Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Language Comebacks for Co-workers, Know-it-alls and Language Snobs

Laughter really is the best medicine, and I've always said that if you can laugh at yourself and your speech mistakes, you'll be able to improve much faster. But there is a big difference between laughing at yourself, laughing with others, and having others laugh at you.

I can remember clearly, living in Denmark and working very hard to learn Danish. I had reached that point where I could understand almost everything, but still didn't have a lot of courage to speak. It wasn't until I was thrown into a new job and HAD to speak, that I finally started using the language.

There were a number of reactions. Some people heard my accent and immediately switched to English.  Others spoke slowly and loudly as though I wasn't only learning a new language, but also had a mental disability. And the last group of people laughed.

I'm not sure which group I hated the most, and I'm sure you've also met these people, haven't you?