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I don't mean to nitpick, but I have to take exception to the line "don’t talk loudly on their cell phones about you in a foreign language". Obviously talking l
by donall 12y ago
I don't mean to nitpick, but I have to take exception to the line "don’t talk loudly on their cell phones about you in a foreign language".
Obviously talking loudly on a cell phone is an undesirable trait for a driver. No question. But I do question the assertion that they're talking about you. I speak a few common languages and have heard taxi drivers around the world speak on their phones and assuming that I only speak English. They very rarely talk about me and if they do, it's usually in a relatively professional context, i.e. "I just picked a guy up at the airport", not "this idiot doesn't know what I'm saying so I'm going to say insulting things about him".
I don't know quite why people who hear others speaking a foreign language tend to assume they are the topic of conversation. People usually have more important things to talk about. Of course, sometimes you do catch somebody talking about you and that tends to be hilariously awkward when you respond in his/her language!
- Houshalter 12y agoPeople are for some reason really paranoid about that kind of stuff. Have you never experienced a group of people laughing and think they were laughing at you? But I think the other was hyperbolizing to make his point.
- donall 12y agoI have experienced a group of people laughing and suspected they were laughing at me, but usually when there was some reason for it, like having a bad haircut! I don't assume groups of people laugh at/about me unprovoked. I hope I'm right... :)
- ASneakyFox 12y agoI think because you can't hear what they're saying so it feels like whispering. And whispering is often negative.
- donall 12y agoBut whispering is a deliberate attempt to conceal what you're saying. Speaking to somebody in another language is usually not an attempt at concealment, it's just about people communicating in the way they are most comfortable. I guess I just am sensitive to the unfortunately common American assumption that everybody should speak English. My first time at SFO a hispanic woman was at the baggage carousel with her son. The son asked, in English, if he could lift the bag off the carousel when it arrived and his mother explained, in English, that he was too small to lift it. The kid didn't drop it and the mother lost her temper and scolded him in Spanish. At that point, a lady beside her turned to her and said "speak in English, please"! That blew my mind...