Overhearing foreign languages is annoying!

mikemac · 25-01-2011 12:19PM

Worked in a hotel in Galway, 3 Irish staff out of 15 staff, only a small hotel.
And some say Irish people think minimum wage jobs are "beneath" them :rolleyes:. THis was Celtic era a few years back

All I can say is if you're sitting in the canteen and everyone around you talking away in their own language it's not very pleasant.

And it's pretty rude tbh, you're excluding people

Krusader · 25-01-2011 12:22PM

feelingstressed wrote: »

Worked in a hotel in Galway, 3 Irish staff out of 15 staff, only a small hotel

All I can say is if you're sitting in the canteen and everyone around you talking away in their own language it's not very pleasant.

And it's pretty rude tbh, you're excluding people

This has happened to me, what us Irish did was talk fast use a lot of slang and don't fully enounciate your words, the foreign lads hadn't a clue what we were saying, they thought we were speaking Irish

ejmaztec · 25-01-2011 12:46PM

It's good to hear foreigners talking in their own language, because it means that Ireland isn't 100% fucked up, or they wouldn't be here, like the cuckoos.

sensibleken · 25-01-2011 12:48PM

This is the stupidest thing Ive ever heard in my life

blaze1 · 25-01-2011 12:49PM

urgh students on the bus's... Its nearly that time...

Not a raciacist. But theres no need to shout.. In saying that they shout in spain too... They're just noisy

Barna77 · 25-01-2011 01:17PM

Qué?

What? You typing in foreign keyboard so me no understand

:pac:

upmeath · 25-01-2011 02:09PM

OP should move to Piscataway, they have local laws preventing dogs from barking.

Jersey Town Out To Ban Dog Barking; Bird Chirping, Cat Meowing Currently Allowed

conorhal · 25-01-2011 03:52PM

The reason could be related to a strange psychological phenomena.
It's been shown that there’s actually a biological reason that we get annoyed by people who carry on loud mobile phone conversations on the bus or train. It seems that when you are in a forced proximity with a person carrying on a one sided conversation (even if you’re trying to ignore them) your brain goes into overdrive attempting the reconstruct the other half of the conversation, and thus science has proved that Dom Jolly is inherently annoying.
This is because our brain constantly and unconsciously works to make coherent sense of the environment around you, and it can be quite subjective in doing so, it can construct reality (or your perception of it) on the basis of expectation as much as objective reality.
So it may be the case that, because you do not expect to hear a person speaking a foreign language in Ireland, your brain tries to construct the meaning of the conversation from other queues and you get frustrated when you fails to do so, however if you were in Spain, where you expect the conversations around you not to be comprehensible, the fact that they are speaking another language doesn’t bother you because your brain doesn't even try to make sense of it.

I may also be that their conversation is annoying because it’s that much louder then everybody else’s, thus becoming doubly annoying because it loudly draws attention to itself, and has the temerity to be incomprehensible.
Yes, foreigners do shout down the phone (or at each other) on the bus. Again this may be down to the concept of ‘public privacy’. If you are in a public space but think that nobody understands you (ironically just possessing mobile phone can have a similar psychological effect) you’re more likely to raise you voice in a conversation in the same way that you might whisper a conversation if you thought that it would be overheard. The concept of public privacy has been shown to expand a persons ‘personal space boundaries’. Public privacy is also the reason that you might get your baps out for a wet t-shirt contest in public on holiday in Spain due to an enhanced sense of anonymity despite the fact that you are in a public space and would shoot yourself before doing so in your home town. Either way, I bet that Spanish people all wonder why those bloody foreigners that jabber away in English all have to shout conversations at each other down the phone whenever they get on a bus in Madrid too.

El Horseboxo · 25-01-2011 03:59PM

conorhal wrote: »

Yes, foreigners do shout down the phone (or at each other) on the bus. Again this may be down to the concept of ‘public privacy’. If you are in a public space but think that nobody understands you (ironically possessing just possessing mobile phone can have a similar psychological effect) you’re more likely to raise you voice in a conversation in the same way that you might whisper a conversation if you thought that it would be overheard. The concept of public privacy has been shown to expand a persons ‘personal space boundaries’. Public privacy is also the reason that you might get your baps out for a wet t-shirt contest in public on holiday in Spain due to an enhanced sense of anonymity despite the fact that you are in a public space and would shoot yourself before doing so in your home town. Either way, I bet that Spanish people all wonder why those bloody foreigners that jabber away in English all have to shout conversations at each other down the phone whenever they get on a bus in Madrid too.

I don't know about that as if i speak English abroad on the phone it will always be at a lower voice when around others. It's just politeness as i don't wanna be disturbing people. Even if i answer the phone here on a bus and speak Spanish or Gaeilge i'll always speak low even though 99% of the bus probably wouldn't understand me. I've also been in foreign countries where some locals will talk low on their phone while others will talk loud. Which leads me to believe it's just a lack of respect for those around them. Some people have some while others don't like most things in life.

jester77 · 25-01-2011 04:04PM

Too right OP.

Everyone should be speaking the Queen's language.

Dudess · 25-01-2011 04:04PM

People tell the OP what he's saying is idiotic (and it really, really is), he tells them they're the PC brigade. There's a surprise.

AFC_1903 · 25-01-2011 05:31PM

Sure, if it's a private conversation you are not part of what does it matter which language it's in? It's easier to block out voices if you don't understand them and thus have no ability to listen in on what they are saying in their private conversation. Especially as you will not be risking hearing enticing lines to grab your attention.

The shouting into phones is a different issue, that's just people with no manners.

Dudess · 25-01-2011 11:09PM

The OP just dislikes something that sounds different to what he's familiar with - simples.

wonton · 25-01-2011 11:13PM

Dudess wrote: »

The OP just dislikes something that sounds different to what he's familiar with - simples.

I hate when people end sentences with "simples", its like oooooh im smart AND cute.

Tchaikovsky · 26-01-2011 03:04PM

It's not as annoying as Irish people taking offence to hearing Irish being spoken over, say, Czech.

Degsy · 26-01-2011 03:42PM

It does appear that a sizeable number of eastern Europeans,particularly women enjoy talking loudly on thier phones for ages.

Its very common on my bus to have two or three girls shouting away for the entire bus journey ie a half an hour or more.

There are irish people who talk loudly on phones but they tend to be much quicker about concluding the call:
"Hello"
"Wha?"
"did ya get it?"
"Keep me some,right"
"Seeya,seeya..bye".

Bill2673 · 26-01-2011 03:50PM

I'm actually the other way....

I took a year off and backpacked; I went on a lot of long bus and train journeys. Despite the racket around me I felt I could withdraw quite easily to sleep or read a book or whatever; and not be distracted despite the racket....since they were talking a language I couldn't understand.

Whereas here, I'll take a bus down to Kilkenny or wherever, and the conversations around me will have me driven demented.....but I can't not listen!!! So if I'm on a bus and someone near me is speaking Polish, suits me grand.

giant_midget · 26-01-2011 03:54PM

Op...Try living in balbriggan like i do, It's like some sort of farm or the zoo that town...used to be nice going back 15 years or so...i miss the old town the way it used to be..

Tchaikovsky · 26-01-2011 04:04PM

Degsy wrote: »

It does appear that a sizeable number of eastern Europeans,particularly women enjoy talking loudly on thier phones for ages.

Its very common on my bus to have two or three girls shouting away for the entire bus journey ie a half an hour or more.

I hear ya; I'm pretty sure I'm close to becoming fluent in Polish through osmosis.. the non-stop yapping seeping through my earphones and into my brain.
"Dzsh dzsh bzsch gzschh.. SHUT UP!!!!"

Bernice101 · 26-01-2011 04:49PM

I am irish and also speak german. when german friends come visit i must admit i would speak louder (i am shy:o) on the bus when speaking german with them, than if i were speaking english [by louder, i mean i would speak in the tone i would use if in private, as apposed to the quiet tone i use when speaking english on bus ect]. Conversing in public in a foreign language offers a sense of privacy in assuming most wont understand, and the topics can be quite personal - which sometimes does leave us red faced. :P At the end of the day we are just having a private converstation and minding our own business.

Azureus · 27-01-2011 01:46PM

I dont see the problem with people conversing in their language on buses/between themsleves etc. I remember being on a bus in Spain (a residential area) and we got some awful filthy looks for speaking English, I was only in my teens and it made me feel awful

so I don't like to judge foreigners for that. A lot of them are here on holiday etc-you can't expect them to learn how to speak fully in English for the purpose of a short term trip!

What I don't like is when im working with people who speak diff languages and they all decide to yap away in them in front of me knowing I don't understand a word they're saying. Granted Im mates with a lot of them and I know its just habit to slip into speaking their own language when they're around eachother, but daaaaaamn is it irritating!

Totally different thing to what the OP is saying though. 'Extra noise'? Riiight.

seanbmc · 27-01-2011 02:04PM

I don't mind foreign languages sometimes they can be sexy, but the ones on the bus who insist on ROARING down their phones for the whole journey are the ones that annoy me.

And here comes the I'm not racist but statement but the Chinese language is the one that annoys me most in these situations, Spanish a close second.

Turtyturd · 27-01-2011 02:19PM

I don't think language is the problem...annoying people are annoying no matter what.

I had the misfortune of sitting beside two women recently who were easily late 30's and talking about A teenager who had gotten pregnant, they were able to go into detail about their lives, their partner, things that happened during the pregnancy, how she informed her parents. I thought they were talking about someone they knew as they seemed quite emotionally attached until one woman asked the other when is the next episode on?

It's no less annoying to have to listen to these people than Polish women swapping swan recipes over the Phone for an entire bus journey.

One thing that does bug the hell out of me though is indian/chinese medical students who get on the bus together but sit on opposite ends of the bus and proceed to shout a conversation back and forth...although Irish schoolkids do the same so yeah...annoying people speak all languages.

Partizan · 27-01-2011 04:02PM

Tchaikovsky wrote: »

It's not as annoying as Irish people taking offence to hearing Irish being spoken over, say, Czech.

I have seen this happen to Irish people being remonstrated by Irish people for speaking Irish.

Funny little country we live in.

sensibleken · 27-01-2011 04:48PM

Partizan wrote: »

I have seen this happen to Irish people being remonstrated by Irish people for speaking Irish.

Funny little country we live in.

I've had that. Ive just roared at them to shut their f*ckin mouths in my thick dublin accent. usually get a confused look back.

Then again I also get confused for spanish by both irish and spannish people, usually when theyre looking for drugs

Peanut2011 · 27-01-2011 04:54PM

It's the noise that you have a problem with, not the language. For me it's just as annoying to hear someone shouting in any language as it is to hear them in English or Irish.

People have lost all manners!! Especially on the buses!!!!

DoesNotCompute · 27-01-2011 04:56PM

macroboy wrote: »

Very simple,when i walk anywhere these days,day or night and i forget to bring my radio or mp3 player,all i hear are foreign language conversations on the street.Either on the phone or the bleating girlfriend or the overly loud mates.
Its annoying for the simple reason ,it just sounds like noise to me.
Extra noise.And im sure they dont tone it down as they know im not from wherever they are from.
who needs it.??

Are you sure they're not speaking as geailge?

Barna77 · 27-01-2011 05:34PM

I'm not screaming. I'm Spanish, that's how we talk

(borrowed from facebook group)

Italians are way louder

Laisurg · 27-01-2011 05:35PM

Doesn't bother me in the slightest except maybe the hordes of spanish students that block up patrick street and talk really loudly.

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

Are you sure they're not speaking as geailge?

I was at a bus stop where these 2 girls were speaking irish, and these 2 knackers walk up and say ''fuuuck offfff back to yisser owennnn countryyy''
Made me giggle ^^

macroboy · 17-02-2011 08:56PM

conorhal wrote: »

The reason could be related to a strange psychological phenomena.
It's been shown that there’s actually a biological reason that we get annoyed by people who carry on loud mobile phone conversations on the bus or train. It seems that when you are in a forced proximity with a person carrying on a one sided conversation (even if you’re trying to ignore them) your brain goes into overdrive attempting the reconstruct the other half of the conversation, and thus science has proved that Dom Jolly is inherently annoying.
This is because our brain constantly and unconsciously works to make coherent sense of the environment around you, and it can be quite subjective in doing so, it can construct reality (or your perception of it) on the basis of expectation as much as objective reality.
So it may be the case that, because you do not expect to hear a person speaking a foreign language in Ireland, your brain tries to construct the meaning of the conversation from other queues and you get frustrated when you fails to do so, however if you were in Spain, where you expect the conversations around you not to be comprehensible, the fact that they are speaking another language doesn’t bother you because your brain doesn't even try to make sense of it.

I may also be that their conversation is annoying because it’s that much louder then everybody else’s, thus becoming doubly annoying because it loudly draws attention to itself, and has the temerity to be incomprehensible.
Yes, foreigners do shout down the phone (or at each other) on the bus. Again this may be down to the concept of ‘public privacy’. If you are in a public space but think that nobody understands you (ironically just possessing mobile phone can have a similar psychological effect) you’re more likely to raise you voice in a conversation in the same way that you might whisper a conversation if you thought that it would be overheard. The concept of public privacy has been shown to expand a persons ‘personal space boundaries’. Public privacy is also the reason that you might get your baps out for a wet t-shirt contest in public on holiday in Spain due to an enhanced sense of anonymity despite the fact that you are in a public space and would shoot yourself before doing so in your home town. Either way, I bet that Spanish people all wonder why those bloody foreigners that jabber away in English all have to shout conversations at each other down the phone whenever they get on a bus in Madrid too.

thank you so much,maybe now all the op bashers might actually see what i was trying to get at.
And look everyone>>>>>>>no racism in sight!
amazing.
A social experiment has been conducted,thanks for your input.

Overhearing foreign languages is annoying!

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