I live in a working-class neighborhood that's a close-knit, multi-ethic community that covers about four square miles. It's really rich in history, especially dealing with immigrants and it's known as a Portuguese community. But today, the neighborhood has expanded to Brazilian and Spanish families so it's great to see a lot of stores and restaurants influence from these cultures.
So it's no surprise to walk down the street and see people talk in their primary language or see signs in front of stores in a different language. However, there have been a couple of times where I see people talk in their language about other people – whether it's about me, a friend or someone else and they think that I, a friend or other people don't “understand” them.
That's incredible rude of them to think that they are the only ones in the world that speaks that language. Or that it gives them the right to be disrespectful just because they believe that the person they are talking about doesn't understand them.
I don't mind if they were talking about other things but just to do it to talk about someone who is right there is a terrible thing to do. It should be common sense that people in this neighborhood are either Spanish, Portuguese or Brazilian and that there's a big chance they understand exactly what your saying. I wouldn't be surprise if they give out the impression that they are a jackass when they are caught red-handed by someone.
For example, what if I'm sitting at a table with a friend and there's a table next to us with people talking in Brazilian or whatnot and they are saying some disgusting things about one of us. Maybe my friend doesn't understand what they are saying but I do and I could choose to ignore it or I can say something to them to shut them the hell up. Well, considering that they aren't whispering and I can hear them loud and clear, I get a pretty good idea that they ASSUME I or my friend don't understand them.
So it's not going to be a big shock to me, that I tell them off in the same language that they ASSUME we don't understand and they immediately quite down and avoid eye contact. I hope they learned their lesson that you can't judge someone or assume they don't understand or whatnot.
I'm Portuguese and I can understand the language, Brazilian and Spanish too...depending on the dialect though. Now I don't look it, whatever stereotype people think Portuguese people look like but most assume I'm French or Polish or Italian but mostly they think I'm “white”. So I don't know why people make the assumption that just because I don't look like it, that I'm not capable of knowing another language or something.
Lesson of the day: Don't assume things because you make an a** out of yourself. Or better yet someone will make an a** out of you by proving you wrong.
 DamnBlackHeart · Thu Jun 02, 2011 @ 12:54pm · 0 Comments |
