rail racism...

Originally Posted by Damien

I knew it! There is an Indian family who run a newsagents and I am always paranoid they are talking about me when I go in there.

You should see what they say about you on their blog and twitter feed....

[Pierre]

I was stood next to an Indian couple today, naturally I eavesdropped....................

I could only pick up the odd word....Fringe.....layered........perm......highli ghts........extensions.......bob.......mohican.... ....

Turns out they were talking..... Hairdo



I'm here all week..........OAPs and kids half price.

[thenry]

Originally Posted by danielf

If my wife and I are on a train minding our own business we'll speak our native language thank you. I see no reason why we should be speaking English to each other just in case other people might be offended. Chances are they won't be able to hear us anyway. It would feel extremely contrived to switch to English.

unless someones on a holiday thats just arrogant. people living in a country should speak the said countries recognized language. may be I've been brought up in an old fashion way. its common courtesy to be honest.

Originally Posted by thenry

its common courtesy to be honest.

No it's not.

If you had guests in your own home and they excluded you from conversation by speaking in a different language, then fair enough. Ditto if you were a guest in their home. But out in public, such as on a train, people who have no connection with you whatsoever are under no moral obligation to speak a language you can understand.

Originally Posted by thenry

unless someones on a holiday thats just arrogant. people living in a country should speak the said countries recognized language. may be I've been brought up in an old fashion way. its common courtesy to be honest.

What if they speak Gaelic in Scotland or Welsh in Welshland?

[Tim Deegan]

Originally Posted by thenry

mods feel free to edit or delete this if you wish, I post as it hasn't appeared on here.

few videos have appeared, what are peoples views? first one was a drunk looking lady on a train, couldn't even speak properly. the other was the lady on a croydon tram if i'm correct? with the little kid in her arms. theres full videos on youtube, not sure whether i'd be allowed to post it so i'm not going to.

my personal view is that it was disgusting, many people live here and regard themselves as British striving forward. the first video I came across with the drunk looking female having a rant on a train does have a point.. to me speaking a non English language in public is rude. again as mentioned she seemed drunk and let it all out in a foul way.

the second? anger towards the current state of the country? still, it doesn't give her the right to say what she did say

I can't believe you said that

So are you saying that when you abroad that you speak the native language the whole time you are in public, so that you don't offend anyone??

---------- Post added at 13:30 ---------- Previous post was at 13:29 ----------

Originally Posted by thenry

unless someones on a holiday thats just arrogant. people living in a country should speak the said countries recognized language. may be I've been brought up in an old fashion way. its common courtesy to be honest.

The only reason to want someone to do that would be to evesdrop on their conversation

[danielf]

Originally Posted by thenry

unless someones on a holiday thats just arrogant. people living in a country should speak the said countries recognized language. may be I've been brought up in an old fashion way. its common courtesy to be honest.

Sorry, but I disagree. It's extremely unnatural for me to speak English to my wife in a private conversation. When we're on a train, we're having just that. A private conversation. It would feel extremely awkward to do that in English.

Clearly, when there are other conversational partners we'll speak English, but I don't count complete strangers on the other side of a train aisle as conversational partners. I don't know how many languages you speak, but trust me, even after extensive experience, there is no substitute for native proficiency. I consider myself fluent in English, but my native command and vocabulary size is considerably better for the simple fact that I spent longer speaking it, and was educated in it.

[thenry]

like I said if your on holiday its something you can't help but living within a country? I think you should speak the national language. The Welsh have their own language, their Wales not England, Scots do their thing, their within Scotland not England.

I'm from a mixed raced background and have been brought up to speak English in public. Within the comfort of your homes you can speak how you wish. May be thats old fashion now, may be its wrong, may be its right.

[danielf]

So you're natively bilingual? That seems slightly different to me than having a native language and being fluent in a second language. Trust me, native language conversation is just more natural, and I'm not going out of my way and have an awkward conversation on the off-chance that a complete stranger might be offended by a conversation he or she is no party to.

[Uncle Peter]

When I visit my family in Poland I wouldn't dream of speaking English in a group whether it be in the home or in public despite the fact that my cousins all speak fluent English. The elders do not and it would be rude to exclude them from the conversation as Daniel has mentioned in similar circumstances.

On the other hand one of my cousins does live here and again we speak Polish...her English is good but not as good as her husband's so it is the language we are all most comfortable with in a group conversation. What anyone else thinks is irrelevant.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by thenry

unless someones on a holiday thats just arrogant. people living in a country should speak the said countries recognized language. may be I've been brought up in an old fashion way. its common courtesy to be honest.

Why is it common courtesy? If you want to bring that into it, the language they are speaking is irrelevant as you shouldn't be listening to them.

Fair enough if you have invited someone somewhere and they sit there jabbering away in another language. That is rude.

Also, how would you feel if you heard someone on the phone? A friend of mine frequently switches to French on the phone, but that's only because she has some French friends who speak little or no English. She was bought up speaking both those languages, and Dutch so is fluent in all three. If she is in the pub with me and one of them calls, would it be rude of her to answer the phone in French?

[thenry]

born and bred in the UK, I've grown up to read, write and speak English and have it as my first language. I can understand my 2nd, 3rd and 4th languages but have difficulty speaking those languages fluently. I cannot write or read in those languages either.

I completely understand what your saying but I just see it as rude. may be this multi culture thing has hit heights I never knew about and its no longer deemed rude.

[Gary L]

I don't mind people speaking in their own tongue. as long as it's not somewhere like a shop where they intentionally change to their tongue when you just know that the whole purpose is so that they can talk about you

Couldn't they be talking about something personal to those involved in the conversation?

Sometimes, Gary, just sometimes, you aren't the centre of the Universe....

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Couldn't they be talking about something personal to those involved in the conversation?

No. you can sense these things.

Sometimes, Gary, just sometimes, you aren't the centre of the Universe....

That's alright, as long as it's just sometimes.