Last month, I went by my local cable office to drop off my cable box after canceling my cable service. I was almost at the window when an elderly Asian man asked me in English, “Do you speak Korean?” I replied that I did. He proceeded to ask me for help in Korean. He was there because his cable box wasn’t working but I guess the employee at the window was unable to understand him and vice versa. From what I could tell, and what the elderly man told me, the employee patronized and looked down on the man because there was a communication barrier.
Language barriers are common place when you live in areas populated by immigrants, and prevents people from getting proper health care or speaking out against deplorable living situations. I have often had to help my parents deal with certain issues similar to this, even though they speak English because they don’t like the experience of being looked down because of their inability to speak fluid, accent-free English.
After I helped the elderly man get the service he needed from the cable company, I drove away sad for those who came to America for the hope of a better life, yet are faced with challenges daily. Many may assert that those who immigrate here need to learn English since they are living in America. And while that is a truthful expectation, it may not be realistic or as easily gained for those who moved here in their adult life. Even my parents, who speak fluent English, are patronized and ridiculed because they don’t speak accent-free.
I don’t think it would have hurt the employee to be a bit more patient and kind to the elderly man who was struggling to get the help he needed; the man spoke English. He just couldn’t do it without an accent, which caused the employee to dismiss him and be rude. My heart still goes out to the elderly man — mainly because his sad face of desperation still flashes before my eyes — who speaks and understands English, but has a hard time being understood because of heavy accent. He’ll have to face that daily in his life, and I hope that the other people he comes in contact with are a lot more gracious than the employee at my former cable company.
(Flickr photo credit: davitydave)
What next?
Other posts you may be interested in:
Recent Comments
- KFC vs. KGC: WTF???
- alienation: This is a great thread! I grew up eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. My family would make an effort to get it in East L.A., over by the King Cole Pizza. It was way better than the Kentucky Fried over in MPK and up in SG. I...
- Proof that Russell of Disney/Pixar’s Up is Asian: The Color Scripts
- Daul Kim: One Sassy ‘n Smart Bitch
- Najib: I wonder what is going on with this girl. She has been fooled into this simulacrum, and what she thought was real is not real at all.
- Mending Broken Glass: Khmer Rouge History Now to be Taught in Cambodia
- kbok: it may seem shocking to other people that kids don’t believe their elders when hearing about khmer rouge atrocities, but if your mother told you that soldiers shot at her, pushing her off a mountain and into landmine paths...
- Chinese Adoptees: Stolen or Abandoned?
- Dan: CSLI, I think my previous comment stated that I “hope” not “should”. It was not meant to belittle anyone and yes I can imagine just like most people, adopted or not. Though the effect will not be the same as...
- Obama Bows to Emperor Akihito
- JC: @ Eric: Not only that, he’s half brother lives in China and is married to a Chinese woman. There’s a lot of Asian in his family
- Yahoo! Games Writer Freaks Out Over Nintendo DS Dating Simulations
- JC: This guy knows next to nothing about Otaku culture and dare to write about Japanese games. It’s just another ignorant white person making self-righteous judgment calls against another part of Asian culture. He’s just...
Recent Events
- [Nov 3] NORTHERN CA: Intro to Movietelling (Neo-Benshi) with Dennis Somera
- [Nov 14] SOUTHERN CA: Grace Kim & the Spiders From Mars
- [Nov 20] NORTHERN CA: CATS 9th Annual Asian Comedy Night starring 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors
- [Nov 21] SOUTHERN CA: BANANA: Where Infamous Asian-American Bloggers Unite to Chop It Up
- [Nov 22] TORONTO: S.M. Global Audition
13 Comments to “Immigrants with Accents Still Being Treated with Disrespect”
Tien Nguyen wrote:
Definitely true..I was at a Subway the other day and a European man (probably just a tourist) was getting a sandwich, and I definitely understood everything he was saying, but the guy behind the counter was just extremely impatient and patronizing toward him.
I can’t remember what the man asked for on his sandwich–he called something by a different name and it was clear that the dude behind the counter understood him, but he just gave him a really hard time for the sake of being a jackass.
Posted on 02-Jun-09 at 3:04 pm | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
Actually, I was planning on doing a related post about how children of immigrants are often asked to handle very grown-up situations and business for their parents who either lack or are uncomfortable with their own English skills.
Jee, your post is an excellent reminder that many people who DO speak English are discriminated against because they speak with accents.
Posted on 02-Jun-09 at 4:51 pm | Permalink
Tim wrote:
@joz: I’ve been put in that situation many times, and mentioned briefly in my post on a NPR piece called “Hands of my Father”. I think putting kids in that situation makes them grow up faster than they should.
Posted on 02-Jun-09 at 5:24 pm | Permalink
Philip wrote:
Joz – That’s a good idea! Here’s a video about Betty Nguyen mentioning her responsibilities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjW2WptlZSQ
Posted on 02-Jun-09 at 9:49 pm | Permalink
jee wrote:
I agree with Phil. It’s a great idea Joz!
Another thing I noticed is that my parents and most of their friends are willing to pay more to shop from a vendor/store that has Korean speaking owners/workers. They’ll also hire Korean speaking contractors, even if they could find someone else to do the job better for less money: all so they don’t have to deal with being ridiculed or misunderstood because of their accent.
A big part of me wants to be with my parents each time they purchase something, hire a contractor, etc, just so I can be their accent-free voice and to make sure they get the best deal, but I know how unrealistic that is.
And sometimes, when the requests to help them call their home owners association or their cell phone company, etc gets so frequent, I get annoyed. Honestly, I got more annoyed with my parents for needing me to be their voice when they have the vocabulary to do what they are asking me to do. But after my experience at my former cable company, I definitely think differently about that.
Posted on 03-Jun-09 at 1:04 am | Permalink
nemogbr wrote:
Good post.
I remember a colleague complaining of the same when she went to Paris. She is herself French, but whilst qeueing for a ticket, she had to help an English couple who were being treated badly by the attendant.
In Britain, we also have the opposite. There was a recent story of a Postmaster, Sri Lankan immigrant, who refused to serve anyone who could not communicate in English. His defense is that learnt the language, why should they be different? There are those who have gained British citizenship, through their children, but are not inclined to learn the language.
Serving them was difficult because they didn’t even bring someone to interpret for them.
He ended up accused of racism by various groups and I for one, agree with him. Why move to another country and then not learn to communicate?
Posted on 03-Jun-09 at 5:56 am | Permalink
jennifer wrote:
I had the opposite experience in Korea…for someone who speaks Korean with an accent, I was advised to go to the U.S. embassy and pretend I don’t speak any Korean at all, then people there would treat me nicer. I just spoke in English and everyone was so polite.
Posted on 03-Jun-09 at 7:35 am | Permalink
Tim wrote:
@jennifer: I find when I’m in China, some pretend to not understand my English, until I speak some Chinese, no matter how much of an accent I have with my Chinese. I think in China, everyone is expected to speak Mandarin with an accent, because of all the different dialects in the country. What’s interesting of course, is that when I’m with a Caucasian, there’s no expectation at all for them to speak Chinese.
Posted on 03-Jun-09 at 8:01 am | Permalink
John wrote:
Yea how dare the person not know 100 different languages?
His job is probable graded on how many people they see a day so who cares if he would not get his next raise, or loses his job due to bad performance, etc… he should let someone that has lived in a country for years that never learned the language make him lose his job.
If you move to another country, at least learn the language. The real rudeness is people that feel they do not need to learn anything and others should take their time due to their laziness.
Posted on 03-Jun-09 at 11:40 am | Permalink
Linda wrote:
“After I helped the elderly man get the service he needed from the cable company, I drove away sad for those who came to America for the hope of a better life, yet are faced with challenges daily.”
Really nicely put. There should be more ppl like you out there Jee.
Posted on 03-Jun-09 at 12:31 pm | Permalink
Eddie Chang wrote:
Having worked at a public health center, we've been trained to avoid this very situation as much as possible. We've been fortunate enough to be provided with special phone lines that provide access to interpreters in the event that our on-site interpreter is unavailable, but it always surprises me just how callous people can be to others facing a language barrier.
Posted on 05-Jun-09 at 11:57 am | Permalink
JimYag wrote:
Yea I guess the person whos job probably depends on the number of people they see a day they should just give up their next raise and/or lose their job so to help those that never took the time to learn the lang. of the country they live in. ____Yea that seems fair.
Posted on 06-Jun-09 at 1:17 pm | Permalink
jee wrote:
JimYag, if you read the post in full, you would see that I wasn't asking the worker to learn the foreigner's native tongue. I was merely asking for courteous customer service (especially since he is a customer service rep.). The man I helped spoke fluent English. His only fault was that he spoke with an accent, which is common for those who learned English later in their life.
Posted on 08-Jun-09 at 2:06 am | Permalink
Post a Comment