Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

"Language is home; I have seen how difficult it had been for my parents to feel at home in the United States, and I knew much of their anxiety was related to their lack of linguistic confidence. They were made fun of or infantilized; they were perceived as incoherent or scheming. I saw many times how surprised people were to discover my parents were funny or thoughtful, as if their accents limited their empathy or forced them to think oversimplified thoughts. To others, their wild, abrasive tongues represented the oppression, corruption, and poverty from which my parents had tried to escape."


http://www.vidaweb.org/report-from-the-field-language-is-home/

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

Interesting. I'm not sure whether this is true to the same degree everywhere, though.

I speak a 'small' language to a functional level (there are around 10 million native speakers) and have long-term ties to the country. Even though native speakers can quickly tell that I'm not fluent, they tend to be patient and encouraging and I'm rarely unable to have meaningful, adult, professional conversation.

I wonder how much the level of dominance of the target language impacts how non-native speakers of it are perceived. I guess native speakers of English may be among the most inclined to 'make fun of or infantilize' nns.

[johnslat]

I wonder how much prejudice, fear, and ignorance impact how non-native speakers are perceived, too.

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/0e/14/cc/0e14cc4f6e0fa8ef21075f66e658ccef.jpg

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

Wow. Hopefully that was a joke sign!

[AGoodStory]

[gregory999]