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The last language you would want to learn | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Nea Vanille Diglot Newbie Korea, SouthRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5960 days ago 28 posts - 48 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC1 Studies: Korean | Message 121 of 346 19 January 2008 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
Ah, you're right. I guess Swedish and Norwegian are the big exceptions to my rules. Thanks for pointing out. I've always wanted to somehow learn Swedish even before I started to think what I wanted to achieve in language-learning and it somehow managed to slip through my radar. I guess from now on it will have to re-phrased to "most languages with less than 20 million speakers." As for the rest of your post, I'll ignore the condescending insult and just say I'm far less racist (which I assume you thought I was) than I am irritated by people living in a foreign country yet refusing to learn the local language. Let me point out I have not an ounce of love more for fellow Westerners living in Korea and not making an effort to learn and use the language and learn the (very easy) Korean script than I do for people living in German refusing to learn anything beyond "Guten Tag". I wouldn't blame Koreans for developing a dislike for Western languages by having been exposed to arrogant expats (including Germans) flaunting their language around while refusing to learn even the simplest phrases in Korean and talking to people on the street fully expecting them to know English, just as I have developed a dislike for Turkish from having been insulted and yelled at in the language one time too often. I value paying basic respects to the language and culture of your new habitat. Call it a pet-peeve. I guess you can argue it isn't right to rule out Turkish completely just from having had bad experiences with it, but I'm sad to say my experiences with it have left such a bitter taste behind that I can't imagine ever finding the study of it enjoyable and have eradicated any interest I may have had. If you still find me ignorant, then I'm sorry. Edited by Nea Vanille on 19 January 2008 at 10:04pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| lloydkirk Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6208 days ago 429 posts - 452 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 122 of 346 19 January 2008 at 10:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I can understand your frustration with the Turkish immigrants in Germany. There is a very similar situation in the U.S.A with the Mexican immigrants. However, you seem to be throwing the Turks, Arabs and Israelis all in the same pot. They are vastly different cultures and peoples. I can't speak for the other two but the majority of my Israeli friends are trilingual, so hardly a lazy people.
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| Nea Vanille Diglot Newbie Korea, SouthRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5960 days ago 28 posts - 48 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC1 Studies: Korean | Message 123 of 346 19 January 2008 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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My reason for not having interest in Hebrew or Arabic are different from my reason not to learn Turkish. I don't have dislike for these languages like I do for Turkish because I barely heard them back in Germany and have little experience with people speaking them. Rather, I simply have no interest in the region as a whole and am merely indifferent to Middle Eastern languages. The main reason for this is probably lack of exposure, just like with Africa and its languages. Undoubtedly both the Middle East and Africa are fascinating regions and a lot could be learned from speaking one of their languages, but for some reason I can't pinpoint, I'm just not interested in either region at this point in my life. It seems my post was written quite carelessly - it is my fault for mentioning my frustration with immigrants in the same breath as mentioning no interest in Middle Eastern culture when in fact it's quite unrelated. I apologize for having written it in an unclear and misleading way and have already edited my post to make it clearer. Edited by Nea Vanille on 19 January 2008 at 11:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Nea Vanille Diglot Newbie Korea, SouthRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5960 days ago 28 posts - 48 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC1 Studies: Korean | Message 125 of 346 20 January 2008 at 8:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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Didn't you read my lengthy post above?
To summarize it: I don't like people who live in another country and don't learn the host country's language. That includes Turkish people in Germany just as much as it does Germans in other countries or Mexicans in the US. It's good for you you have been around happy forums, but the thing is what other Germans feel is irrelevant in this disccusion (even though denying that Germany has problems with its immigrants would be akin to burying your head in the sand). This is about my sentiments and experiences, and it is those personal experiences that have been bad and off-putting. Why Turkish immigrants haven't managed to integrate and act the way they do is an entire different and vastly more complex story. Of course the German side is also to blame for it and in fact I've written disserations on this very subject in University. But this isn't a topic about why Turkish people can't integrate or who is to blame for it, nor is it a topic about the traits of certain peoples. If you wish to discuss Turkish immigrants and who is to blame for Germany having problems with them, you should open an appropriate thread. This is a topic about why you wouldn't want to learn a certain language, and my answer was that due to negative experiences with Turkish in the past, including several instances of sexual harassment in this language, I can't ever see myself enjoying the study of it. It goes without saying I have no issues with Turkish people who make an effort to understand German language and culture and of course plenty of them exist. It's bad luck I haven't run into many good ones and too many of the bad ones. Personally, I fail to see how this isn't a perfectly valid reason (and if you read this thread carefully, another German has listed just this very reason for not wanting to learn Turkish, yet somehow managed not to attract the PC police) and how it is base to call anyone a racist. I'm trying very hard not to take offense in the fact that some people seem to equate "I don't want to learn Turkish due to bad experiences including sexual harassment, and don't like people who make no effort to learn the language of the country they live in" with "I hate Turkish people, I want them all to go home, and I'd never let my kids play with them." I'd like to politely request readers not to make far-fetched and extreme assumptions about me based on a few lines written on the internet. Edited by Nea Vanille on 20 January 2008 at 8:29am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Nea Vanille Diglot Newbie Korea, SouthRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5960 days ago 28 posts - 48 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC1 Studies: Korean | Message 127 of 346 20 January 2008 at 10:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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Think what you wish then. I'm confident enough in myself to know I'm not someone I'm not just because someone on the internet told me I was. :)
I kind of envy you. If you think having zero interest in any given culture is a sign of bloodthirsty racism and "if that isn't racist, you don't know what is", you live in a peaceful world indeed. Edited by Nea Vanille on 20 January 2008 at 10:59am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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