Do you find it rude - when people are talking in a different language infront of you?

Virdi

Virdi

Virdi

Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2004
Posts
4,219
Location
Middlesex, London
Hi,

Say for example - Two people or even two of your friends / colleagues are talking in French infront of you, and you obviously don't understand French.

Would you find that rude?

Could be French - Could be any other language....
 
Yes, when in England you should speak English, if you can't speak the native tongue you should learn too.
 
Dont have a problem with it myself, My gf is german and always talks to her mum in german on the phone, though they do talk english when were at her house.
 
when I'm in norway with my family and they start talking to each other in norwegian, It annoys me because it reminds me I haven't bothered to learn it yet.
 
It can be. I remember McDonald employees being told that they had to speak English at work rather than Urdu or whatever.

I used to have a Dutch girlfriend and when I was over there she used to speak Dutch to her friends in front of me. Since it was their country I didn't find it offensve. In fact, I remember one evening when her and five of her friends were together with me, but because I was English they all spoke English for the evening.
 
It depends on the circumstances, it can be rude certainly but if it is to explain a technical concept for instance then I wouldn't be offended if the conversation switched to Dutch for the time taken to explain. If it is clearly just to exclude me from the conversation then it is somewhat rude in the same way that whispering in someones ear and ignoring the other party is rude.
 
Annoying as hell when i pop down to the wifes work place, the guys are all speak kurdish to each other. They all speak english, badly. So badly that they can't some of them can't actually understand each other when speaking it!
 
Depends on the situation. One of my friends is Japanese, and when he speaks with his parents, its always in Japanese. While I can see why this may insult some people, I don't mind. They can talk much faster in Japanese, and its probably not anything to do with me anyway, plus its their house and I'm the guest. Their house, their rules.
 
The funniest thing is that when I walk into a room the two Ukrainians stop speaking English and start whispering in their own language!!!!
 
I think if your the only other person in the room with 2 people having a conversation in a different language, then yes. But then again i dont know 100% where i stand with that, me and the Mrs have different opinions.

Both her and my mum's first language is Welsh. I was in the kitchen with them both the other night and all of sudden they started talking Welsh between them. I got abit het up saying i thought it was rude excluding me because i didnt understand what they were saying. The Mrs told me, i was in Wales so deal with it !?!
 
I don't view it as rude, no.
Awkward perhaps, but not rude.

What I do find rude is people (Americans, typically) who go to a foreign country and just start talking at locals in English.... no "parlez-vous Anglais?", no "Hables Ingles?" or any of that. No effort to even attempt to use a bit of the local lingo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom