Dear Europeans:
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:43 am
Do you guys think its rude or impolite to ask about your language? I am an automation engineer and deal with alot of european coworkers and clients, and as a result have to interpret alot of documents in foreign languages, mostly in german but also french and sometimes italian or chinese. The problem with this is that alot of engineering terms (especially electrical) just straightup dont translate because of usage or jargon, so I find myself having to ask in person.
The situation I find myself in is that the person generally will want to tell you what it means but will try and avoid actually telling you what the words themselves mean. When I ask for the individual words or to break down the grammar, I find that almost universally, whether various european languages or asian etc etc, is that it appears that these requests make people very uncomfortable. They always get a very panicky look on their face and will feign ignorance or sometimes outright ignore the question.
Now I deal with multimillion dollar international deals frequently and I have what has been remarked to be almost clinically good manners. When I try and understand someone elses language the facial and body posture reactions are almost like Ive asked what color their wifes panties were that morning.
The only possibility I have been able to work out is that I am putting them "on the spot" so to speak, in that I am assuming that they both understand what they have written in their language and, conversely, how it works in mine, but Ive heard too many of them lament the average americans understanding of other languages to actually consider this possibility.
Thoughts?
The situation I find myself in is that the person generally will want to tell you what it means but will try and avoid actually telling you what the words themselves mean. When I ask for the individual words or to break down the grammar, I find that almost universally, whether various european languages or asian etc etc, is that it appears that these requests make people very uncomfortable. They always get a very panicky look on their face and will feign ignorance or sometimes outright ignore the question.
Now I deal with multimillion dollar international deals frequently and I have what has been remarked to be almost clinically good manners. When I try and understand someone elses language the facial and body posture reactions are almost like Ive asked what color their wifes panties were that morning.
The only possibility I have been able to work out is that I am putting them "on the spot" so to speak, in that I am assuming that they both understand what they have written in their language and, conversely, how it works in mine, but Ive heard too many of them lament the average americans understanding of other languages to actually consider this possibility.
Thoughts?
