I immigrated to the US at the age of 8. I’m Asian. I think I mastered the language at like probably 12 or 13.
I recall often in my life, people always assumed I didn’t speak English for some reason. Like before I had a chance to open my mouth, that question gets asked…
Not sure if it was because I was perhaps being quiet and unaware I was being quiet, so they made an assumption based on that, or if it had to do with how I look.
I kinda always felt a bit uncomfortable.
“Perpetual Foreigner” kind of.
I’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it was just maybe I was quiet. But still. A white kid could stay quiet and I doubt the first thing a person assumes is oh he must not speak english.
Um… sorry if this is a weird ask, but those of you who live in immigration countries, have you ever been asked “Do you speak [Language of the country]?” Have you ever made an assumption about someone?
This speaks more to the area I spent my teenage years, but I’ve been asked that because I “looked Mexican”(to quote the ones who asked). I was born in the U.S, lived here my whole life, my parents are white, English is my native tongue. Sometimes I was genuinely happy just to be asked if I spoke English, and not get a racial slur thrown into the mix.
It fucking sucks. It did give me a harsh lesson in judgement, though. One I can thankfully say I walked away from feeling like a better person.