Have you experienced any linguistic problem?
By easyzheng
@easyzheng (666)
China
April 22, 2007 12:44am CST
Have you ever experienced any linguistic setback in your life? I had never had such experience as I thought with English you could travel everywhere as it has become a global language now. But I was wrong. Two months ago I went to South Korea and there I felt frustrated because I don't know Korean at all and most of the people's English is not good enough to communicate. When I went to the market place to buy some grocery, I didn't know how to tell the boss how much I need, I could not understand how much I should pay. When I went to the restaurant, I wasn't able to order.... I felt so frustrated when I walked along the road and all the Korean words that came into my eyes were just a bunch of sign that was total strange to me. I felt like an illiterate person. it's really bad.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
23 Apr 07
I travel through quebec canada quite a bit. And while the rest of canada speaks primarily english, in quebec it's french. Especialy among the hardcore seperatists. I had trouble alot of times simply ordering a coffee. So I started learning some french. It was a struggle let me tell you. But, I figure if I expect someone traveling in or moving to my country to speak some english, thenm I guess it's only fair when I'm in a foriegn country I attempt to learn that language.
@yanjiaren (9031)
•
22 Apr 07
Oh man I have been there lol. When I was in the States last month and some people phoned regarding my hubby's work from Beijing they rattled on in Mandarin. O.K I am trying so hard to learn Chinese, because I love the language so much and I love my Husband too much who is a Zhongguoren too. But I only know the romantic stuff at the moment, can you imagine me on the phone lol..Eh wo bu zhidao zhongwen, wo de zhongwen bu hao, wo xiang shuo hao zhongwen, etc etc..What a joke, only when people rattle on at you, you realise how little you know of a language, don't you agree?
