The English Culture
I met an old friend of mine yesterday.
We were very good friends in high school & were in touch even 10 years after we set out in different professional directions.
Its just the past 7 months when we were absolutely out of touch, I am unsure why that happened..
Well, it was a great feeling to meet him after 7 months but I did notice that one thing has changed..
This person with whom I used to always talk in Kannada prefers to speak only in English now.. I clearly remember that there never existed even a single complete English statement between us so far, Never..
He hasn't got a good exposure when it comes to communicating in English & hence used to screw it up big time but that did not stop him.
I somehow stuck to talking in Kannada, but the "Kannada to English translator" sitting at the tip of his tongue did not stop.
I am better off not talking abt the fork & knife show which was presented to me while eating the pan pizza. I could see the poor pizza being butchered brutally but acted as if I did not observe it & kept myself busy enjoying it with bare hands..
I absolutely do not mind him murdering English ( I did the same once upon a time) or using the fork & knife in the crudest possible fashion [ as I firmly believe that he is on the right path to improve his English culture ] but somehow felt really awkward & uncomfortable.
I dont know what is the reason for this change.. Just my 7 month stay in San Diego [where 60% of them speak only Spanish & do not know English] or the management degree which my friend attained recently..
No matter what I could notice there was no difference in the warmth or the friendliness.. Yay !!
Every moment of the first 10 minutes I felt like yelling at him to stop presenting his English skills to me.. But a thought stopped me which said - "May be he felt that I am the right person for him to experiment with his partially cooked English skills cos he knows that I wouldn't mind the mistakes or the faults"..
I kept wondering if I should correct him or will it hurt his confidence & stop him from trying further.. The evening was over before I reached any conclusion.
We were very good friends in high school & were in touch even 10 years after we set out in different professional directions.
Its just the past 7 months when we were absolutely out of touch, I am unsure why that happened..
Well, it was a great feeling to meet him after 7 months but I did notice that one thing has changed..
This person with whom I used to always talk in Kannada prefers to speak only in English now.. I clearly remember that there never existed even a single complete English statement between us so far, Never..
He hasn't got a good exposure when it comes to communicating in English & hence used to screw it up big time but that did not stop him.
I somehow stuck to talking in Kannada, but the "Kannada to English translator" sitting at the tip of his tongue did not stop.
I am better off not talking abt the fork & knife show which was presented to me while eating the pan pizza. I could see the poor pizza being butchered brutally but acted as if I did not observe it & kept myself busy enjoying it with bare hands..
I absolutely do not mind him murdering English ( I did the same once upon a time) or using the fork & knife in the crudest possible fashion [ as I firmly believe that he is on the right path to improve his English culture ] but somehow felt really awkward & uncomfortable.
I dont know what is the reason for this change.. Just my 7 month stay in San Diego [where 60% of them speak only Spanish & do not know English] or the management degree which my friend attained recently..
No matter what I could notice there was no difference in the warmth or the friendliness.. Yay !!
Every moment of the first 10 minutes I felt like yelling at him to stop presenting his English skills to me.. But a thought stopped me which said - "May be he felt that I am the right person for him to experiment with his partially cooked English skills cos he knows that I wouldn't mind the mistakes or the faults"..
I kept wondering if I should correct him or will it hurt his confidence & stop him from trying further.. The evening was over before I reached any conclusion.