I *used* to agree with you, Bean and maahey, about the pleasure of listening to other languages.....until I spent 2 months taking phone calls from disaster victims in New York after 9/11 (I work for FEMA)

I was taking calls from people living in the five buroughs, who were asking for funds for air purifiers and HEPA vacuums, because their homes were thick with dust and alergens. Many of the callers were immigrant-citizens who spoke very little English; Russian and Mandarin Chinese being the most common native tongue. To handle the calls, we employed a language line with translators.

The first week, I thought.....oh, how fascinating to listen to two people conversing in another language. However, after 10 hour days of listening to those kinds of calls, my ears began to rebel. *Especially* when listening to the Mandarin Chinese language. Have any of you ever heard this language spoken directly into your ear? Let me tell, you, it is not pleasant. It is a rapid fire, high pitched, almost angry sounding language.

The Russian language took a little longer to grate on my nerves. Contrary to the Mandarin, it is very melodious and smooth. However, it is still difficult to listen to two people converse in another language, on a telephone, day in and day out.