Re:Native speakers are hard to understand in a lingua franca...
by deanCommie on Sunday May 23, 2021 @03:04AM
(#27252982)
Fired Vancouver Waiter: I'm not rude, I'm just French [1]
I work in the tech industry. As a senior engineer, I've had to mediate MULTIPLE misunderstandings over the years (and also hearing random complaints) about French tech workers being perceived by native English speakers, Indians, Asians as condescending, offensive, or rude.
Having worked with them closely and spent personal time trying to understand them, I know it's not in their hearts. Humans are humans. Rude ones, polite ones, friendly ones, impersonal ones. On a culture-wide scale we all average out. But the language is a problem. I almost feel bad for them.
And so I've literally had to tell people "<so and so> isn't rude, or condescending to you. They're just French."
I work in the tech industry. As a senior engineer, I've had to mediate MULTIPLE misunderstandings over the years (and also hearing random complaints) about French tech workers being perceived by native English speakers, Indians, Asians as condescending, offensive, or rude.
Having worked with them closely and spent personal time trying to understand them, I know it's not in their hearts. Humans are humans. Rude ones, polite ones, friendly ones, impersonal ones. On a culture-wide scale we all average out. But the language is a problem. I almost feel bad for them.
And so I've literally had to tell people "<so and so> isn't rude, or condescending to you. They're just French."
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43507949