spoon fighter feels like swinging that spoon of hers
random Japanese person: "So... what is the language of Poland?"
me: "it's Polish"
rJp: "and English?"
me: "no, just Polish. we use our own language."
rJp: "but you speak English?"
me: "well... yeah, but I learnt at school..."
rJp: (cutting in, triumphant voice) "so school's in English!"
me: (twitches) "no, school is in Polish. TV is in Polish. all documents are in Polish. I learnt English as a foreign language just like Japanese kids do. and I make a lot of grammar mistakes when speaking it."
rJp: (has trouble beliving) "ohh... I see... does Polish language resemble English?"
me: (dies)
I love Japanese, I really do, but sometimes they just so get on my nerves... Where did they get the idea that whole non-Asian world speaks native English? I can understand questions like "does your language resemble German?" asked right after I explain where my country is on the map, because it happens to be right next to Germany. After all no Japanese person is obligated to know that Polish is Slavic and German is, well, German, and that it used to mean different ethnicity (since Europe is already just one big pot, it wouldn't be safe to say we still are that different, I myself look anything but Slavian for that matter). But why are they so keen on almost forcing it onto me that my country is officially bilingual at the very least?
It is understandable they don't know what language is spoken in an unknown, far away country. Perfectly understandable. What I can't get over is why they keep insisting on that English thing AFTER I explained it IS in fact a foreign language to me just like it is to them.
I thought the times when Japanese thought all that's not Japanese or Chinese or Korean IS English were long gone, buried along with `all gaijin are blue-eyed and blonde` (still alive in anime, but mostly as a funny stereotype) and a few other legends of this kind no one but granpas and grannys believes anymore. Wrong! I had conversations more or less equaling the one quoted above with people my age and a bit older. And once with a group of teenagers who recognized my country's name because... Dir En Grey had a concert there XD.
You may think it's funny. It is, really. However, no joke is as funny when it is told over and over, and over, and over...
***I'm nearing 100 000 plays on last.fm. what should the lucky 'anniversary' song be?..***
me: "it's Polish"
rJp: "and English?"
me: "no, just Polish. we use our own language."
rJp: "but you speak English?"
me: "well... yeah, but I learnt at school..."
rJp: (cutting in, triumphant voice) "so school's in English!"
me: (twitches) "no, school is in Polish. TV is in Polish. all documents are in Polish. I learnt English as a foreign language just like Japanese kids do. and I make a lot of grammar mistakes when speaking it."
rJp: (has trouble beliving) "ohh... I see... does Polish language resemble English?"
me: (dies)
I love Japanese, I really do, but sometimes they just so get on my nerves... Where did they get the idea that whole non-Asian world speaks native English? I can understand questions like "does your language resemble German?" asked right after I explain where my country is on the map, because it happens to be right next to Germany. After all no Japanese person is obligated to know that Polish is Slavic and German is, well, German, and that it used to mean different ethnicity (since Europe is already just one big pot, it wouldn't be safe to say we still are that different, I myself look anything but Slavian for that matter). But why are they so keen on almost forcing it onto me that my country is officially bilingual at the very least?
It is understandable they don't know what language is spoken in an unknown, far away country. Perfectly understandable. What I can't get over is why they keep insisting on that English thing AFTER I explained it IS in fact a foreign language to me just like it is to them.
I thought the times when Japanese thought all that's not Japanese or Chinese or Korean IS English were long gone, buried along with `all gaijin are blue-eyed and blonde` (still alive in anime, but mostly as a funny stereotype) and a few other legends of this kind no one but granpas and grannys believes anymore. Wrong! I had conversations more or less equaling the one quoted above with people my age and a bit older. And once with a group of teenagers who recognized my country's name because... Dir En Grey had a concert there XD.
You may think it's funny. It is, really. However, no joke is as funny when it is told over and over, and over, and over...
***I'm nearing 100 000 plays on last.fm. what should the lucky 'anniversary' song be?..***