One of the saddest scenes in the modern world is an immigrant apologising for their accent to someone who speaks only one language.

[eetschrijver@mastodon.social]

@ichbindabomb
"You speak English because it's all you speak.
I speak English because it's all you speak".

[samiamsam@mastodon.social]

@ichbindabomb

i take calls with ESL people

they always speak english better than i could ever speak their language

and i always tell them that

[zer0unplanned@friendica.rogueproject.org]

@ichbindabomb

[deborahh@cosocial.ca]

@ichbindabomb @fsinn

[dergiga@troet.cafe]

@ichbindabomb They often enough speak this one language with an (regional) accent they are proud of.

[owen_g_richards@writing.exchange]

@Eetschrijver @ichbindabomb

That's an embarrassing fact for a lot of "English speakers".

[autolycos@beige.party]

@ichbindabomb "How To Hide An Empire" by Daniel Immerwahr has an interesting analysis of this from an American lens to The Philippines especially

[ichbindabomb@nerdculture.de]

@autolycos will search!!

[saupreiss@pfalz.social]

@ichbindabomb

I rather know those who accuse of bad language skills, but barely know even a second language.

[eetschrijver@mastodon.social]

@Owen_G_Richards
It is indeed.
@ichbindabomb

[owen_g_richards@writing.exchange]

@Eetschrijver @ichbindabomb

Not that I can speak Dutch (a few words here and there) or German (the same) or French (ditto), pero puedo hablar Español. Es mi segundo idioma...

[eetschrijver@mastodon.social]

@Owen_G_Richards
¡Es ya muy bien que pueden hablar dos idiomas! Hace algos años que no he hablado Español con regularidad (hablo más el Catalán), pero es un idioma hermoso y rico.
@ichbindabomb

[ichbindabomb@nerdculture.de]

@Eetschrijver@mastodon.social @Owen_G_Richards muy bien muchachos que ambos hablan español!!!

[owen_g_richards@writing.exchange]

@ichbindabomb

Si podemos hablar un solo idioma comun es un exito de verdad... 🥳

[eetschrijver@mastodon.social]

@ichbindabomb
I'm sorry! No clue why this might be!
@Owen_G_Richards @ichbindabomb@nerdculture.de

[ichbindabomb@nerdculture.de]

@Owen_G_Richards yay! Viva el español

[ve2uwy@mastodon.radio]

@ichbindabomb

Right? I've had people do that and I always reply that their English is miles ahead of my <guess at their native tongue>. They probably speak more than 2 well and another 3 or 4 “enough to get by”. Canadians are a little better than Americans at not assuming that “everyone” speaks English. Just don't go too far west.

[ichbindabomb@nerdculture.de]

@VE2UWY as an immigrant myself(lived in five countries) I can tell you from experience that actually the hardest ones are here in CH and I would say (although I haven’t lived there) France. Even Germans are very forgiving.

[k9ox@mastodon.radio]

@ichbindabomb
I speak only one language. Thank you for your effort that we might know each other.