I agree whole-heartedly with this.
I'm not "fluent" in Cantonese - but I try. I'm not good with languages and working with 9 tones can be a real challenge - but I try. Hong Kong locals appreciate it and often are quite shocked but delighted when you do make an effort and a little gesture goes a long way. Some are horrified (especially those who use racial slurs in front of me only to realise I understand they are talking about the "fat white foreigner").
Unfortunately expats not learning any of the language here in Hong Kong is often the norm too.
I have acquaintances who have lived in Hong Kong for almost 20 years who don't even know how to say "thank you" in anything other than English and I find that absolutely mind boggling and a little rude/ignorant. They want their lifestyle but they don't want to be part of the culture. My daughter has class mates who despite being required to attend 45 minutes of Mandarin 5 days a week as part of the school curriculum will tell you they only speak one language - English. They don't want to learn Mandarin, don't TRY to learn and their parents don't see it as relevant or important and are happy to not have their kids do the homework or try to progress.
Personally I will encourage my daughter with whatever languages she has exposure to - currently English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Spanish because it will make the world much more accessible to her. She doesn't always enjoy the learning but can't complain when she sees mum trying to speak the local lingo too.
Ironically recently when we visited Japan for a 5 day holiday we learnt a few words (hello, thank you, numbers) and my son wants to learn MORE Japanese (which unfortunately isn't offered at the school he attends unless you are a native level speaker). He's grown up being immersed in languages all his life and I can't help but wonder if that mentality has made him more open to the idea of learning language.
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
https://www.facebook.com/daebbuing/v...4028325037488/
^This is an excellent video which makes an excellent point about people living overseas who seem to fail at acquiring the local language due to a lack of effort or even refusal to want to learn. This guy (Dave) makes an excellent point. No matter what country you live in, people should make an EFFORT to speak the local language. It also baffles me when I meet people who've lived in Japan for longer than I did and are unable to sustain a conversation in Japanese. I lived in Japan for only 10 months, yet in that limited time, I was able to acquire enough Japanese to allow me to hold conversations (as well as teach, translate and transmit the language). But it never ceases to amaze me when I come across people who've lived in Japan for over a year --- years --- who are unable to really speak Japanese.
And I encountered a lot of these people when I was living in Japan, including one person from Australia who arrived in Japan the same time as me and another Aussie (there were 3 of us on the same exchange programme). Two of us became fluent in Japanese while one did not because she kept on speaking English all the time, while the other bloke and I deliberately avoided using English and maximised our usage of Japanese. We even spoke to each other and other Anglophones in Japanese, except this one girl because she refused to, and when we tried to speak to her in Japanese she said, "Why are you guys speaking in Japanese?" and told us to speak to her in English.
And it's far less embarrassing than people who are so afraid of making mistakes that they never try to speak the language in the first place, and as you said, end up being one of those people who've lived in a country/region for decades but still can't even sustain a conversation with locals.
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