Do you speak American?
I was sitting in HEL class today, or History of the English Language, and topic of the day was "Do you speak American?" And of course "American" is not a language but rather "English" is the main but not the official language of America. During a discussion the question was asked by my professor "Have you heard anyone say that its great our country is diverse in language?" And like the typical Springfield College "I'm a white rich kid who has lack of knowledge of the real world" response was no they haven't had any experience, except me of course. I said something that I got compliments from the Hispanic population; because I ran into situations where a question was asked in Spanish and I understood what they wanted and replied. A couple of instances was in the past few months, one time I was working and a woman said in Spanish to her daughter that she needed sugar or azucar in Spanish. I replied that it was in aisle 10. The old Hispanic woman in the wheelchair turned and looked at me with a smile and was like "You understood me?" and I said "Of course." She was so happy she was telling her family in Spanish that I understood Spanish and they nodded in approval.
Another instance was in Walgreens, where a woman waiting in the pharmacy said "Hace frio" and I said "Yea, it is cold in here." Again, she turned and smiled and said "It's great people like you understand us" and she told me she picked up Spanish off the streets of Springfield.
The funniest moment with my understanding of Spanish was in the Eastfield Mall where I was shopping and hearing this guy about my age talking about a party he went to and I understood that he said something about some crazy girl and putting her number in his cellphone. Since there were a few words I didn't understand I turned to him and I said, "What did this girl do to you again?" And the girl that he was talking to about this she said "I thought you understood us because you kept smiling over there" So the guy tells me in English that he went to a party and this lesbian hit on him and put her phone number in his phone. He told me that if he saw her dressed as a woman (She was dressed like a dude that night) that he would have no problem "hitting that". He said he still has her number. Then he said that he needs to be careful talking in Spanish because apparently there are white people who understand Spanish.
So anyway, after I gave an example of one of my instances, some smart ass in my class goes "Well, unlike June who understands Spanish, I always feel if they are speaking Spanish (or another language) around me that they are making fun of me." And some of my other classmates agreed with him. Which is sad, its sad that people think just because they are talking in another language doesn't mean they are making fun of you. Sometimes they are having their own private conversations, and granted maybe they are making fun of you, but the chance of that is slim to none. Usually they are talking about something they see, or a personal issue they are talking about. Sometimes they talk that way because its natural to speak their native language, it may have absolutely nothing to do with you.
So, do you speak American?
I do.
No comments:
Post a Comment