Surprised? Hmmm!
November 8th, 2009
Just recently, while talking on my cell phone in Dutch to a Norwegian friend of mine who speaks Dutch, I was overheard by a few bystanders who stood with a look of awe and amazement listening to my conversation. I was at the Olive Garden restaurant waiting to be seated along with a few other patrons. At the end of my conversation, a Caucasian lady drew my attention and asked: “Were you speaking a different language? What was it?” I responded that I was speaking Dutch. Her response and reaction, which was not unlike what I had encountered multiple times before, was: “Really? Dutch? You speak Dutch? Wow! That’s incredible! You sounded so fluent!” I then responded by sharing that Dutch was one of my two native languages, and that my other native language was Papiamento. She no doubt noticed my skin color and asked “So, are you from Africa?” to which I then calmly and smilingly replied “No ma’am, I’m from Aruba, a Dutch island in the Caribbean, off the coast of South America.”
So what is so noteworthy of this exchange that prompted me to share it with you? Why do you think this Caucasian lady and the other Caucasian and non-Caucasian bystanders (including Americans of African heritage) reacted that way? Would the reaction and comments have been different, or even have occurred, had I NOT been a man of very dark complexion?
What is your take? Please share your ideas and responses with me and with the world.
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3 Comments Add your own
1. William Shelton | February 15th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Actually, I don’t believe that your dark complexion necessarily had much to do with this. I am about as Anglo as you can possibly imagine and live in rural Oklahoma, not far from where I was raised. I am also a fluent speaker of Portuguese, having lived in Brazil for a number of years. I have had the exact same experience here in Oklahoma after speaking on the phone in Portuguese to my wife, who is Brazilian.
2. Terry | March 23rd, 2010 at 6:03 pm
I share your experience, as I have so many times in the U.S. especially. Outside the U.S., people seem to comprehend that the average person speak more than one language. That the individual could not identify the language being spoken, or assuming you to be African, demonstrates the lack of knowledge of another’s culture and background. I find that many Americans are so caught up in believing their culture to be superior, thus have no interest in other ethnic cultures. Thus, the frustration with the changing demographics in immigration.
3. Drew | May 17th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
For better and for worse we live in a nation where one can drive for days and never be aware of any other country than our own surrounding us. This has marked our linguistic character – or lack thereof…
But things are changing!
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