Patronising Foreigners

[batbat]

One of the most annoying things about life in a foreign country is, I think, the fact that you're marked out as different and become treated as such, unavoidably. This is especially true if you're of different ethnic origin to the native population, but it happens even in situations where the 'foreigner' is extremely similar to the 'host' - like

Comments

[maeincarnate]

I noticed Hiro and Ando peppering their Japanese with English words while talking to each other on Heroes, and apparently Spanish speakers in the US do it too. While I think people like Gordon Ramsey are just excited to either show they know a little French (to seem smart and/or cultured), I don't think it's always for those reasons - it might be more convenient, like the first thing that pops into one's mind.

[batbat]

I haven't watched Heroes, but I think Hiro and Ando might be using legitemate English loan-words to Japanese - of which there are a fair few. I also assume that they, as a actors, and the Japanese speaking script-writers or translators, have strong connections with the US, so their language is more Anglicised than the average Japanese person. Likewise for Spanish speakers in the US, who are surrounded by English in their daily lives. So in those cases you're right - it sometimes is more convenient to use an English word.

Ordinary Japanese people in Japan don't really have that excuse, though.

[mirthical]

someone once told me of a man who was not a native Japanese (and didn't look Japanese either) living in Japan for years and years, clearly fluent, being told something in English by a policeman.

He told the policeman, in Japanese, "I'm sorry, I don't speak English."

I suspect it's largely attempting to show off to an obvious traveler, proving to this stranger that, yes, I too am cultured, here is my barely recognizable language which I think you speak! A sort of self-justification.

Not that I think everyone does this with the intent to humiliate the foreigner - sometimes it's just enjoyable to practice another language with a native speaker. It's hard not to seem like a jerk, though, outside of a language course.

[batbat]

I used to do that quite a bit. You quickly become able to tell who is legitemately being friendly and considerate, and who is just trying to show off. With the former I'd try to accept it with good grace, but with the latter I'd pretty much always either say, in Japanese, "Actually, I'm French," or else just repeat everything they said back to them in Japanese, in a really petty and childish way but which gave me satisfaction.

[the23]

being treated as a foreigner in your hometown is particularly galling. a slight foreign twang in your accent and they start speaking very slowly indeed and asking you if you are enjoying your holiday. meanwhile people who come from when they perceive i come from have trouble understanding my "thick" english accent. so "we" are patronising to foreigners who speak our own language, never mind those who speak another language.