfin c'est très rare.) Anyhow, I believe that French is my second best foreign language.

Concerning the original question, I seldom meet foreign people speaking Finnish. Of course in Finland I meet immigrants, _personnes réfugiées_, and generally we have no problems to understand each other if we both have enough patience. Usually we both have.

Abroad I have met three people speaking practically perfect Finnish: 
- in Paris a young Canadian who had studied Finnish in Finland for three years; his Finnish was absolutely perfect,
- at the Amsterdam airport a Malaysian whose son lived in Finland and who had visited Finland several times during seven years,
- in Morocco a boy, maybe 12 years old; I asked him if he has been in Finland. He said, "No, never, but my brother has lived there for five years."
Believe it or not, it's true.


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## Amityville

That is really very interesting, Hakro, and the three strangers you met who spoke Finnish - heart-warming. It's sad about what happened in France - just some fearful individual, and you met others who were keen to communicate I hope and believe.


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## MCL

In Kyiv I was incredibly GRATEFUL for those who made the effort to speak English.  And found their little errors quite charming.

Now I'm the learner, and know that my speech is barely above a baby babbling.  (And I've only been babbling for two weeks!) I'm VERY GRATEFUL for those who tolerate, and assist, my efforts!  I wonder if I will EVER be proficient!  I never realized how HUGE an effort learning a new langue is, until deliberately putting myself into a situation where it's use is necessary!

It is IMPRESSIVE the effort that a person makes to even BEGIN to speak a language, and I appreciate those who have done so!  And especially those who immigrated into a new cultural and linguistic area!


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## katiebridle

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> As for correcting them, I only do so if the error is very obvious, or if they are really struggling with a word.  Otherwise, I let them carry on and do my best to understand them.



As some one who has lived in another country and attempted to learn the language while there, I have to say that I found it very helpful when people corrected my grammar/vocab - even the little things.  It really helped me to improve and made me much more aware of the way I spoke and the nuances of the language.  Plus, I would start to notice particular grammar points that I was always being corrected on and it helped me to pinpoint "problem" areas.
Of course, I am not advocating that we all start lecturing every poor tourist who slips up while asking for directions, but most people are keen to learn and appreciate every bit of help that native speakers are willing to offer... as long as advice is offered with a smile of course!


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## frequency

I don't mind incorrectness of non-natives at all.
Contrary I'm amazed at how they mastered difficult my mother tongue Japanese.

But only one thing that makes me annoy is that non-natives sometimes repeat the same story and context if they have poor skills and don't have a various vocabulary. This is not a matter of incorrectness or something, though.
My friend from China does this.
Although I know she wants to say more different kind of things, her immature skill makes her speak like this.
I understand her very well because I may have this tendency as well.

Moreover, it would be OK if she only speaks with understanding people, on the other hand, it might be a trouble like, "she's always proud of China whereas she's in Japan", when she had to speak with other people. I'm afraid of such misunderstanding.

Anyway, let's study language harder as much as possible, don't we?


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## tvdxer

It doesn't bother me to hear people speak poor English.  At least they're trying, and hopefully learning.


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## SpiceMan

This is a forum where people interested in languages get together. You can't get a more biased "it's a wonderful thing!" kind of replies anywhere else. 

That said, most people might find mistakes funny rather than annoying, unless in a hurry I guess.



			
				frequency said:
			
		

> I don't mind incorrectness of non-natives at all.
> Contrary I'm amazed at how they mastered difficult my mother tongue Japanese.


Sorry to say this, but Japanese is anything but difficult. The main barrier is to memorize kanjis, which is rather time consuming than difficult.

It's a regular language (3 irregular verbs only). Has only 8 tenses, adjectives, noun, verbs, adverbs, etc. are easily recognizable without even knowing the word because of the particles and okurigana. Grammar is regular and particles is all you need to know. Pronunciation is consistent with writing, and also regular. No gender, no number, etc, etc, etc.


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## jinti

In New York City, there are people from every country on earth (most of whom seem to take my bus.  )  My county (Queens) is the most diverse in the United States.  I taught English here for a few years, mostly to people who spoke no more than a couple words of English and who were illiterate in their native language(s), and I now work at a college where 50% of the students do not speak English as their first language.  I'm pretty accustomed to anything a non-native speaker can inflict on the language, and it doesn't bother me in the least.  For one thing, until I become fluent in Twi, Edo, Mandinka, Wolof, Pulaar, Urdu, Mandarin, Cantonese, and/or Haitian Creole (the main languages I come/came in contact with in various jobs), I'm not going to complain about the English I hear from people who speak those languages.

The fact that there are so many non-native speakers here _does_ have an effect on my speech, though.  For example, when I want a delivery from a restaurant or I'm giving directions to a taxi driver, etc., I never say "71st (seventy-first) Street" because they typically misunderstand -- I have to say "seventy-one street" because that's how they say it and I want them to get to the right address.  188th St ("a hundred eighty-eighth street") becomes "one eight eight street".  Second Ave. is "two avenue" or even "avenue two".  I don't mind this, but I find that I talk this way all the time now, even if I'm speaking to a native-speaker of English.  My family back in my small hometown finds it very amusing.


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## emarianna

I love it when non-natives try and speak english...and when I am in the US, if i speak the language they speak, I would only speak to them in it if it would make them more comfortable and they are really struggling...that being said, I normally try to keep to English when i am in an Englsih speaking country...if people are there to learn the language, then not speaking english is not going to help them learn...learning another language is hard...as we all know

I also lived in a foreign country, in a small town where there were very few people who spoke English ( i think maybe 12, 7 of whom were from the UK or germany), so i didnt' really have a choice of speaking english...but it never seemed to fail when people found out that I was from the US, and Texas, at that, they would begin to speak VERY slowly to me about George Bush and cowboys, as if I were ignorant...I knew that the intent was not to make me feel stupid or inadequate, but I still couldn't help feeling embarrassed...even when i would put myself in their shoes and knew that they were only trying to help...


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## blancalaw

me82 said:
			
		

> i personally find it very cute when someone is trying to speak my language, even if they don't do it very well yet.  it can never annoy me.
> 
> But when it comes to me speaking English, i feel very nervous because i want to speak and understand perfectly... and when i don't, i'm afraid to annoy people.



Going along with me82, I understand how difficult it is to learn another language so I am often patient with others when they try to speak my language. I know there is a lot of pressure to learn English, especially since some of my counterparts believe that the official language of the world should be English. 
Now when someone native of my country speaks poor English, then I become annoyed. They should know better.


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## chuff

I've heard that native speakers in several languages (not American English) become indignant when someone that is trying to learn their language doesn't use a certain verb correctly or makes a mess of his/her grammar.

For example, I once pondered over the Romanian language for a short period of time, and it was said that if the subjunctive of that language is not used correctly in conversation in Romania, you will be punished for it (possibly physically!)

Why is this the case?

The only response I've seen when a foreign person uses American English incorrectly is joking around and correction. I've never before seen anger from the native speakers, only jocularity.

What are your thoughts on this?


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## Heba

I like to hear native speakers of other languages speaking even few words of Arabic. If they make a mistake, I simply smile and correct them. That's everybody's response here. 

I spoke and chatted in English with many Britich in person and through the internet, and I was never ever criticized for my mistakes. The speaker usually smiled or made a joke to make me laugh and avoid the embarrasement, then corrected me.

It would be really strange that someone should be punished for the effort of communicating with me in my own language. Actually the idea of getting punished for making a mistake in a new language would curb any enthusiasm for learning.


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## chuff

That's very true.
That's the very reason I find it odd.

If anything, I would be excited that someone not of my native tongue was taking the time to learn my language!


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## KateNicole

This is slightly off-topic, but for some reason, I've always thought that the English language is more forgiving of errors in non-native speakers.  It seems like even when verb conjugations get pretty muddled, we can still figure out the meaning, whereas I don't think other languages have as much "flexibility".   For example, I know several native-Spanish speakers, who, when speaking English, _only_ use the present tense . . . and they are understood perfectly fine (although that is not to say that their errors are not noticeable.)  Almost every day at work I hear things like "She call me yesterday."  "I go to the store last week" (etc etc) and no one bats an eyelash, but I'm that if in Spanish I were to say "Ayer voy a la tienda," I would be met with a blank stare.


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## nichec

In my experience in both English and French, the native speakers are all very patient when they can't understand me because I made a silly mistake I can't really tell if the Americans are patient to non-native speakers since I was told I speak AE like an American, but the British and French are all very nice to me when I try to use their languages (you know the British accent, it can really kill you sometimes ). They may tell me that they don't get what I'm saying or give me a confused expression, but they never laugh or even get angry with me 

In Taiwan it's different because we usually try to talk to foreigners in English rather than expecting them to talk to us in Chinese, aren't we nice? (this is, of course, partly because we know Chinese is a difficult language )


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## nmuscatine

I would guess that societies that are used to having foreigners and immigrants around would be more forgiving.  That explains, in part, why Americans don't take mistakes too seriously.  Perhaps closed societies where non-native speakers aren't enocuntered on a daily basis, people would be more prone to harsh criticism.  

In my experiences learning French and Italian and going to France and Italy, people appreciated my efforts to speak, and corrected me kindly when necessary.


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## montaraz

chuff said:
			
		

> I've heard that native speakers in several languages (not American English) become indignant when someone that is trying to learn their language doesn't use a certain verb correctly or makes a mess of his/her grammar.


 
Not in Spain, I'm sure. If you come here, possibly people will try to speak to you in English (and it can be a bit ridiculous  ) or they will speak to you in Spanish, but too loudly and slowly (perhaps we think if they speak loudly you can understand them better, ). I think here people will try to be understood by you.


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## natasha2000

montaraz said:
			
		

> Not in Spain, I'm sure. If you come here, possibly people will try to speak to you in English (and it can be a bit ridiculous  ) or they will speak to you in Spanish, but too loudly and slowly (perhaps we think if they speak loudly you can understand them better, ). I think here people will try to be understood by you.


 
This is interesting, because this happens not only in Spain, but everywhere.... People, especially older ones, speak to a foreigner who does not speak their language in their own language more loudly and slowly... I am sure they forget that they do not have in front of them a small child, but a grown up person who, unfortunately, does not speak their language... And it can be very funny seeing this... An old-timer, shouting all aloud to a poor foreigner who does not understan a single word... 
As far as Romania is concerned, I really thing that he who told you that, made fun of you....  As Romanian is something like Serbian in terms of foreigners who learn it (read: few or none), I suppose Romanians react in the same way the Serbians do: they are delighted to hear their own language from a foreigner's mouth, but at the same time, it sounds very wierd since they are not acutomed to foreigners speaking Rmanian, like for example, Spanish or Engflish speaking people are acustomed to hear foreigner speaking Spanish or English....


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## nichec

I would like to reply to the original question being asked: How do you feel when a foreigner tries to talk to you in your mother language?

There are quite a lot of foreigners in Taipei when I was still living there, including my ex-boyfriend. I love it when they try to use Chinese because I know it's a really difficult language to learn, but I find myself couldn't help laughing when I heard their pronunciation, it's almost always like robot-Chinese because the five tones in Chinese are very difficult for western people. So most of the time we end up talking in English, which is something I'm quite good at although I've never studied or really lived long time in any English-speaking city. I think it's because I'm never afraid of speaking out a new language no matter how bad I was/am at it and I have this sort of six sense for words and languages (I love to ask people if they can tell whether I'm a native English speaker or not, most of the time I get the answer: not really.....But my BE is really lousy )

Since there were many posts about French before in this thread and I used to live in Paris, I would like to ask.....Am I the only one who finds it difficult to understand their English? I always tried to use French since I couldn't understand their English at all!!! ( I only pretended that I don't speak French at all to people who tried to show their "special interest" )And they are all very very nice to me


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## birdie

My native language is Spanish and I don't mind at all if an English speaker tries to practice Spanish with me. What I absolutely hate is when a Spanish speaker talks to me in English.


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## macta123

In India it is a common problem. Most of Indians from various states cannot speak in good Hindi when they shift to the Hindi speaking cities. At least the have accent and grammatical mistake while they speak. It may get sometimes annoying for those who tend to criticize a lot. But for other's who have developed an art of listening patiently, it doesn't bother.


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## veleño

hi meili
I'm a native spanish speaker. I really don't mind when i hear somebody speaking it poorly, instead, i find it very fun. Please don't worry about it, the spanish is one of the most difficult languajes to learn. And as you could see i make some mistakes in english, i'm triying to correct them, but -by now- i can communicate...


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## Ilmo

I do not have very often any chance to listen to foreigners speaking my language (guess why!), but in those few cases I have encountered I have not been bothered at all. On the contrary, in those cases I try to speak myself my mother tongue as clearly, peacefully (slowly) and gramatically correctly as possible, and when my interlocutor is apparently seeking the correct word to utter, I try to give him hints or cautious suggestions. In other words - I behave myself exactly the way I wish the foreigners would do if I were speaking their mother tongue. I correct only the most grave errors, depending on the person's nivel of knowledge in my mother tongue.


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## Brioche

Ilmo said:
			
		

> I do not have very often any chance to listen to foreigners speaking my language (guess why!), but in those few cases I have encountered I have not been bothered at all. On the contrary, in those cases I try to speak myself my mother tongue as clearly, peacefully (slowly) and gramatically correctly as possible, and when my interlocutor is apparently seeking the correct word to utter, I try to give him hints or cautious suggestions. In other words - I behave myself exactly the way I wish the foreigners would do if I were speaking their mother tongue. I correct only the most grave errors, depending on the person's nivel  of knowledge in my mother tongue.


 
_*level*_ of knowledge.

Is that a typo?
Or were you thinking of the French word _niveau_?


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## Ilmo

Brioche said:
			
		

> _*level*_ of knowledge.
> 
> Is that a typo?
> Or were you thinking of the French word _niveau_?


 
Sorry, I am thinking too much in Spanish. I found out, while passing a couple of months in Chile, that when my wife and my friend's spouse were talking in English, I had to say my sayings in Spanish, because I could not find the English words fast enough, as the Spanish ones filled my brain.

Well, it it a good thing that you understood it perfectly though it happened through French. Nivel (Sp.) = Level (Eng.)

Gracias for advising me .


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## klbyrd

Ask yourself - how would you feel if you were trying to communicate with someone in a language other that your native tongue and trying to learn -if you were made fun of or annoyed the other person? That should be reason enough for anyone to not to judge too quickly
klbyrd


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## Outsider

I'm not annoyed at all by non-natives speaking my language poorly. At least they're trying! 
But I am annoyed sometimes by non-natives speaking languages that are not native to me, _poorly and quickly_! I've seen it a couple of times in English. I mean, it's O.K. if English is not your native language, but then at least don't try to act like you're a native if you have an awful accent! Speak slower.


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## Doncelle

--Simply wonderful! I don't know how I ended up in this thread-- , but I'm happy I did  !
I absolutely enjoy when someone attempts to speak my mother language (Spanish).
It is extremely flattering and just makes me feel I'd like to help! I don't interrupt the person trying, unless it becomes really crucial. I always find pencil and paper to assist,  hey! my drawing skills become really handy!!!
By the way, I just saw a short video, so fun and adorable. There is this little fish in his bowl house, when suddenly a cat comes in the picture, (the soundtrack is the music from the scary movie "Jaws", the little fish starts looking so nervous and afraid. In few seconds the cat gets really close to the bowl (aquarium?) and as he prepares to please himself with such a treat, the little fish looks at him straight in the eye and ... speaks "dog" to the cat! I mean the little fish actually "barks" and the cat runs away! Then at the very end comes the advertisement .."Learn another language"... 

It's been a real pleasure to read all of the postings!
Greetings, Saludos from L.A.


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## MarX

meili said:


> Hola Forer@s!
> 
> What or how do you feel when you hear a non-native speak your language - and not being so good at it? (sentence and grammar construction, appropriate words, and the like included).
> 
> Do you feel bad, annoyed, good or happy that people are trying (or learning) to speak your native toungue?
> 
> Is it the same case when you listen to them over the phone?


Hi Meili!

I wouldn't mind at all. As long as I can understand what (s)he's saying.

I see the "foreign" accents as enrichment to each language, no matter how "horrible" they may sound to certain people (not only the native speakers).

Salam,


MarX


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## Gwan

I also find it irritating to be replied to in English when I speak French! On the other hand, I didn't mind at all in the Czech Republic, because my Czech is so poor. That is, I take it more as a judgement on my competency in the language than an attempt to be helpful - perhaps that's my fault, but from the posts above, a lot of people feel the same. Perhaps, my French friends in that situation could say "On peut parler anglais, si vous voulez?" or something along those lines, unless the person clearly has no more French than "oui, non, merci" and probably wouldn't understand that sentence anyway!


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## Chaska Ñawi

This thread requests personal opinions, which have been out of the scope of the forum for over a year now.  Please do not resurrect old threads without checking that they are still relevant.

Thank you.


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