- Thread starter mexi
- Start date
Why Don't Spanish Speaking People NEVER Wanna Speak to me?
Because the moment you open your mouth they know you are an English speaker with limited Spanish.
A Canadian guy once told me that Americans spoke American but Canadians spoke English.
They're being nice to you. Like I said, they also just want to practice. Plus, "gringos" have a certain rep for not caring much for other languages. People may think that this is what you want.
Just like that, he erased Quebec! Ouch!
To the OP, tell people you are learning Spanish and want to practice. Most people will give you their time even if in other circumstances they would had given you the cold shoulder. People don't have time for nonsense unless they are warned before hand.
I speak fluently three languages and I tend to automatically switch to the language the other person dominates best, unless they tell me they want to practice. If I don't know their language, tough luck!
Edited to add:
Oh yes, almost forgot. Marianopolita, Barcelona? Really? Come on!
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I was thinking along the same lines. If your Spanish is worse than your English how could anyone even understand a thing. Reminds me of a sign in the Haitian section in Miami. A sign in a window stated "We speaks Englick" And I thought "i hopes you speaks it better than you writes it!"
Der Fish
They have an inferiority complex. Their ego takes the one thing they know better than you and runs away with it.
If they were learning English they would love the opportunity to try and speak it to you. The only drawback there is if they arent learning English from a native English speaker there will be grandiose comprehension problems.
But on the other foot, they dont want to practice their language with you because of all the things in the universe that can be known that is the one thing they know better than you. So they want to hoard access to total language proficiency from you.
Younger people dont feel that way as much because they are bombarded by American pop culture and Internet/smartphone technology is pervasive. So they learn quite a few English phrases and the Spanish execution tends to be global than regional or parochial.
Dominican - Que lo que, como tu ta
None of my Hispanic co workers, who are from Costa Rica , Colombia , and Mexico use those (or a lot of other words and/or sayings I hear while in La R.D.), and at first wondered where I had learned that...
Its the difference in how they speak. i.e. If you were to hear someone from the deep south of the U.S. speak, you certainly know they aren't from England.
As for "lenguage" , I am not sure if you are trying to write Language, or it's a Dominican word for "tongueage"
Absolutely no examples necessary. Please browse the history of my posts in this forum. My post was to point out from a linguistic perspective one has to be more clear. One can say speak the Dominican vernacular or Dominican (style) Spanish but to say to speak Dominican....por favor.
-MP.
It is funny. I have noticed as soon as I speak a little Spanish people start talking to me as if I was fluent. I certainly underatand far more than I can speak. When I listen to some non-Spanish people speaking Spanish I pray my pronuciation is not as horrible but it probably is.
In addition to what the OP questioned there are two other concepts about language communication that I find interesting.
1. Two bilingual speakers for example both English and Spanish- observe their choice of communication. Is it pure English? Pure Spanish? or a mix of both. Look at their age when you observe in what language and how they communicate.
2. The other concept is tied to the discussion in the thread. If a speaker has a good command of Spanish and they address a person in Spanish and the other person responds in English for some people it's considered rude or right away changes the way the communication will evolve. Some people don't care but I know many who feel offended and I can understand why. Maybe at some point one can switch but from a language perspective it is not a bad idea to get the first response back in Spanish and then let the dialogue evolve from there.
Bilingualism is tricky. My preference is one or the other. I do not mix the two languages (English and Spanish) when speaking. As well, with certain Spanish speakers I only speak Spanish to them even if they speak English. In my case it is out of preference and some cases respect (if it's an older person).
-MP.
1. Two bilingual speakers for example both English and Spanish- observe their choice of communication. Is it pure English? Pure Spanish? or a mix of both. Look at their age when you observe in what language and how they communicate.
2. The other concept is tied to the discussion in the thread. If a speaker has a good command of Spanish and they address a person in Spanish and the other person responds in English for some people it's considered rude or right away changes the way the communication will evolve. Some people don't care but I know many who feel offended and I can understand why. Maybe at some point one can switch but from a language perspective it is not a bad idea to get the first response back in Spanish and then let the dialogue evolve from there.
Bilingualism is tricky. My preference is one or the other. I do not mix the two languages (English and Spanish) when speaking. As well, with certain Spanish speakers I only speak Spanish to them even if they speak English. In my case it is out of preference and some cases respect (if it's an older person).
-MP.
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This is so true and it is another concept as well. A little attempt and people start speaking to you but I think it is wonderful. Embrace it and use it as encouragement to learn more.
-MP.
BTW- we can't discuss soccer in this thread but Barcelona was mentioned. Yes, great soccer team, second in La Liga right now and in the finals of the Champions League. Enough said.
Indeed that point is interesting, my observations are (not that I have a ton of them), but, that the "older generation" folks would stick to their native language, whereby the younger folks kind of flip back and forth.
Where I come from, Gibraltar, where the official language is English and Spanish is the home/street language, it used to be a way of pulling rank or vice versa. If you addressed someone in English and they replied in Spanish they were often signalling that you should get off your high horse. If you address someone in Spanish and they reply in English they might be telling you not to be too familiar.
If this a DR related problem, I am very surprised this has happened to you frequent enough for concern unless you spend your days only around English speaking Dominicans- and this would be very odd as it is rare I run into a Dominican who speaks English.