zenmonkey wrote:One of my daughters does say “no magic in front of the muggles”. Which is just a reflection on one of my rules - use language inclusively. Try not to have an in-speak conversation when actively interacting with non speakers. That’s rude and that’s certainly not very socially acceptable.
And I have experienced this first-hand when my in-laws tried to force me not to speak French with my daughter around them. I basically said my daughter, my rules (on languages), not yours, like it or not. I was accused of disrespecting old school values. Now they have to put up with French with my three kids and Dutch with the same three (no I don't have six children). I guess I'm extremely disrespectful, at least from their perspective.
Sometimes I feel like the catering to monolinguals - especially monolingual English speakers goes to far. It's in the same vein as not wanting to offend someone, so we tip-toe around
their issues. Still, what your daughter suggests is generally good advice, it's just not always applicable.
I can see the other perspective and do agree that it can be exclusionary and rude to carry on conversations in a foreign language when in company with others and there remains a common language in which all could be included. For me, I didn't want to break the one-language (okay two for me), one-parent rule regardless of the environment and I figured in-laws would see the sense in that and therefore the value in being persistent, but apparently not. I guess this is a potential case of fearing (or being sceptical of the motives behind) the unknown and for that I can only use my understanding of their potential 'angle'. Thus, I get it, but I'll stick to my guns.
garyb wrote:Italians usually think I'm a bit crazy for learning their language, or even that I might have a weeb-like obsession with their particular country and culture
In Australia, particularly in Melbourne (and maybe Sydney) and even some parts of country Victoria (perhaps NSW too), you'd be seen as as quite fine. Learning Italian here has been and continues to be perfectly acceptable, given how much Italian immigrants have shaped our multi-cultural landscape, if you will. And to extend on that, many Australians without Italian heritage have gone on to be quite interested in the country and this is seen as perfectly fine by Italian-Australians.
French is looked upon admirably I have found, but most people are unsure of how to go about learning it or teaching it to their kids. It's not as common in the schooling system as it was in my day, but it's still a highly regarded language in general, although some see it as useless given France is so far away (New Caledonia is barely even heard of by most Australians and is too small to factor in - a small island group near the huge land mass that is Australia).
In my discussions with others at times either they hear me speaking French or Dutch to our kids or my family comes up in conversation and somehow languages end up featuring. I do feel I have slightly bragged at times, particularly to other nurses, but it's in truth something that comes up perhaps over a lunch break, during a quiet shift or what have you and I really enjoy relating this to others as I'm proud of my kids abilities. I have to watch myself though at times because I can rant on a little. I dare say I've bored a person or two to tears. Perhaps I need to visit the forum more often
Those situations aside however, like most here I don't tend to mention this sort of thing if it's not relevant to the situation. Like iguanamon with sailing (or languages), I don't talk about kayaking to everyone, conspiracy theories (okay okay, I used to!
), nor languages.