Looks Aren’t Everything in Language Learning Posted by Malachi Rempen on Oct 31, 2016 in Archived Posts
When visiting or living in a foreign country and speaking a foreign language, if you don’t look like a local, fluency can have its downsides. It can also have some great upsides.
My brother lives in Bangkok, Thailand. He contributes to Itchy Feet by writing comics on an expat’s Asian perspective – he’s lived in South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, and dabbled a bit in all those languages. But Thai is the language he’s fluent in. Thailand is his home. And sometimes, understanding what’s being said around you – particularly if you don’t look like a local – can be something of a burden.
It’s not just shopkeepers, though he’s certainly had his share of experiences in the marketplace. He hears when the food sellers talk to each other about upselling him on the price, not realizing he’s not just another tourist. He knows what the girls are giggling to each other about when they point at him. And he hears insults being thrown his way by the person standing right next to him, not realizing they’re speaking about someone who understands perfectly what he’s saying.
Funnily enough, I have a similar problem when coming back to my native USA from my current home in Germany. In Europe, although English is practically everywhere, particularly in the cities, it’s still safe to mutter under your voice to other native speakers about the people around you. And in the countryside, well, you can say pretty much whatever you please, and no one will understand! But living this way for several years has made me grow complacent. When I return to the States, I get off the plane and start mouthing off: “wow, check out that weird-looking dude.” Cue the weird-looking dude turning around to give me the stinkeye (maybe I should just stop making fun of people in public, huh? That’ll teach me).
But surprising locals with the ability to speak their language can come in handy for my Bangkok brother. When approached by sellers of trinkets or tours or tuk-tuk rides, who can sometimes pester tourists for blocks on end, he just has to say “nah, bro” in Thai and they immediately understand their hooks won’t work on him. With a wink and a thumbs up, they’re off somewhere else.
As for me, I have the opposite problem, because I’m a blonde-haired blue-eyed carbon-copy of every other German on the street: Germans assume I’m German, and they assume I speak German fluently. This has gotten me into trouble – or rather, public embarrassment – a few times as I’m talking and the locals screw up their faces, trying to puzzle out why their countryman speaks like a ten-year-old.
What’s been your experience? What burdens, benefits or complications arise from being able to speak fluently without looking like a local – or looking exactly like a local?
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About the Author: Malachi Rempen
Malachi Rempen is an American filmmaker, author, photographer, and cartoonist. Born in Switzerland, raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he fled Los Angeles after film school and expatted it in France, Morocco, Italy, and now Berlin, Germany, where he lives with his Italian wife and German cat. "Itchy Feet" is his weekly cartoon chronicle of travel, language learning, and life as an expat.
Comments:
Helen:
English and newly settled in France I once won a bet when the locals didn’t believe I could understand the local French patois (dialect). I had taught French in England and had to show my passport to prove I wasn’t French after translating what they had said into normal French.
Cliona:
I lived in the Schwäbisch speaking area of Germany, north east of Stuttgart, after my German degree. I spent a year working in a school, and then the summer in a factory, so my understanding of the dialect became very good. Then I spent 3 months working in the local Irish pub, where none of the other Irish people spoke much more German than ein Bier bitte, and the clientele enjoyed practising their English anyway so I spoke English too. Some evenings I would thoroughly enjoy the looks on some of the guys faces when they said goodnight after their last Guinness and I would reply in perfect Schwäbisch. You could just see them clocking the fact that I had been able to understand their comments all evening!
Now if I visit Germany I just speak English in restaurants etc too, you get much better service than when you ask in perfect German what a particular dish is, as they just don’t expect you not to know if you know the language.
Malachi Rempen:
@Cliona Now THAT is interesting – you get better service in English! I think there’s a comic in that somewhere…
Walter:
I’m fluent in Russian and while shopping for souvenirs at the end of my trip, I loved to haggle in English until I got the price as low as the vendors would go. Then I’d switch to Russian and watch their eyes widen. It was a hoot to bring it down even more.
Malachi Rempen:
@Walter Hah! That’s definitely an entertaining past time
Eugene:
Speaking local language definitely helps. In city bus I’ve seen a guy asking driver if he could advice if the bus stops at train station (yes, it does), and the driver answered in Ukrainian that he can stop at Pidzamche (train stop for intercity trains only), “which is 5 minutes away from the station”. Yes, it is 5 minutes away if you drive your car fast enough 🙂
Galizia is famous for Ukrainian nationalism, though, it was the first case I’ve actually seen it in action :-))) I never get to these situations, as I speak Ukrainian to locals I don’t know personally.
Eugene:
@Eugene Oops, a missing detail: the passenger was asking driver in Russian, while driver was answering in Ukrainian. Drivers mostly come from the villages, where the “small” nationalism is the way of thinking. I suspect one can get similar thing in Catalan speaking places, if one speaks Castillan everywhere.
Melia:
Hehe I smiled reading your article. I am mixed (and have never lived in those 2 countries), was born in another country and raised in yet another, so people never guess where I really come from or what my roots are and I’ve been in all the situations you’ve described. I’ve also had people talk Portuguese to me assuming I was from Brazil, although I have nothing to do with that country or Portuguese. Most of all I like it when people think no one understands them and I totally can follow. Usually I don’t react. I just smile or if it’s negative I ignore it. Once or twice I reacted but people usually look very surprised and don’t know how to deal with it haha. I like to look at the positive side. I hope your brother also can look at the advantages 🙂
Greetings from Europe