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A shame as Korean usage is growing in Australia, especially Sydney. WE have friends, she being Korean, but never passed on more than a few basics of Korean to her two daughters. No idea why. The mother has a constant flow of Korean visitors, returns fairly often to her Homeland, but has one daughter whose learning French (rather good at it as well) prefers me to speak and write French with her, and is also learning Mandarin, but no idea to what level. Had no real response as to why such stilted Korean.
Its a cultural thing i think, my wife will always try to speak English to other Koreans first, and only reverts if necessary. Her big problem is the way you are supposed to determine who is older before determing your verb endings, and that you hardley ever actually call a person by their name.
When refering to her two younger brothers for instance, she says next brother or youngest brother etc.
We also have a sizeable korean community in Brisbane, so there are actually loads of opportunities to use it.
I do not know much about Spanish dialects but dialects are a big issue with the Italian community here. I do not think my late MIL ever understood how different her dialect was to standard Italian and how little studying standard Italian helped me to understand her dialect. Many of the dialects are obsolete in Italy now though there is a movement to record and retain them.
In Spanish (unlike Italian and German) there's no such thing as dialects but only different standard varieties of the same language just like in English (American/British/Australian/Canadian English)
Since most Spanish language books teach Spain/Mexican Spanish I'd recommend to stick to those versions of the language (at least for beginner/pre-intermediate/intermediate) and then choose the version you like the most. And just like in English no matter which version you speak you'll be understood anywhere
A shame as Korean usage is growing in Australia, especially Sydney. WE have friends, she being Korean, but never passed on more than a few basics of Korean to her two daughters. No idea why. The mother has a constant flow of Korean visitors, returns fairly often to her Homeland, but has one daughter whose learning French (rather good at it as well) prefers me to speak and write French with her, and is also learning Mandarin, but no idea to what level. Had no real response as to why such stilted Korean.
So many of our immigrants do not pass on their language to their kids. My husband never spoke Italian to ours, our neighbours were French/Indian and the kids were doing French for the HSC. Wife, who was Indian, would curse him as he would not speak French to them. I have three close friends who are German, none of their kids speak any German at all. Perhaps it is the busyness of life, it takes effort to speak in a language which is no longer your first language.
I just study Italian as a hobby. It is a nice change from grandparenting! I find that I have things in common with the people I meet and I really love Italy. So anything I manage to learn is worth it even if all the Italians now answer in English.
In Spanish (unlike Italian and German) there's no such thing as dialects but only different standard varieties of the same language just like in English (American/British/Australian/Canadian English)
Since most Spanish language books teach Spain/Mexican Spanish I'd recommend to stick to those versions of the language (at least for beginner/pre-intermediate/intermediate) and then choose the version you like the most. And just like in English no matter which version you speak you'll be understood anywhere
I have had the same experience. I learned my Spanish (which is somewhat basic, but I can fairly easily get by in everyday situations, and even converse informally) exclusively from Latin American teachers. Including one Chilena.
I never had any issues in Spain or dealing with Spaniards elsewhere. If there are any Latin American quirks I picked up from my Latin American teachers, I suppose the Spaniards are aware of them even if they don't use them themselves.
So many of our immigrants do not pass on their language to their kids. My husband never spoke Italian to ours, our neighbours were French/Indian and the kids were doing French for the HSC. Wife, who was Indian, would curse him as he would not speak French to them. I have three close friends who are German, none of their kids speak any German at all. Perhaps it is the busyness of life, it takes effort to speak in a language which is no longer your first language.
I just study Italian as a hobby. It is a nice change from grandparenting! I find that I have things in common with the people I meet and I really love Italy. So anything I manage to learn is worth it even if all the Italians now answer in English.
There were those, especially of earlier generations, who refused to speak the language of the parents. I expect, in less 'friendly alien' , if I can say it like that, kids did not want to be seen as different to the kids around them. Speaking a 'foreign' language just magnified that difference.
Speaking of Germans, I know a woman in Germany, born in Sydney, spent first twelve years of her life in Australia, refused to speak German, while in Australia, (would answer in English) now decades later only speaks strong accented English, adapted one hundred percent to her local environment , marrying a very traditional local man, (may be all part of the 'fitting in' in reverse) and due later this year to make her first return visit to Australia after more than thirty years.
But yes, I do believe the 'acquired stress', sometimes termed busyness, plays a big role responsible for the neglect of all sorts of things. This needs to change. Attempting to make over work and stress outcomes somehow 'cool' was never likely to work long term. Somehow its been all too evident this new century.
I spent 3 months there about twelve years ago and loved it. We bought a used car and camped our way around the country and that was a great way to see it and we drove from Cairns to the Great Ocean Road. Things I liked (as in better than the US):
1. The weather, though we did get rained out at Christmas.
2. The variety of bird life and other wildlife was amazing.
3. The towns were intact, as in most still had a downtown area and this was due to the fact that the residents were willing to fight to preserve them.
4. TimTams! An American company bought the company and switched the real sugar to high fructose corn syrup so they’re not as good here as they were there. They were so good that people would fly over from other countries to stock up.
5. People were so friendly and fun and if they had angst towards Americans they didn’t show it, as folks from so many other places did.
6. We had to take my daughter to the ER one night for what turned out to be a panic attack and she got a chest X-ray and to our shock they charged us $70! A couple of years later I took an international student to the ER in the states for nearly identical treatment and they charged over $1000.
7. The quality of the food was miles ahead of ours. There were many more roadside stands and farmers markets but even the cheap white bread was higher quality than ours. It may be why you can’t find hotdogs there...on that I don’t know because I don’t eat hotdogs but if it’s hotdogs you’re after you should go to Chile where Completos are the national dish. I kid you not.
8. The wild animals seemed to have no fear. Kangaroos would take up residence on neighborhood lawns and you could walk up to koalas hanging in trees. It’s true that the spiders and snakes can be deadly but you’re no more likely to step on a brown snake there than we are to step on a rattlesnake here. True it has greater consequences there but when is the last time you heard of anyone stepping on a snake? I hike all the time and haven’t seen a snake in years.
Things I liked less than the US:
1. The flies! Some places were much worse than others but in every place we were at they were much worse than the states. I lost count of how many I swallowed and these flies really seem to have it out for people. They would repeatedly divebomb our faces and generally make life miserable and if you’ve ever seen those hats with corks hanging off you’d see the reason for them.
2. The beaches were great but we went to Queensland during Box Jellyfish season so there was no swimming. We made up for that by finding some great swimming holes inland.
I like Melbourne, but difficult to compare with New York. The latter being an Alpha city of gigantic proportions. Probably only London compares, although a few Asian contenders closing in, but not yet there, IMO.
Australia may look laid back, can be in places, but stress is very common here, both in the working environment (bullying, casual work, (not earning enough, minus conditions) things like housing is beyond the average worker these days, in at least the bigger cities, like Melbourne. If not beyond, then a life time debt attempting to pay for something, that would have been paid of on one salary over fifteen years, a bit over a generation ago.
Friendly? Perhaps in passing, but making friendships, as defined in some other parts of the world, not at all easy.
Loneliness, as in much of the developed world, I guess, is a surprisingly large social constraint out here.
Much is around families. When the kids leave home, the reality can certainly strike.
I like Melbourne, but difficult to compare with New York. The latter being an Alpha city of gigantic proportions. Probably only London compares, although a few Asian contenders closing in, but not yet there, IMO.
Australia may look laid back, can be in places, but stress is very common here, both in the working environment (bullying, casual work, (not earning enough, minus conditions) things like housing is beyond the average worker these days, in at least the bigger cities, like Melbourne. If not beyond, then a life time debt attempting to pay for something, that would have been paid of on one salary over fifteen years, a bit over a generation ago.
Friendly? Perhaps in passing, but making friendships, as defined in some other parts of the world, not at all easy.
Loneliness, as in much of the developed world, I guess, is a surprisingly large social constraint out here.
Much is around families. When the kids leave home, the reality can certainly strike.
Why is attractiveness difficult to compare? That was the comment, not size.
You comment often on friendships in Australia. Have you struggled to make and sustain friendships here? It's not often a complaint I hear.
Why is attractiveness difficult to compare? That was the comment, not size.
You comment often on friendships in Australia. Have you struggled to make and sustain friendships here? It's not often a complaint I hear.
You compare apple types with other apple types, if wanting to get a taste for the preferable apple to consume in future. Not with bananas, not even tomatoes.
You have commented on this before. My answer remains the same. Australia is not a particularly open nor a country of creating friendships with any degree of ease. It is a very common conclusion, even among travelled Australians that have lived abroad. Largely built around families and home life.
I suspect most 'struggle' here as you term it, without even fully realising it. A common theme among Brit's, obviously you don't engage much with other non Anglo groups, but even many Brit's find it tough going at times. Some adapt, others don't.
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