Note: AOL had some major technical difficulties yesterday that prevented me from posting a journal entry in TWIT. I hope you, my faithful readers didn't think I was just fluffing off. Now on to yesterday's entry.
A quasi-new co-worker brought a vendor from his previous job with him to work today. The vendor was from China. As my co-worker was showing around the office, and introducing him, I paid close attention to what was going on. Almost every time he introduced the guy to someone, that person would talk very loud to the Chinese gentleman. I wanted to walk up to the person almost yelling at this Chinese man and smack them upside their heads and yell at them "He's not deaf - he's from China." This brings me to the question of the day: why do people talk loud to someone that doesn't speak any or little English?
If someone understands a little bit of English, I can see them slowing down and not talking so fast, so the foreigner can attempt to decipher. But unless the foreigner has a hearing loss, there's no reason people should talk louder to them. Like yelling it is going to make them understand it? People in other countries don't yell at Americans when they are talking to them. Come to think of it, in the movies or TV documentaries we don't see foreigners talking loud to other foreigners other like we do. Evidently, it's just an American thing.
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