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There’s something that strikes me as really passive aggresive about the behaviour of people that will switch to foreign languange in order to say something offensive or insulting in the presense of another person (and no, I’m not suggesting that everytime, or even most of the time people switch to another language they are doing this, but this situation does occasionally happen).
On the one hand, if we are intending to hurt someone’s feelings or let them know our displeasure, we would just say what’s on our minds to their face. If we don’t want to rock the boat, very often we’ll wait until they’ve left to complain about them. No, it’s not very nice behaviour to speak ill of someone behind their back, but hey, I’ll admit that I’ve done it.
So is switching to another language to make those comments while the person is still there, listening, and not understanding a word they’re saying the same as making those same comments behind their backs? Personally, I don’t think so. There seems to be someone thing really smug and self-satisfied about the whole thing that really rubs me the wrong way.
And so what happens when you actually understand what thev’re said because you randomly happen to understand the language that they’re speaking? Do you say something? Do you mentally note that they’re assholes, and say nothing? And if you do say something, do you directly address the insult, or do you switch to their language and politely say good-bye, leaving them to die of embarrassment as they realize you’ve just understood every word?
On the one hand, if we are intending to hurt someone’s feelings or let them know our displeasure, we would just say what’s on our minds to their face. If we don’t want to rock the boat, very often we’ll wait until they’ve left to complain about them. No, it’s not very nice behaviour to speak ill of someone behind their back, but hey, I’ll admit that I’ve done it.
So is switching to another language to make those comments while the person is still there, listening, and not understanding a word they’re saying the same as making those same comments behind their backs? Personally, I don’t think so. There seems to be someone thing really smug and self-satisfied about the whole thing that really rubs me the wrong way.
And so what happens when you actually understand what thev’re said because you randomly happen to understand the language that they’re speaking? Do you say something? Do you mentally note that they’re assholes, and say nothing? And if you do say something, do you directly address the insult, or do you switch to their language and politely say good-bye, leaving them to die of embarrassment as they realize you’ve just understood every word?
