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It's also true when learning languages. If you speak a language a tiny bit, locals act politely impressed. If you speak it kind of good but aren't a native spea
by bla3 4y ago
It's also true when learning languages. If you speak a language a tiny bit, locals act politely impressed. If you speak it kind of good but aren't a native speaker, at least in some countries that lands much worse than speaking the language badly.
- bryanrasmussen 4y agoif you speak the language like crap and they've never seen you before they think aww, this tourist really tries. When you speak kind of good they know you live there damn it!
- pessimizer 4y agoI used to always hear this about black Americans in France. You're unbelievably popular and everybody thinks you're charming and cool until your French gets too good. Then you start being mistaken for an African immigrant and go from being cute to getting spit on by strangers. Actual advice from black people to other black people not to work on your accent.
- astrange 4y agoThe joke about Japan is that people will constantly tell you "nihongo jouzu" (your Japanese is good) when it isn't really. You know you're getting somewhere when they start correcting you. Although I don't think they'd get mad at you either way; maybe that'd happen at work or if you get something else cultural like body language wrong. Having a bad accent might help you sound like an enthusiastic tourist though; Americans start off with pretty bad pronunciation, Spanish/Italian/Finnish are closer and people might think you're fluent.