Do people get mad at you for learning a language?

[snubsnub]

One person in my family does, but the others are fine with it. He absolutely hates the fact that I'm learning Japanese because of what they did to us in World War II, etc. He hates asians in general sweatdrop
He says things such as 'Get that crap off my computer' if I'm reading something Japanese, and just things like that.
P.S. I'm not learning the language to get him mad.

Are you experiancing things like this or something similar? ;.;  

[Kyori-Chan]

Sounds kind of familiar... XP

I'm learning Danish, and my brother thinks it's completely stupid. (He states his opinion quitely bluntly to myself, as well as the rest of my family.) He doesn't really have much of a reason, other than there aren't a lot of Danish speakers in the world. But he claims my reasons are stupid (even though my reasons are as follows: my boyfriend is Danish, his family is Danish, my best friends are Danish, I love Denmark, may move there one day, and I love the language).

He wants me to learn Japanese. (his reasons for learning the language? Uh... Anime... Erm... Anime... And, lets see... Anime?)

I hate people who're so hypocritical like that.  

[Hermonie Urameshi]

Everyone loves the fact that I'm interested in more than one language. My friends at college think I'm amazing when it comes to languages. (I don't really think so.) What my mom and brother get mad at me for is correcting their pronounciation of foreign words into English. Like gyoza, Notre Dame, and sake...My brother actually yells at me for it. o.O

If anime is all that your brother wants to learn Japanese for, he's going to have a hard time with it.

 

[September Song]

My Dad is a little ticked that I have no interest in learning Mandarin/Cantonese, despite China's growing importance. He said to me at one point, "There's no point going into languages if you're not going to learn Chinese!"

confused Uh, yeah, ok. I'll manage.  

[chindi-moasi]

My friends hate it in the sense that I sometimes screw things up and the Spanish word pops out instead of the English one or something like that. And anyone who I'm close to hates it when I get into one of my enthusiastic rambles about language, like when I'm comparing/contrasting Italian, Spanish, and French.

But my friends tell me it's cute, even if a little nerdy, so I'm assuming they're cool with it. And since I'm studying Spanish and French, and since most of my friends take either Spanish or French, they're happy that I can converse. ^^  

[Vajra B. Hairava]

I've never had a situation like any of that, but I often get nasty glances from people in classes where I totally dominate and make them look stupid. Its fun.  

[Kalathma]

Sometimes my family gets a bit mad.

: At school, too, people get mad. Sometimes a word or four slips out in Spanish or another language.  

[kyuuketsuki4]

Yeah, i think it annoys people a bit when I go on long tangents, but I don't think anyone gets mad.  

[Manyan]

My parents don't get mad at me, but I can tell that they don't really like the fact that I want to learn Japanese and Korean. I think they just feel uncomfortable because they probably feel that I have no interest the Chinese culture anymore (because I speak a lot of English at home), even though I want to learn Mandarin. I'm mostly Cantonese (Chinese), but I'm also a mix of a bunch of other things, so they might feel that I don't have much pride as a Cantonese person or something. o_o;

 

[Athran]

My ex-b/f is French and LOATHES the fact that I learn German. He compared the language to a coughing fit (I could say something that would offend people about how I find the sound of French, but to him of course, that would be wrong).

I can understand that he was miffed that I didn't like French and had no interest or heart to learn it. And his family spoke no English. Yet, he didn't mind my taking up Russian/Ukrainian.

But once I spoke German to myself (I usually try to use German when talking to myself) in France and some old people looked at me like I had desecrated graves and my (at the time) b/f lectured me on how it offends people because of WWII.

When his mother died, I wrote in the book in German and I was accused of making fun of her. Bear in mind that we had to cancel a (long looked forward to) trip to Berlin because of this. "Hello? What language would I have been using now if this hadn't happened?"
Together 6 years and after 2yrs he promised me a trip to Germany. It never happened.
Later in the year, I went alone to meet a net-friend in the very west of DE.


That's the only hate there ever has been. But I am very unsupported in my language learning. I get asked what's the point - 'everyone speaks English anyway' (haha) I think it's very ignorant to go to another country and not learn at least few words of their language. People ask why do I bother, and should just learn English properly. "I can already communicate in English. It's my native if you haven't realised."  

[chindi-moasi]

Vajra B. Hairava

I've never had a situation like any of that, but I often get nasty glances from people in classes where I totally dominate and make them look stupid. Its fun.

There's this guy I sit next to in Spanish who get so pissed off at me 'cause he's not the best in class. I'm like, dude, stop being such a tool, okay?

It's pretty funny. Not gonna lie. XP  

[Romantist Taste]

A lot of people were mad when I was going to Japan becuase they think the only reason I like Japan is because of Anime. I dont even like the stupid cartoons!  

[_Morgane Fay_]

Athran

But I am very unsupported in my language learning. I get asked what's the point - 'everyone speaks English anyway' (haha) I think it's very ignorant to go to another country and not learn at least few words of their language. People ask why do I bother, and should just learn English properly. "I can already communicate in English. It's my native if you haven't realised."

Everyone speaks English... true, to a degree. I mean, it's pretty much common in a lot of (European) countries to speak English at a reasonable level of fluency, and I admit - I like to show off and/or be polite by speaking someone's language. Of course, that very same attitude should ideally be found in the one you're speaking to, so that you're both making an effort. That's why I especially appreciate anglophones trying to learn other languages; they don't really have to, from the view point of practicality, but it's just polite and shows interest.  

[Homeless George]

Nobody really gets mad at me for learning Arabic, they just make derogatory comments about the Middle East.  

[Lady Wolfsbane]

I've never had that happen to me.
My parents really wouldn't care less as long as I kept some degree of interest in Mandarin. And take the SAT for it. And totally pwn at it. Which, ahaha, isn't coming along very well. x]