--- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 26, 2006 at 08:58:15AM +0530, Vinit Bhansali wrote: > > Those dumb idiots should have realized that it is every > > english-only-speaking person's RIGHT to demand flexibility from > people who > > know more than one language. > > yes... i see this "rude to speak your own language in front of me" > complaint almost invariably from english speakers who don't speak > that "own language". Not really. The complaint is also from other people who don't speak that "own language" who are invited along to a social gathering or a work related meeting of a small group of 3-5 people where 2 or 3 of those people do speak it and natter on, oblivious to the fact that you have don't have a clue what they are saying. A technical support person (an American) came to us software developers asking us about a crash he was troubleshooting for the customer. We had isolated the problem to a single area and I took him to the two engineers (Indians who are fluent English speakers) who worked on it and we had this small meeting where they both talked in Hindi incessantly for 10+ minutes, till I cut in and started translating what they were saying to the other guy. He actually needed to know what was going on. I don't think you need to be extra polite - you just need to know when it is not a good time to speak in your "own language". Vardhini
