I know I shouldn't be frustrated, but I work with a lot of Hispanic people. I know a little bit of Spanish but not enough to carry on a conversation.

I have had person after person send an interpreter to get my number or see if I'm interested them. What the crap? How would THAT work? If they don't speak English, how we gonna talk on the phone?

I've been asked to the movies, to dinner, to birthday parties.... I know I should be flattered, but I'm frustrated.

Why can't a cute guy that speaks English holla at me? Grrr.....

And please, I'm not prejudice in anyway, but I'm only going to date people that I can't communicate with. lol I wanted to clarify.

Sorry, needed to vent.

hah i used to live in spanish harlem, and dudes would always be trying to talk to me.

"yo ma, yo... ma.... lemme walk you home girl."

When I met my husband, he didn't speak ANY English and I spoke only a bit of Italian. I learned Italian and then he learned English once he came here -- love finds a way to communicate (which sounds cheesy, I know, but do believe it's true nonetheless).

But I understand how obnoxious getting hit on left and right by guys you aren't interested in is.

It could be a decent opportunity if you really enjoy playing charades... Maybe you could draw pictures on napkins and stuff? LoL.

At least they sent you an interpreter. I have the Mixed Girl Bane of being mistaken for every minority under the sun EXCEPT for what I actually am. I always get the idiot that assumes I speak spanish or Italian or Greek or Phillipino and then gets mad when I stare at him like he's got six heads. I'm of Creole and Moroccan descent and above all i'm 100% AMERICAN. Speak English biznatch.

that's right, nish, i remember you saying you were creole in another thread. do you speak creole. the ppl i live with do. that language is wild, i love it.

i agree with you, and see where your coming from... english is not my bf's first language. and sometimes it seems like we dont "talk enough". and then i see him talk to ppl in his native language and he doesn't shut up. sometimes it makes me a tiny bit sad and left out.

how long did it take you to learn italian and how...

There are lots of people who don't speak the same language when they hook up. One of my best friends (a couple) learned English as their language in common - he is French and speaks English as a 2nd language and she is Japanese and spoke German as a second language. She decided to come to school in the States and had to learn English - but when they first hooked up, they didn't have a language in common.

I had a huge crush on a guy from Italy when I was overseas my sophomore year in college as well. And .. um .. I gotta tell you that talking wasn't top on our priority list. We managed to communicate anyway.

If two people are interested and willing to work around it, language is no barrier. And it can make it kinda fun to learn each others' languages.

.

There isn't many spanish people here, but tons and tons of arabic.... I know how you feel!

Awwww, I love being called "MA". I don't know why but I think it's adorable! haha

I agree for the most part- but for talking on the phone it would definitely help!

It helped that my husband is a chiacchiarone (a chatterbox) and that he would talk and talk and talk to me even when I didn't fully understand. It also helped that I knew enough Italian before we met to have an understanding of the grammar and a basic vocabulary. Once we met, I was speaking with near-fluency in about 2 months. But we spent EVERY day together, for hours, so I was really immersed. And we had no other choice, other than him learning English, but since we were in Italy at the time, it seemed to make more sense for me to learn Italian.

But actually, my husband isn't Italian; he's Albanian. He was attending university in Florence when we met and he grew up speaking and understanding Italian because it was the only TV they were able to get in Communist Albania. So he isn't a "native" speaker, though he grew up speaking it almost like a second mother tongue.

When I was abroad in Italy my junior year, I "dated" an Egyptian guy, whose first language was Arabic. I spoke decent Italian, he spoke decent Italian, but neither of us spoke it fluently enough to have a conversation without a lot of confusion. It was never going to be a long-term thing anyway, though, so it didn't really matter.

I work and live in a neighbourhood where there are a lot of Italian people - and many of them don't speak english.

When they come into my shop, they start up a conversation with me in italian, assuming I speak it - I think it's because I speak in spanish with a lot of our customers.

I love being exposed to different cultures, though - as frustrating as intercultural misunderstandings can be.

I guess I never really thought about it before, that's probably why I was frustrated. lol Thanks girls for putting it in perspective for me. It is still flattering. Good thing I can read eyes. lol

lol............I didn't scroll down far enough on the front page but somehow I KNEW that this started with you HWG.

Here is what you should do, learn a sassy phrase in Spanish and everytime a guy hits on you repeat it. This could be great fun!

Guy- "Yo ma. Can I walk you home?"

You- " No thanks, I am WAAYYY to much woman for you!"

hehehehehehehahahahahahahaha

Heather- You know me way too well... you've heard a lot of my daily stories.... especially with you know who! lol The one that pushed me over the edge was a new one today. Let's see the grand total at work is 7 and 1 speaks English. lol