4 ms·

It's not about the effort of saying "hello". If you don't know the language, it's reasonable not to try and begin a conversation in it -- what do you do when th

by bonaldi 17y ago

It's not about the effort of saying "hello". If you don't know the language, it's reasonable not to try and begin a conversation in it -- what do you do when they reply with a rush of words you don't understand? What they should have done was learned "Parlez-vous Anglais?"

elblanco 17y ago
> what do you do when they reply with a rush of words you don't understand? It's not that hard...in fact I'd go so far as to say that it's so easy it's a non-issue. Just start pointing and speaking in very simple English after the introduction and unless they have an IQ that fluctuates with the ambient temperature, they'll get the picture. More importantly they'll at least appreciate you gave the old "being polite" a shot and be more inclined to help. Opening with English, like you expect them to serve you in your language, which just feeds into the popular global view of Americans and native English speakers, very rarely works. Even if you expect help in English, it's how you package it up that matters. Rolling in, appearing that you are expecting to be helped in English makes people less inclined to help you. Bookending your interaction in "local", with "thank you" and other politeness as you can interspersed throughout packages up your expectations in a polite bow. If you still get treated rudely even after you demonstrate that you are willing to try and meet them halfway in the interaction...it's likely just a rude person. I wish that more of my countrymen and fellow native English speakers understood this type of basic politeness.
loupgarou21 17y ago
you reply back with "je suis desole mais je ne parlais pas beaucoups de francais" which translates to something like "I'm sorry but I don't speak very much french" (it's been about 10 years since the last time that I spoke any french with any regularity, so my phrasing may not be 100% correct.) If you do want to continue in french, you can also throw in a "lentement, s'il vous plait" which means "slowly, please."

by bonaldi 17y ago

elblanco 17y ago

> what do you do when they reply with a rush of words you don't understand? It's not that hard...in fact I'd go so far as to say that it's so easy it's a non-issue. Just start pointing and speaking in very simple English after the introduction and unless they have an IQ that fluctuates with the ambient temperature, they'll get the picture. More importantly they'll at least appreciate you gave the old "being polite" a shot and be more inclined to help. Opening with English, like you expect them to serve you in your language, which just feeds into the popular global view of Americans and native English speakers, very rarely works. Even if you expect help in English, it's how you package it up that matters. Rolling in, appearing that you are expecting to be helped in English makes people less inclined to help you. Bookending your interaction in "local", with "thank you" and other politeness as you can interspersed throughout packages up your expectations in a polite bow. If you still get treated rudely even after you demonstrate that you are willing to try and meet them halfway in the interaction...it's likely just a rude person. I wish that more of my countrymen and fellow native English speakers understood this type of basic politeness.

loupgarou21 17y ago

you reply back with "je suis desole mais je ne parlais pas beaucoups de francais" which translates to something like "I'm sorry but I don't speak very much french" (it's been about 10 years since the last time that I spoke any french with any regularity, so my phrasing may not be 100% correct.) If you do want to continue in french, you can also throw in a "lentement, s'il vous plait" which means "slowly, please."