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Poll: Do you sometimes wish that more people spoke your mother tongue?
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Dec 20, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you sometimes wish that more people spoke your mother tongue?".

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Salim Ismail
 
Ventnai
Ventnai  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:57
German to English
+ ...
Native Dec 20, 2019

As a native English speaker, I sometimes wish fewer people spoke my language

neilmac
Angus Stewart
Christine Andersen
Laura Nagle (X)
Michele Fauble
Philip Lees
 
Gitte Hovedskov (X)
Gitte Hovedskov (X)
Denmark
Local time: 15:57
English to Danish
+ ...
Never crossed my mind Dec 20, 2019

But I have sometimes wished that more people understood Danish values...

Christine Andersen
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Michele Fauble
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:57
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I've never thought about it! Dec 20, 2019

Portuguese is an official language in nine countries, including Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Macau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe, and also in Equatorial Guinea. It’s the sixth most spoken language in the world and the second most spoken Romance language in the world, after Spanish, and it has a presence on almost all of the continents. It has circa 220 million speakers, all variants included.

 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 22:57
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
I'm not sure... Dec 20, 2019

...but I'm quite that it would be to my advantage if more people who spoke my mother tongue did not speak another language. I'm all for abolishing foreign language instruction in schools!

Jorge Payan
Saheem Irshad
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 15:57
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
No! Dec 20, 2019

"Everybody can English" …

Everybody and his dog thinks they know English, and admittedly, some do. It's the others who are the problem!


Kevin Fulton
Angie Garbarino
 
John Cutler
John Cutler  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
Learn and re-learn Dec 20, 2019

It's true, there is a lot of "English" going around out there. After living abroad for 34 years though, I've decided that I'm one of those people who wants to learn it too. Perhaps I should say "not forget it". What I mean is that it's easy to forget even your own native language when you don't use it regularly. (The ex-pats out there will know what I mean.)

More on point... Maybe this question was meant for people who speak a minority language. I know from long, personal observatio
... See more
It's true, there is a lot of "English" going around out there. After living abroad for 34 years though, I've decided that I'm one of those people who wants to learn it too. Perhaps I should say "not forget it". What I mean is that it's easy to forget even your own native language when you don't use it regularly. (The ex-pats out there will know what I mean.)

More on point... Maybe this question was meant for people who speak a minority language. I know from long, personal observation that people who speak a minority language often feel dominated and forced to speak some other language that they'd rather not have to speak. Wishing more people spoke their language is a natural result of that.
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Kaisa I
 
Sumaiya Nishat
Sumaiya Nishat  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 20:27
Arabic to English
+ ...
Yes!! Dec 20, 2019

That's a great question,
I have always tried to teach my native English speaker friends my mother tounge.
It feels nice and amazing when they understand us speaking our native language and when they speak in mg language.
I love my mother tounge Urdu.
Btw I love English and Arabic as well, I am always learning and making native English and Arabic speakers.
Talking in another language is an art and I am an expert artist....
See more
That's a great question,
I have always tried to teach my native English speaker friends my mother tounge.
It feels nice and amazing when they understand us speaking our native language and when they speak in mg language.
I love my mother tounge Urdu.
Btw I love English and Arabic as well, I am always learning and making native English and Arabic speakers.
Talking in another language is an art and I am an expert artist.
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Kaisa I
 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 14:57
Japanese to English
Yes Dec 20, 2019

My nephews and nieces speak English perfectly, but none of them speak Ga, though they understand it. It's depressing to think the language might be gone within the next two generations.

 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 15:57
French to English
. Dec 20, 2019

My partner's native language is pretty obscure, so he can talk with relatives in public abroad without anybody understanding. I'm pretty jealous.

I'm also very regularly annoyed at people foreignsplaining my language at me. Just the latest instance: the other day I was asked to replace "enrol" (in an academic context) with another "less negative" word. "Enrôler" in French is used for shanghai-ing sailors so of course that sounds negative, but people, the word changed its meaning w
... See more
My partner's native language is pretty obscure, so he can talk with relatives in public abroad without anybody understanding. I'm pretty jealous.

I'm also very regularly annoyed at people foreignsplaining my language at me. Just the latest instance: the other day I was asked to replace "enrol" (in an academic context) with another "less negative" word. "Enrôler" in French is used for shanghai-ing sailors so of course that sounds negative, but people, the word changed its meaning while crossing the Channel!
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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:57
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Other Dec 20, 2019

In the district where I live German has become a rare language. Sometimes I think that we are a dying species when there's maybe 25 foreign language speakers to 1 German speaker. However, this is also an opportunity to learn other languages.

And please let me make this perfectly clear, I'm not against foreigners. After all, due to my extensive travels I'm more often a foreigner than not....
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In the district where I live German has become a rare language. Sometimes I think that we are a dying species when there's maybe 25 foreign language speakers to 1 German speaker. However, this is also an opportunity to learn other languages.

And please let me make this perfectly clear, I'm not against foreigners. After all, due to my extensive travels I'm more often a foreigner than not.

[Edited at 2019-12-20 15:05 GMT]
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Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 15:57
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No Dec 20, 2019

But I often wish we could hold on to a more classic version and not get so influenced by English.

 
LIZ LI
LIZ LI  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 22:57
French to Chinese
+ ...
NO Dec 21, 2019

We've been already overcrowded.
But I do hope my son speaks more Cantonese, so that he's able to understand his own culture when he grows up.


Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
 
Miyoung Park
Miyoung Park  Identity Verified
South Korea
Local time: 23:57
English to Korean
Yes Dec 21, 2019

As a book translator, I need more readers...

 
Michael Newton
Michael Newton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:57
Japanese to English
+ ...
Mother tongue Dec 21, 2019

I wish more people in the US would speak English which is the national language. We have millions of people in the US who languish in linguistic ghettos for decades never learning English and subsisting in dead-end jobs. New York City has many foreign language TV channels. There are two Korean channels and 50 % of all the programming is devoted to learning English. The same goes for a Korean-language ratio station here in Boston. I speak a foreign language (Japanese) at home (and am fluent in C... See more
I wish more people in the US would speak English which is the national language. We have millions of people in the US who languish in linguistic ghettos for decades never learning English and subsisting in dead-end jobs. New York City has many foreign language TV channels. There are two Korean channels and 50 % of all the programming is devoted to learning English. The same goes for a Korean-language ratio station here in Boston. I speak a foreign language (Japanese) at home (and am fluent in Chinese, Russian and French) but when I leave the house I expect to speak the national language. When I go to a bank ATM (cash point), I am offered options in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, French and German options. Also, people are allowed to vote in local and national elections with ballots in Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese, Portuguese, Haitian Kreyol and Cape Verdean Kreyol. This is relatively new. The concept of assimilation is now considered "racist". An unpleasant truth. Welcome to balkanized America!Collapse


 
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Poll: Do you sometimes wish that more people spoke your mother tongue?






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