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Do you think this is racist? | ||
Tags: Discrimination | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| RBenham Triglot Groupie IndonesiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5643 days ago 60 posts - 62 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Indonesian | Message 9 of 14 09 July 2009 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I wouldn't call the remark racist, given that you actually are Chinese. (If someone said the same thing to a fellow Caucasian, you would have to assume that it was intended as an insult, and therefore at the same time an insult to the Chinese.)
However, it does suggest a level of cultural smugness: French (for this person) is a language to be aspired to, and you, while trying hard, are unable to make the grade, while he, of course, has no trouble speaking it. So he is able to "sympathize" with you, while at the same time boosting his own ego. The obvious fact that French speakers have just as much trouble learning Chinese languages doesn't faze him: he already speaks the world's most desirable language: why should he learn a lower-status language? bordeaux boy, I note that you list English as your native language. This means that some of your interlocutor's assumptions about your background will have been false, but he probably regarded you as a native speaker of (some kind of) Chinese; so my analysis still applies. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6163 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French*, English* Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 14 17 July 2009 at 8:11am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I don't know if it's racist; I agree that it depends on what was going through the speaker's mind. It very well could have been. I know that in Quebec, people use the expression "C'est du Chinois" to say that something appears to be gibberish or that one cannot decipher the meaning of something. Like the English "It's all Greek to me". I have no idea if that expression also exists in France, but if so, I wonder if that use of "Chinois" may have been in the back of his mind when he said it.
But he gets zero points for being smug. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Le dacquois Diglot Groupie France Joined 5647 days ago 54 posts - 69 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, German | Message 11 of 14 17 July 2009 at 9:02am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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In my own personal experience, smugness here is one of the national traits, along with the ability to insult people whilst simultaneously managing to disguise it and pass it off as an innocent comment. It's a fine art which has been perfected over the centuries. Let's face it, France is no place for sensitive souls. You have to fight fire with fire. Either that or accept that it's maybe not the best place for you to be.
However, I don't class this comment as racist. I could say that Chinese is hard for an anglophone to pronounce and it wouldn't be incorrect, would it? Similarly, I've had good fun teasing my girlfriend about her English pronunciation. But, it's just all light hearted fun. I'm not really mocking her and I know English pronunciation is hard for the French. Granted, the smugness factor in your experience is rather irritating (if it was real), but maybe it wasn't really an attempt to mock you. It depends on your outlook. If you're more willing to take a joke and not be so sensitive, you'll often find the the 'insult' wasn't really so bad. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6372 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 12 of 14 17 July 2009 at 2:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I have no idea what you mean. I guess it's some kind of joke I'm not in on. :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6034 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 13 of 14 17 July 2009 at 3:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
In my view this is a clumsy attempt at politeness, rather than intentional rudeness. He probably sensed your embarrassment and wanted to let you know its OK to make mistakes. The fact you are Chinese served as a convenient leverage point for this (Chinese is so different, etc.). What you see as a "smug" expression could simply be a forced smile. Sometimes I react in this way when I'm nervous, giving a false grin. Of course it is also in the realm of possibility he was being smug about the difficulty of French. It's hard to tell without knowing the guy. Edited by Sennin on 17 July 2009 at 4:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7015 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 14 of 14 18 July 2009 at 12:49am | IP Logged | ||||||||
You obviously haven't received the completely genuine letter from Nigeria that was sent to a few members. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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