is it necessary to speak the local language

[SkyMan 20,228]

Udonthani and Kim provide some on-topic responses and you respond to them like this?

Kim posted some info on Spain and Whippy attacked him. I don't see how either of those is on or even near topic.

[Davaoeno 36,411]

-- I have throughout my life been terrible at learning languages (and in addition, I simply don't want to).

 

 

 

Have you ever considered the possibility that there might be a correlation between these 2 things ?

[Guy60417 544]

Have you ever considered the possibility that there might be a correlation between these 2 things ?

 

I have little doubt of it.

 

Though the question, of course, is which way the arrow of causality points. To cite another example, I suck at golf and also think it's a boring game. Would I find it more interesting if I were good at it? Would I make the effort to get better if I found it interesting?

Edited September 2, 2012 by Guy60417

[Davaoeno 36,411]

I have little doubt of it.

 

Though the question, of course, is which way the arrow of causality points. To cite another example, I suck at golf and also think it's a boring game. Would I find it more interesting if I were good at it? Would I make the effort to get better if I found it interesting?

 

 

since we live in a competitive goal oriented society i think you know the answer hehe If 5 girls in a row ignore you when you approach them you think about giving up. If 5 girls in a row tell you that you are very gwapo you suddenly see yourself as a hot commodity and life suddenly becomes beautiful to you !

[Skywalker 19,176]

As an Englishman, we generally refuse to utter foreign, choosing instead to simply raise our voices. Worked fine for 8 years in Bangkok, works fine here!

 

Actually if you go outside of Bangkok and the other major conurbations in Thailand you really do need a translator, and the language could be Burmese, Laos and Khmer as well as Thai.

 

Here in Cebu most people understand (if not speak) English. People do appreciate it if you can at least thank them in their language.

[tomaw 1,341]

 

 

 

since we live in a competitive goal oriented society i think you know the answer hehe If 5 girls in a row ignore you when you approach them you think about giving up. If 5 girls in a row tell you that you are very gwapo you suddenly see yourself as a hot commodity and life suddenly becomes beautiful to you !

.........Providing of course he knows what gwapo means. Ha, ha, ha !

[tomaw 1,341]

i dont want to sound culturally insensitive. i currently live in mexico teaching english and learning spanish is a matter of survival. but i suck at learning languages. my thinking is that economically i will probably only be close friends with other expats or upper middle upper class filipinos who through schooling who know english. also the country has many regional languages which makes it difficult to justify learning one when after living in one part of the country for a few years i might make the move to another part. anyone else feel the way i do? i lived in the phil before but it was like 7 yrs ago and then only for 6 mnths so i dont remember having any language issues but i spent alot of time with other expats and in expat restuarants, hotels so the locals where more used to dealing with westerners. any thoughts from your experience?

..................You're TEACHING English but HATE LEARNING languages ???

[Kim_ 957]

I am currently living in Spain, trying to learn the language so that I can enjoy my stay here better...

My answer to the question is: YES

 

spain doesnt have multiple languages within the country and english isnt spoken or taught in school like the phil so i dont see that comparison as valid.

 

my Pinglish or Pinoy English, has greatly improved. Grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, everything. I got the gold star in my class.

 

so are you in luzon and learning taglog and does it really make a big difference in your daiiy life?

Wrong Wrong Wrong!

Goto Barcelona and you'll find you can not understand the language spoken, which is catalan. Then there is galician and basque as well.

 

Regarding need to know local language or not, it's up to each one how interested they are in being able to communicate with the locals. Not all of them knows english.

[TorJay 845]

If your going to live in a foreign land it is always a good idea to at least learn a little bit of the local language.

[Stranded Shipscook 2,856]

i dont want to sound culturally insensitive. i currently live in mexico teaching english and learning spanish is a matter of survival. but i suck at learning languages. my thinking is that economically i will probably only be close friends with other expats or upper middle upper class filipinos who through schooling who know english. also the country has many regional languages which makes it difficult to justify learning one when after living in one part of the country for a few years i might make the move to another part. anyone else feel the way i do? i lived in the phil before but it was like 7 yrs ago and then only for 6 mnths so i dont remember having any language issues but i spent alot of time with other expats and in expat restuarants, hotels so the locals where more used to dealing with westerners. any thoughts from your experience?

I have not had any issues in the 5 years i lived in Manila ( Tagalog, or due to being in the eighties, "Taglish" was spoken)

I've learned Tagalog along the way though.

 

In 98 in the Visayan ( Cebu ) it was also not a requisite among the daily live, as most socializing i was participating was held in English anyhow. ( NGO's and Civic Clubs use English in General as their Communication Language )

Also the Filipinos i had around me themselves often sued English as a medium for the complex topics in communications,as Visayan can not cover the vocabular.

Last but not least,Filipinos also love to speak English if they can speak it well.

 

As experienced in Manila, i picked up Visayan small talk although this particular language is pretty hard to learn due to the vast differences in grammar in contrast to our (Western) Latin based ones.

 

People say, i speak good enough, i myself think my visayan is too rudimentary to even use it. My tagalog is definitely much better, but its useless here.

 

Now you got a picture from a "long timer".

 

My conclusion and recommendation is to at least try and learn.

[Kim_ 957]

ive lived in spain, travel extensively through the entire country i never had an issue with the locals not speaking spanish. i have family in barcelona none of them speak catalan even though its in the state of catalonia. that language is mostly limited to the microstate of andora which is less than 100k. have you ever lived in the philippines because if you havent i didnt open the question to you.

Ofcourse they all understand spanish, but it isn't everyone's first choice. You'll find information in both catalan and spanish.

 

And this part is nonsense too, you'll find catalan along the coast to Valencia. Besides, Andorra is: 468 km²

mostly limited to the microstate of andora which is less than 100k

 

And with this I'll finish my lecturing.

Languages:

Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, and Basque 2%

note: Catalan is official in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community (where it is known as Valencian); in the northwest corner of Catalonia (Vall d'Aran), Aranese is official along with Catalan; Galician is official in Galicia; Basque is official in the Basque Country

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sp.html#top

[ckfm 717]

I have met filipinos who refuse to speak tagalog or any other local language publically, english is the language of the upper class and one of the 2 official languages (none of which os visayan), sure it's nice to know some words but necessary - not at all.

[Mr.T 202]

Sorry, this is such an ignorant and wrong answer. Knowing the local language will make your daily life easier. I have lived in many countries where I am not speaking the local language and the people do (mostly) not speak english well....

 

Dude, the Philippines is one of the easiest countries in the world to live in without speaking the local language.

 

You say you live in Spain, well yea, those suckers cant speak English. In the Philippines, almost everyone can speak English, so it's not necessary to speak the local language, it's just an option.

[Mr.T 202]

I am currently living in Spain, trying to learn the language so that I can enjoy my stay here better...

My answer to the question is: YES

 

Spain is not the Philippines, so: NO

[towboat72 820]

Sorry, this is such an ignorant and wrong answer. Knowing the local language will make your daily life easier. I have lived in many countries where I am not speaking the local language and the people do (mostly) not speak english well....

 

i think your answer is an ignorant and wrong answer.it will definataly be a help if you can understand and speak a bit of the language of the country that you live in .