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by TronPaul_
4077 days ago
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I was waiting for the /s as well. Having spent some time on the internet I've spoken and chatted with people for whom English is a second language. Are you telling me that their deficient understanding of English indicates a lack of morality? Is the English language a religion now? Guess I didn't get the memo. |
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The author is the daughter of Czech emigrants, writing about her experience visiting the Czech Republic, with an focus on the difference between learning a new language as an adult and re-learning a language you once knew. From the link:
> There can be a striking lack of accommodation or cooperation on the part of listeners [in rural Czech areas]. Once, when traveling with my brother, I watched him flounder in Czech at a small town gas station, trying to convey which pack of cigarettes he wanted to purchase—he had forgotten the brand name, and was trying to describe the appearance of the package. Ignoring his pointing gestures, the cashier sat stone-faced through his attempts. When she finally identified what he wanted, she tossed the cigarettes on the counter, saying contemptuously, “As you can see, the package is red, not pink.” My brother apologized, “I’m sorry, my Czech is very bad.” “I can see that,” she replied without cracking the slightest smile.
Experience with second-language learners is, speaking broadly, vanishingly rare among humans. Most people never meet any language learners. The rural Czechs are going by a rule of thumb: someone speaking that badly is more likely to be severely mentally retarded than anything else. (And they're correct about that! If they started seeing a flood of foreign tourists with rudimentary Czech, they'd adjust accordingly.)