LL-L "Language use" 2005.07.21 (09) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 21.JUL.2005 (09) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>
Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2005.07.15 (11) [E/Tok Pisin]

Years ago, I worked in an asylum seekers centre in Eindhoven (NL), and
some of our "inhabitants" were from Sierra Leone, refugees fro the cruel
civil war. Most Siera Leoneans speak Krio as a first, second or third
language, which is an English based creole, more or less related to Sranan
Tongo, but much closer to Standard English.
When I tried to speak with a young guy from that country in English, he
didn't understand what I said at all. He needed one of his compatriots to
translate in English all the time. The funny thing was that I could
understand every word he said, because it was just <simplified English
with an accent> to me, and his friends just seemed to repeat what I just
said before. Even if I tried to imitate their accent and melody, which I
often did speaking to Africans in English, French or Portuguese to make
myself understood better, he didn't have a clue. Very very strange, I
think, it must have been some kind of psychological blockade that preven-
ted this young man to understand me, rather than a linguistic one.

Ingmar

>From: Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com>
>Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2005.07.15 (08) [E]
>
>I should very much like to add to this.
>
>In some cases, with pidgins and creoles it is often considered
>especially demeaning for a foreigner to talk to somebody in the pidgin
>or creole.
>
>If you go to Papua New Guinea, and meet a man in an upscale area of
>Port Moresby, and proceed to speak to him in Tok Pisin, there is a
>good chance he will be insulted.
>
>This is because he speaks English well. Being spoken to by a white
>person in Tok Pisin is seen as an act of colonial agression or at
>least condescention. This isn't true in more rural areas where they
>may only very rarely see white people, and not very many people speak
>"real" English, but it's certainly true in Port Moresby.
>
>If you wish to converse in Tok Pisin with this man in Port Moresby,
>you should say, after greeting them and doing the usual niceties in
>English, say something along the lines of "I'm learning Tok Pisin, I
>was wondering if I could practice with you?" -- this indicates that
>you are not making fun of them or talking down to them, because you
>let them know that you know that they are fluent in English, and you
>have also shown interest in Tok Pisin.
>
>I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the same is true in many other areas
>where pidgins and creoles are spoken.
>
>It is also true in immigrant communities.
>
>An example from my own experience... in Little Tokyo in downtown Los
>Angeles, there are droves of Japanese all-you-can-eat buffets. Of
>course, there are also many other Japanese and even Chinese
>restaurants in Little Tokyo, but all you can eat buffets are
>particularly abundant.
>
>My mother and I went to a buffet, and being aware that many buffets
>there are of poor quality -- they leave the food out too long -- my
>mom told me to ask if we could see the buffet first. The guy that
>greeted us was probably in his 20s, Japanese-American. I asked him
>"bafeewo misemasuka" -- can we see the buffet. And his response was
>"yeah, you can see the buffet". So, obviously, he understood, but was
>perhaps insulted that I spoke to him in Japanese and wanted to make it
>clear he could speak English? When we left (the food had indeed been
>sitting out), I thanked him in Japanese, and his response was again
>English.
>
>In a foreign country, though, attempts to speak the native language
>are usually appreciated without explanation.
>
>Mark

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