The Off Topic Topic

[Eddie Teach]

Languish seems to have a weird plethora of people who want to live in foreign countries but not learn the local languages. It's bizarre. If I chose to live in a non-English-speaking country for any appreciable amount of time, I'd be ashamed not to be learning a local tongue.

Who are you thinking of besides Tyr?

Tim has, by his own admission, learned very little Korean despite living in South Korea for years.

Spellus doesn't post much here any longer, but judging by his FB posts, he is actually learning quite a bit of Georgian, in contrast.

I think Spellus has started a relationship with Georgia so he can stalk his old flame Russia.

https://youtu.be/9D2A32KUTq0

[dps]

In his defense, Korean is hard.

Yeah, but he hasn't even really learned English yet, and the Koreans are letting him teach it.  It is as if Cambodia were letting me teach Bulgarian.

[alfred russel]

I finally took the plunge and bought myself a DSLR. A entry level nikkon.
Open the book and there are 3 bulky manuals. French, German and Italian.
Ah.

That shouldn't be a problem for somebody who has lived in Switzerland as long as you have. Right?

Languish seems to have a weird plethora of people who want to live in foreign countries but not learn the local languages. It's bizarre. If I chose to live in a non-English-speaking country for any appreciable amount of time, I'd be ashamed not to be learning a local tongue.

Josq, from what I remember, did learn Japanese when he lived in Japan.  His refusal to learn French is just one of his eccentricities.

Generally I think it is pathetic to live in a country long term and not learn the language, but it Switzerland's case it is understandable. Most people speak english, and the country is the size of a postage stamp and tri lingual.

Also, Swiss culture, if such a thing really exists, isn't all that interesting to immerse yourself into, and he also works for a mega corporation so probably many of his coworkers aren't swiss.

[11B4V]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Leonard_scandal

Anyone else following this?

[Monoriu]

I made efforts to learn the native language when I was in Canada 

[HVC]

How's your French?

[Monoriu]

How's your French?

Alright, one of the native languages 

[Admiral Yi]

Generally I think it is pathetic to live in a country long term and not learn the language, but it Switzerland's case it is understandable. Most people speak english

Is this true?  I've only ever met one Swiss so I can't really say, but I always figured their English ability correlated with their ethnicity.  I.e., German, pretty good, French and Italian, crappy.

[alfred russel]

Generally I think it is pathetic to live in a country long term and not learn the language, but it Switzerland's case it is understandable. Most people speak english

Is this true?  I've only ever met one Swiss so I can't really say, but I always figured their English ability correlated with their ethnicity.  I.e., German, pretty good, French and Italian, crappy.

I've been to Switzerland a couple times. Mostly the German side. In Zurich it seems most people speak english. The countryside not as much. I assume since Tyr is loath to leave a city, it would be like Zurich, but maybe not.

[Josquius]

Me and French:
1: I was promised French classes by my company which never arose. Swiss prices and closing times stopped my efforts to find my own.
2: French is unnecessary at work. Only one or two locals working there with the majority being non French speaking foreigners.
3: work is hard. Its not like I'm teaching English. I have to actually learn practical stuff.
4: every year here is meant to be my last. When I first came I kept at studying Japanese as I was planning to go back.
5: French is hard. There is zero encouragement from moningual francophones for beginners to try. It's either get the pronunciation utterly perfect or GTFO.
If that's how you feel then I don't need your smelly language anyway. 

Generally I think it is pathetic to live in a country long term and not learn the language, but it Switzerland's case it is understandable. Most people speak english

Is this true?  I've only ever met one Swiss so I can't really say, but I always figured their English ability correlated with their ethnicity.  I.e., German, pretty good, French and Italian, crappy.

The Germans are better than the French for sure.
I've never been to the Italian part but from what I gather having met people from there they're perhaps best or all.
As said Italian is often ignored so to survive in their own country they usually have to learn German, which sets them on the right path for English.

[The Larch]

Yeah, French is hard yet you study Japanese.

[garbon]

Also the pronunciation thing sounds like the steroeotypical thing an English speaking person would say about French speakers. Is there something about French speakers that is so different that they don't appreciate people trying to learn their language?

[Duque de Bragança]

If I were to believe our resident Little Englander, the Romands are more (assertive about) French than the French themselves. 
Mon(ol)ingual Romands? Do you live in the Romand hinterland?  All Romands study (standard) German at school, though it may be forgotten just after.
More on that later.
Maybe they're not as good as Francophone Luxemburgers, but better than the French but Romands speak slower on average than other Francophones.
Of course, their dialect has some Germanic influences in vocabulary but that should help you (poutzer from putzen).
It's more logical sometimes cf. septante or nonante, vs soixante-dix or quatre-vingts-dix. 

Wait until Tyr discovers the strong differences at times between German Swiss and Standard German, specially for a foreigner. 
Of course, Standard German is the dialect taught at school in Romand Switzerland, not German Swiss, adding another layer of complication.

PS: some typos fixed

[Admiral Yi]

Also the pronunciation thing sounds like the steroeotypical thing an English speaking person would say about French speakers. Is there something about French speakers that is so different that they don't appreciate people trying to learn their language?

That was my experience.

I read an article one time by a French author explaining it's a function of the way they themselves learn French: lots of negative reinforcement and shaming for mistakes.  Then they project that on to foreigners who try.

[HVC]

Also the pronunciation thing sounds like the steroeotypical thing an English speaking person would say about French speakers. Is there something about French speakers that is so different that they don't appreciate people trying to learn their language?

That was my experience.

I read an article one time by a French author explaining it's a function of the way they themselves learn French: lots of negative reinforcement and shaming for mistakes.  Then they project that on to foreigners who try.

Many moons ago when I was in France I found the dismissive thing of people trying to speak their language only happened to me in Paris, and not the south. They also seemed to be much more understanding if I slipped between Portuguese and French rather than English and French.