Because I was born here in Canada, it’s pretty common for most of the older Filipino folk to assume that I don’t understand Tagalog. I guess it’s a safe assumption, I mean, I’m guessing that it’s just really common for us First-gen Canadian children to not know their ancestral language. Thing is, from the beginning my parents spoke to me in both English and Tagalog. So, I’ve got a good enough grasp on the latter. Yeah, speaking it is sort of tough. In fact, whenever someone asks whether I can speak it, I say that I can but it’s pretty broken up. Still, I can understand most of the language.
Anyway, I’ve come across so many situations where some Filipino people would talk about me in Tagalog likely assuming that I wouldn’t understand, even if I’m next to them. Moments later, they might start talking to me in English, sometimes asking the same thing they were talking about just moments before in the other language. For example, at this past evening’s get together (which is still going on right now: they’ve moved onto karaoke), I was giving out cans of Coke to the guests while they were having a late dinner. There was this husband and wife (whom I don’t know) sitting there eating. As I passed by, the woman turned to her husband and said in Tagalog “their son is big!”
EH?
I looked at them a little bit funny, but continued handing out pop. I didn’t take it to be something rude about my weight. For a Filipino, I’m just kinda big. Anyway, the husband asked me in English, “how old are you?” I took a few moments to remember correctly, and replied that I was 25.
I’m sure I’m not the only one whose experienced something similar. In fact, I’m sure it’s relatively common. Still, it puts me situations where I can become a little bit uncomfortable if I allow myself to get that way. Sometimes, I feel like a double agent. Maybe it’s mildly dishonest to listen in and feign ignorance when people talk openly about stuff they’re (poorly) attempting to keep private via a language barrier. However, this is definitely something out of my control. I’m sure if I spoke the language more around guests they’d know better, but where’s the fun in that, right?
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2 comments
Lisa says:
Sun. September 9, 2007 at 5:03 pm (UTC -5 )
I get that sometimes as well with Chinese. But in my case, everyone assumes that I speak Mandarin and starts talking to me in Mandarin. They then feel embarrassed when they find out I have no idea what they’re saying. But then there are those who speak cantanese who assume I don’t understand Cantanese and I just listen in on their conversations. Overall, I think it’s best to pretend not to know the language. Then I don’t have to attempt to speak in Cantanese during conversations, which I probably won’t be able to keep up anyways.
Jay says:
Tue. September 11, 2007 at 4:16 pm (UTC -5 )
Ooh, that’s kinda of a tough problem, isn’t it? Making other people feel silly unintentionally kind of sucks.