People who want to show of their great inter-cultural learning, should only do so if they have any

[l_i_n_a_y]

Okay, I and my husband are Filipinos. We're also Canadians who are living on a sort of diplomatic exchange in the United Kingdom. We love traveling. We love learning about other cultures. We've also had the privilege of meeting lots of people - very traveled, very culturally aware as well as very ignorant. Now, we've learned to accept that there

Comments

[vicchonn]

Amen to that. I have Chinese origins but my background is pretty... uhm, complicated. In any case, before I learned Mandarin in college, everyone would also assume I automatically spoke it.

Moreover, since I'm from a country where people do not usually look, well, Asian, it drove me nuts when AFTER telling them where I'm from and grew up, people would attempt to "teach" me supposed facts about the place where I had spent years living in (even the language (!!!) which led to a pretty embarrassing incident, for the idiotic pseudo-teacher of course, during my freshman year in college.

People enjoy making cultural assumptions (of the politically incorrect kind) that sometimes can be simply offensive. But as you said, curiosity is understandable, but flat out ignorance and even arrogance is intolerable.

[l_i_n_a_y]

Isn't it hilarious and annoying at the same time when people make assumptions about such complex matters as ethnic identity?! I love how people tried to "teach" you. Heh. In Montreal (where I grew up), you can't really tell much about a person by how they look (well...not all the time) because there are so many 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation immigrants. I used to get a kick out of saying "I'm Canadian" when people asked where I was from. Then they would give me the oddest look and ask "No, where are you REALLY from?" Then, I'd be like "Well, I was born in Ohio." Heh.

[vicchonn]

It still entertains me to say I'm from Peru too! (hometown). Though there's a large Chinese and Japanese population in Lima (where I've lived for about a decade), many immigrants are still 1st generation. So people don't expect the growing 2nd and slightly smaller 3rd, etc. generation to fluently speak the language.

When I went to the US for college, people would literally stare at me whenever I spoke Spanish or said I was Hispanic. In London, or big cities like NY, people were less confused by my cultural ambiguity.

Next time people ask you where you're really from, tell them Angola or something like that. I know someone who has Colombian origins but was born in Alexandria, Egypt. You should see people's reactions at that.

Even with globalization and the so called more connectivity, people are still living in social bubbles.

[lin_yun]

interesting

[lin_yun]

Very well said! I get that a lot, even smack dap in the middle of multicultural Toronto (there, I finally replied to you question from waay before, sorry, lol

[kainat]

I know what you mean, I look Asian because my grandparents migrated from Kazakhstan to Turkey half a century ago and now I live in the US and what upsets me is that people look at me weird when I speak Turkish they don't believe that I'm Turkish, they think that just because I look Asian I'm supposed to be Chinese,Korean, or Japanese, it happened a lot especially on the subway during rush hours when public transportation's are packed with people..Chinese people approach me and start speaking in Chinese they don't even ask me if I speak the language, when I reply back in English telling them I don't speak Chinese they just walk away while giving me the look, I mean first they are ignorant and second they are rude..This happened a lot of times in different places, so I really understand what you mean..People should really ask first before they make themselves look stupid

[mei_angiez]

So I'm Chinese, but I'm from Singapore, and I sure as hell can't speak brilliant Mandarin, or Cantonese, or Hokkien, or any other dialect group associated with Chinese

[pinaytiger]

I know this is a late comment, but I totally agree with you. My mother is Filipina, dad is Irish/Mexican, I was born in the Philippines, and grew up in a Filipino family. At work, I always get the impression from Latinos that I speak spanish, and they always start talking to me in spanish. And in doing cell phone sales in San Diego, CA which borders Mexico, a lot of Mexicans used to get mad at me and say stuff like, "Well, you look Mexican, and you should speak it," or, "You live by Mexico, why don't you speak it? English isn't the only MAIN language of America." It's a big pet peeve of mine, now, all the Filipinos know I am mistisa or see I have Filipina in me, and they know better (then again, all Pinay and Pinoy people know English in America), but Latinos are a pain to me. I have been discriminated against them in the retail environment for 4 years, and it stinks!