It seems extremely common these days: if someone posts a video of themselves speaking in a language online, there are guaranteed to be tons of people saying “Actually, I speak X and their X is not that good.”
Why?!
I was just watching some of the videos from the founder of this site, Steve, and he was discussing that this happened to Mark Zuckerberg when he spoke Chinese. I remember this too. A lot of people were remarking that his Chinese is horrible and he should be ashamed. Seriously, is not having great Chinese something to be embarrassed about these days? I thought making an effort in such a difficult language would be something to be proud of. Sure, if he wants to take it seriously, he needs to improve his tones, but otherwise, who am I to judge his efforts?
It has happened to me in real life too, almost exclusively from other Americans who do not speak another language. I say I’m studying Chinese and they ask if I can understand everything the Chinese students are talking about when they speak amongst themselves in Chinese. Of course I can’t, since my level is only about intermediate. People act like I’m stupid for not having a high level. “Seriously? I would have thought after 4 semesters of studying you would be pretty good by now.”
Like I said, they act as if having intermediate Chinese skills is something to be embarrassed of rather than proud of. The mind boggles.
Has this happened to you before? How did you react?
I just shake my head. It doesn’t make me upset since I know the effort I put in.