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Racism and Language Learning | ||
Tags: Discrimination | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Ashley_Victrola Senior Member United States Joined 5708 days ago 416 posts - 429 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French, Romanian | Message 1 of 90 16 April 2009 at 12:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi,
I'm black. And it is increasingly starting to dawn on me that this fact could put a serious crimp in my ability to master languages. For example, I mean, how would I go about learning Russian fluently if I can't go to Russia because I'm afraid I'll encounter physical harm (as is suggested is prevalent to minorities on a US gov travel warning site). Even if that doesn't happen, often Americans or just English-speakers in general get sort of frozen out of the native conversation. Its much more likely that would happen to me. So I was just wondering if anyone could help me out with some ideas or maybe some languages to learn where I could safely go to that country. And not just an African country, I mean plenty of those have huge security issues too. EDIT: Any tips for other darker skinned or minority races of ppl that may have more problems are good to add too. I don't want shut out the fact that they might have issues/want tips as well. ---I'd also likt to post if it matters, that while definitely black, I don't exactly look African, like FROM Africa. Also that this is very annoying because its the very reason in my eyes that my French stalled out because my mother wouldn't let me do any foreign exchange study abroad anything for this very reason. We knew one girl who went to Spain whose host family hated her. Edited by Ashley_Victrola on 16 April 2009 at 5:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jimmymac Senior Member United Kingdom strange-lands.com/le Joined 6155 days ago 276 posts - 362 votes Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, French | Message 2 of 90 16 April 2009 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Unfortunately threads like this often get shutdown down as the conversation turns into a 'you're more racist than us rant' but I hope it doesn't this time. I certainly sympathize with your position. Black people have a blatant disadvantage in some countries. I'm moving to Thailand next year to teach English and while doing my homework on the internet looking at job prospects I came across a couple of articles by Black graduates from England where, despite being more than sufficiently qualified, they had been told quite bluntly that their face doesn't fit the bill for an English teacher in Thailand. That’s not to say that there are no black teachers there, it just takes more determination to get what you want; which, while being easy for me to say being white, might be a major factor in your success with your chosen language. Racism exists in some form or another in every country; I really wouldn't let that put you off.
Choosing a language on the basis of not getting beaten up may not be a great motivator. You have to choose a language you're going to enjoy learning so that your motivation doesn't dissipate. If you're fearful of going to the target country then follow the AJATT guy’s advice and create your own immersion environment. Find a conversation partner in the states. If they have a problem with your skin colour then at least you can just walk away and find a new partner. It is better to do what you want than what you think you're limited to do. You'll have far less regrets in the future. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ashley_Victrola Senior Member United States Joined 5708 days ago 416 posts - 429 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Romanian | Message 3 of 90 16 April 2009 at 1:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, then this is my official request: PLLLLLEEEEASE! NO ONE SAY ANYTHING MEAN ON THIS THREAD, I DON'T CARE WHO YOU DISAGREE WITH EVEN IF IT'S ME. THREADS LIKE THIS ARE IMPORTANT AND SOMETIMES EVEN CRITICAL TO SAFETY. PLEASE TRY TO RESTRAIN YOURSELVES BECAUSE THE INFORMATION ON SUCH A THREAD CAN REALLY BE HELPFUL. MAYBE SOMEONE WILL SAY SOMETHING REALLY HELPFUL BUT IF THE THREAD TAKES A BAD TURN AND GETS SHUT DOWN THEN IT CAN'T HELP THE NEXT PERSON AND THEY'LL HAVE TO MAKE A NEW ONE (LIKE ME) AND POSSIBLY NOT GET THAT INFO.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jimmymac Senior Member United Kingdom strange-lands.com/le Joined 6155 days ago 276 posts - 362 votes Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, French | Message 4 of 90 16 April 2009 at 1:33pm | IP Logged | ||
That should do the trick. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jar-ptitsa Triglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5900 days ago 980 posts - 1006 votes Speaks: French*, Dutch, German | Message 5 of 90 16 April 2009 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Ashley Victrola
I think that you havne't to worry that something could put a serious crimp in your ability to master languages. In my opinion it's not necessary to visit the country for learn the language. I absolutely hate racism, all prejudices and stupid things which the people think when they're ignorant and therfore say and do nasty things for example exclude others, laugh at him/her or find that the others are valueless. I'm not black (look like Spanish or Italian) but my parents wouldn't let me do the foreign exchange also: in my old school most of people did an exchange and my brother and sisters did thos exchange, which were good and fun. I was in London one week with my parents and a friend of my mother, which I prefer I think because it would be very difficult to live with a family who you don't know (I can't do those things, for example when all the people eat and talk I'm completely overwhelmed and get some problems). What a pity the Spanish family hated the girl. Sometimes the exchanges are not a success, in my school as well some poeple had arguments with the family or the exchange partner. The partners of my brother and sisters lived with us approximately two weeks and one girl was nasty (bossy) but the others were very nice. I think that in Belgium it would be possible for you to make an exchnage. For sure there exist racists but mostly this country is not bad for it I think. If you exchange some emails before your visit for explain them that you're black and bit worried that it would be racisim or other difficulties you can see their reaction. People told me many times it's better explain/ tell why you've some problems then the people can understand although it seems not all the world will be tolerant, unfortunately. I would invite you but we haven't exchanges in my new school and probably I would be not a good exchange partner. With the internet there's the possibilty hear and read the foreign languages, therefore it's not necessary to make an exchange at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6441 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 6 of 90 16 April 2009 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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Western European languages should be ok; but I'd say it's comparable to the USA in this regard. French and Portuguese immediately spring to mind as unlikely to be problematic (sure, there are unsafe areas in regions that speak both, but there are also very safe ones - again, like the USA).
Regardless of country, bigger cities are more likely to be comfortable; in some sufficiently small areas in most/all countries, a foreigner of any sort is unusual - some people find it very uncomfortable to be this foreigner, others don't seem to mind. Japan is reported to be ok - at least, Khatzumoto says he has no complaints in that regard, and is working in technology if I recall correctly. The only real systematic problem I've heard about in Asia in this regard is for English teachers, or fairly uniform discrimination against non-local people (ie, Japanese-only bars, etc - and Japanese citizenship isn't enough to get clearly non-Asian people into these). In general, I'd say areas tend to be roughly equally safe regardless of the hue of your skin, with a few exceptions - none of which are in countries I'd consider particularly safe to begin with. Long-term residency/working can be more of a pain than tourism. Don't let the existence of some idiots put you off learning languages; few places on Earth compare to the worst areas of the USA in this regard (it's a big country), and it's a big planet, most of which is pretty decent most of the time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 7 of 90 16 April 2009 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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I do sympathise. My French language exchange partner (who's currently living in London) is of mixed race and she told me that even in European countries, she experiences a lot of racism (though not violence thankfully)- but she tells me that London is the most accepting place she has visited so far. I don't think that this is necessarily any positive reflection on the British, but it is illustrative of the difference between small/rural towns across the UK (often racist, homophobic etc) and large, 'cosmopolitan' cities (much less so). Although I am white I can relate to this a little because I am a lesbian (I know it's not exactly the same because people can't tell this just by looking at me!), and whenever I travel I have to consider safety, local laws, or just whether I will meet people sufficiently open minded to be able to make friends if I want to live in a country. For this reason I tend to avoid going to small places for any length of time (including here in the UK, I can't stand the ignorance of 'little' Britain) and just stick to the cities. As Jimmymac said, there is racism everywhere to varying degrees, you will probably just have to make sure you take the usual safety precautions, like not walking through isolated areas alone at night etc- which as you are also female, I'm sure you are already aware of.
This isn't that helpful, I'm not sure there is any easy solution to this problem. But it would be a shame if fear of racism stopped you from seeing the world. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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