Dumbest Rosetta Stone slide

Question

Most everybody here knows that I use Rosetta Stone. I really do like it and I have learned quite a bit from it.

But this has got to be the dumbest slide ever, and it cracks me up every time it pops back up as a review.

Would this conversation seriously be taking place in Spanish?

• IoI ! No, not really :) - cogumela Jan 20, 2012
• Cracked me up too, Tosh! - territurtle Jan 20, 2012
• Truly naff - patch Jan 20, 2012
• I remember seeing that one, it's pretty silly - amykay Jan 20, 2012
• The more I look at this, the funnier it gets. - mtmonadnock Jan 20, 2012
View 3 more commments >>

Answer 1

Hahahahaha! Well, the first thing that popped into my head was "Gee, stereotype much?!” I mean, where did they find these two guys?

Now I'm trying to imagine a scenario where this conversation might actually occur.... let's see.... there are no cars or people on the street so it's not in in any city I've ever seen.... the grass, trees, and shrubs look like they're in a temperate climate somewhere....

Got it! Luis, una turista Peruana, is visiting NYC. He accidentally boards the wrong train and ends up in a nice, quiet, suburban neighborhood on the north shore of Long Island. He gets out his map, trying to make some sense of it all. It's midday, and the only person around happens to be a gardener, Win Lu, a recent immigrant from China who works for a landscaping company owned by the Pérez brothers, who hail from Mexico originally. Win Lu, who speaks almost no English, has picked up some Spanish while working for the Pérez family, but he’s not fluent. He asks if Luis can speak Chinese. As it happens, Luis’s family had a china, una China de Peru, Pei Chu, and from her Luis learned a little Chinese. So, now that these two have found each other, can Luis find his way back to the city with "un poco inglés" y "un poco español" y "un poco chino"?

Am I close?

• You have a furtive imagination my friend - patch Jan 20, 2012
• I love this. It's so much more interesting now that I know so much about the characters! - MLucie Jan 20, 2012
• They may have went their separate ways because they didn't bother asking each other if they spoke Spanish. - Tosh Jan 20, 2012
• @patch: Thanks, (I think!) - ajaks Jan 20, 2012
• @Tosh: hehehe Did I forget to mention, the company van that Win Lu drives has P - ajaks Jan 20, 2012
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Answer 2

Well, I suppose if you had two tourists in a Spanish speaking country who both had studied a little spanish and the American (or British) guy had studied just a little Chinese and the Chinese guy had studied just a little English, it could happen. It's not THAT unrealistic.

It is pretty funny though. It would make more sense with a language like, say, Portuguese though. Or even a European language (French, etc.). I don't think a lot of people in Spanish speaking cultures learn Chinese.

• I guess... but if I was curious if the guy spoke English, I would probably ask him in, well, English. :) - Tosh Jan 20, 2012
• :) Good point. - ajaks Jan 20, 2012

Answer 3

I got it. This picture shows that Spanish is the language of choice when people try to find out if they share any other common languages . Thank you for sharing.

Answer 4

I suppose it depends upon where the conversation takes place. If the conversation took place in Madrid, it wouldn't be that unusual.

• What's funny about it is that apparently they could just talk to each other in Spanish and be done with it. :) - Tosh Jan 20, 2012
• Actually, when I lived in Madrid, tourists would come up to me and ask me something in halting and broken Spanish. Many times, I just asked them, do you speak English? Even if they were German, they spoke better English than they did Spanish. - JoyceM Jan 20, 2012
• Not really Tosh, this is a phrase that you'll find in any phrase book! I don't think being able to say it means you can speak Spanish. I like how you say "even if they were German" I've yet to meet a German who doesn't speak English fantastically. - rabbitwho Jan 22, 2012

Answer 5

Ay Dios Mios, hahahaha This is HALARIOUS! Knowing this generation they would choose a chinese guy!

Answer 6

If both of them spoke Spanish THAT well, why don't they just converse in Spanish?

Answer 7

The more I look at this, the funnier it gets. - frank101

I know... me, too!

I wonder which of the three languages he gave him directions in.

Answer 8

That is funny, in the same way it always makes me laugh that one of the first phrases they teach in those little CD teach yourself Spanish courses is '¿habla inglés?. If I really want to know if someone speaks English I ask in English, ,if they look blank then clearly they don't

Answer 9

I don't see anything strange about this whatsoever, I live in Spain, everybody understands those phrases and I might need to find out what language they speak. Being in Spain, why would I ask someone if they spoke English in English, if they didn't speak English they would think I was saying jibberish to them, but I could assume they spoke Spanish, same with Chinese.

For me the weirdest picture was the one with the distraught looking boy standing in front of his mother who was wandering around the house measuring everything for no reason.

Answer 10

The next slide should be a link to buy their Chinese course :-p