Can your parents speak English?

[penner2k]

I'm gonna start learning Portuguese now so when I go to Brazil in 2014 I can communicate.

[Vansterdam]

lol straight fobs

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by melloman

Believe it or not, they do.

I'm usually the "token" white guy in my group of friends, (possibley 1 other white guy will come out) but we go to asian restaurants and I get stared/glared at. I have an asian girlfriend which seems to make them even more hateful towards me...

If you had a sense of low self-esteem then you'd probably feel really uncomfortable going the asian restaurants in Richmond or China town, luckily I don't.

i'm sure they are just jelly cuz you taller than them (i'm assuming b/c you're white :P) and that you have a nice asian gf while they are

[XplicitLuder]

i agree with a lot of people when they say they get mad cus some people don't speak english and stick to their native language. And it makes me more mad that my parents don't even live in canada (theyre back in south america) and they can both speak more english then a lot of the asian communities here how does that even make sense ???

Specially when i was going through high school , in my school there were always the international kids (mostly asian) who would stick to their own side and own people/friends and just talk away in their language and not even give a fuck. So it's hard to try and sometimes make them feel welcomed because they don't give a shit on trying to learn english and socialize with those who have been here forever! makes me mad

[see.lai]

Large Coffee, double double.
That's all that my mother knows.

[LSF22]

Originally Posted by see.lai

Large Coffee, double double.
That's all that my mother knows.

HAHAHA

Originally Posted by ilvtofu

GOD I hate when my mom does that!

Whenever she's talking to our filipino cleaning lady or people from malaysia/singapore she talks purposely with an accent, I swear she does it subconsciously but it drives me mad because she can communicate perfectly fine without much if any accent

LOL it happens.. especially if it's the "singlish" accent... we moved here late 90's... and my whole family all speaks well above average english... at work... or just in general... but as soon as someone from Singapore/Malaysia is present, that singlish accent subconsciously shows up lol

Are you filipino/malaysian/singaporean?

[mmmk]

Originally Posted by tomatillo

Can your parents speak English? My parents immigrated to Canada almost 30 years ago, but they cannot speak English because they were too busy working to support the family and starting a new life. They can get by with their minimal English, but they are not able to hold a proper conversation.

30 years later...they are still supporting the family and starting a new life??
do you help at all?

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by see.lai

Large Coffee, double double.
That's all that my mother knows.

that's more than the guy in line in front of me last week. it was like watching a train wreck in slow mo

[El Bastardo]

Its not like its a very specific and obscure language like Gagauz.

Its English. English is fucking ubiquitous. Its difficult to avoid the language. Its like you've deliberately tried to avoid it if you haven't learned at least enough to communicate on a basic level. Sure, if you live in Uzbekistan you have little use for English but if you move to an English-speaking nation why deliberately try to keep yourself isolated from the society in which you live?

I'm sick of Canada being used as this:

[freakshow]

My friend crosses the boarder with his dad..

Guard: Anything to declare?
Dad: Groceries and Pot
Guard: Sorry?
Dad: Just bought some groceries and Pot
Friend: He means PORT, wine, we bought wine!

[Ikkaku]

Originally Posted by ilvtofu

GOD I hate when my mom does that!

Whenever she's talking to our filipino cleaning lady or people from malaysia/singapore she talks purposely with an accent, I swear she does it subconsciously but it drives me mad because she can communicate perfectly fine without much if any accent

And this is why our family are good friends with each other

Perhaps this is a common theme within our parents' graduation year hahahah

[underscore]

Originally Posted by T.T

Parents immigrated here 23 years ago
mom's english isn't good at all
dad's is better and can sort of get by with the language...and I do mean "sort of"

they picked up Cantonese pretty fast when they got here though LOL (family is chiu chow and grew up learning mandarin/vietnamese so canto was new to them)

So they're too lazy to learn English but they learned Canto? Are you fucking kidding me? I know these are your parents so I apologize if I've offended you but that's pretty ridiculous.

[Ikkaku]

You have to realize that it's easier to learn a dialect of your mother-tongue than to learn a completely different language. For people from HK, they do have to learn a little bit of english in school (with the whole British rule), however, there are people from elsewhere who have had little to no experience with english.

And also without the internet, they would have less exposure to other cultures.

If they find a small community that doesn't require english, they would be able to survive. It really depends on their needs and situations.

For example: My grandpa learned a little bit of english because he still needed to provide for the family. He opened a little corner store in Richmond, and with a variety of customers coming in, he had to learn to communicate with them. My grandma didn't need to know any, so for the longest time she only knew her basics of thank you, hello, welcome, etc. Albeit she did try to learn much later on by watching her favorite english show Oprah, and then she went to a community center to learn some more.

But once again, it really depends on the needs of those individuals.

[Energy]

What about those of us that still have accents? It seems like some people still look down on others that speak perfect english but have a foreign accent.

[91civicZC]

To live somewhere for 30 years and not speak the language (at least somewhat) would say to me that you either are not very smart, or you have such a low opinion of the local population and culture you can’t be bothered to try and communicate with them.

Either way, why expect anything other than hostility in response? Respect works both ways friends. Don’t expect a local population to respect your culture if you can’t be bothered to respect the one you transplanted yourself into.

I would respect someone making the effort that has terrible English, at least they are trying.

[91civicZC]

Originally Posted by Energy

What about those of us that still have accents? It seems like some people still look down on others that speak perfect english but have a foreign accent.

Accents are cool, and help you pick up broads.

[Ikkaku]

Originally Posted by 91civicZC

Accents are cool, and help you pick up broads.

that would depend on the accent

[El Bastardo]

Originally Posted by Ikkaku

that would depend on the accent

Indian stand up accent comedy - YouTube

[niu99]

some don't learn english simply because they are too old to learn a new language. or, that is their excuse.
to some, they don't feel the need to learn english. to them they come here to vacation not to live. my parents don't speak english well. they don't see it as an issue at all.

[Great68]

My mom immigrated when she was 8, her english is perfect. And back then there was no such thing as ESL.

My dad came when he was 25, he still has an accent. He has grammar problems, mostly when writing.

I call bullshit on the "Too busy to learn" statement by the OP. Really, that should be read as "Too lazy to learn". Or "Not interested in immersing themselves socially".

My co-worker is in his 40's, moved here from China 4 years ago with his wife and daughter. He put himself through english lessons, he tries hard to participate in conversations and hang out with us Canadians in the office. His english is FAR better than a lot of people I have met who have been here 10 times longer than him. He asked me the other day if he could record me when I'm on the phone so he could study my conversations lol.

What's funny is he told me that he first moved to Vancouver, and when he realised that his daughter was hanging out with too many other asians there he packed up and moved to Victoria.

[Oleophobic]

Originally Posted by Doubl3_H

Really. You guys from chiu chow? You guys speak the language at home?
My parents are also from there, but from the city shantou
Posted via RS Mobile

Yeah speak it at home.

Originally Posted by underscore

So they're too lazy to learn English but they learned Canto? Are you fucking kidding me? I know these are your parents so I apologize if I've offended you but that's pretty ridiculous.

None taken.

We lived in Chinatown which is full of cantonese speakers so it's not too surprising that they picked up canto that fast. They didn't specifically take classes for canto, they just watched a lot of canto TV, made canto friends, communicated with locals who were all canto speakers. It just happened naturally because of the environment in which they lived.
As far as I know, my parents have made some effort in learning english but I guess they had other priorities and living in Chinatown didn't exactly help.

edit: meant to say it's not too surprising they picked up canto fast considering they already knew mando

[Matlock]

My long term girlfriend's parents can only speak very basic English, lacking the ability to hold a real conversation. This has been particularly awkward during family dinners, being the only person at the table who cannot speak Chinese... and she expects me to learn Cantonese.

EDIT: I just discovered I already said this in the thread way back when... I don't even remember.

[taylor192]

Originally Posted by flagella

Well, some ppl learn new languages much quicker than others.

This. I have tried to learn french and spanish - no luck, I cannot hear the subtle differences as many words sound siimilar, especially in conversational french that often mushes words together.

[pinn3r]

both my parents are chiu chow/vietnamese/cantonese/cambodian
both still fobs, even though they've been here for 25+ years

[timbit]

Both parents Flip, both speak fluent English now due mostly to my brother and I droning in the language to them.
You have no idea how long it took for me to get my mom to say "12 dozen" instead of "12 dozens"