Lauren says: May I suggest a post about, “Pretending Not To Understand White People Speaking Asian Languages” And, you know, I wonder if it’s only the Chinese who indulge in this pastime, or if other Asians are on board? Thanks for the submission, Lauren. Here are a couple of reasons why Asians pretend to be oblivious in this day and age.
What happens when you’re thrust into an entirely new environment where communication is almost impossible (save for a few hand gestures and simple words)? What happens when you’re a parent trying to raise your children in a society that teaches them to assimilate as fast as possible in order to get ahead? Now, think about what you would do if you were wrongly quarantined in an internment camp simply for being a certain race? These are all things Asians have had to deal with in the past 150-something years (asians first immigrated in the 1850s). From those hard working railroad workers of the 19-20th century to today’s hip-hop infused “pop-centric” asians, obliviousness has served pragmatic (teaching), deflectory, and many other purposes.
What is Obliviousness? Webster’s dictionary defines it as “the act of being oblivious.” A well kept secret until today, it has the power to teach asian children to embrace their culture. From personal experience, I have to say that I’m probably one of the luckier Asian-Americans that has parents that didn’t break under the pressure of society and speak english to me. Why is this such a big deal? I must reiterate that my parents never spoke a lick of English to me. They never made a comment regarding something I said in English (even if they understood it). They never cared for it. In effect, they never gave in. This allowed me to learn the English language much more proficiently because my parents weren’t teaching me the broken english they had acquired. Instead of saying things like, “I go to the market (a literal translation from my native Vietnamese),” I was taught to say, “I’m going to the market.” There are many things that Asians should do. Teaching english to their children when they have not grasped it, is NOT one of them.
I know many American-born Asians that have taken ESL courses because their parents thought they would be “behind” in school if they weren’t spoken to in English. The result: These asians don’t know their own language and the English language. A double whammy. I’d also have to say that my friends and I (the ones that have been spoken to in our native languages) have a better grasp and understanding of our own cultures because we are able to understand Asian news programs, greet our relatives and elders respectfully, and even call out “foreign” plays when playing basketball =).
Thuy Ngo says, “My mother made great attempts to preserve our home language of Vietnamese by pretending she did not understand us when we spoke English to her. But because of school, even my Vietnamese took on an American accent.” It is extremely easy to lose your language and roots.
Note: The “critical language acquisition” stage ends when a child hits 7. Before that age, languages can be easily learned — one of the reasons why Europe and other Asian countries teach foreign languages before Middle School. Sometimes, it’s just ludicrous how the American education system works.
Asians also figured out that pretending to be oblivious could be used in the workplace. How so? When an asian makes a mistake, isn’t it all too easy to say, “I thought you said Fifteen Dollars (as opposed to fifty dollars)!” or “I thought you said, ‘go to wok,’ ‘” upon being asked why the asian mysteriously took a chinese food lunch break at 4 o-clock? Some asians even try to use their lack of English understanding to get out of speeding tickets, but that’s universally used by immigrants in any country.
In all seriousness, though, Asians have been target of racism in the workplace as long as women have. According to the New Zealand Herald, “In employment, for instance, some felt they missed out on jobs and promotions because of their ethnicity, and workmates pretended not to understand them or patronised them… Some Asians reported being deliberately misunderstood in shops, cafes or a supermarket “in order to humiliate“, being snubbed by other mothers in schools when greeting their children and being avoided in public places.” Furthermore, they feel as though they are not being “wholly accepted” because society sees them as highly skilled workers encroaching onto their territories (like having higher positions on the corporate ladder). As you can see, the pretense can sometimes have adverse effects or be caused by prejudice.
Let’s not forget a certain event in the 1940s that forced millions of innocent Japanese-Americans into internment camps. When that occurred, some asians became oblivious to their own cultures. “One man pretended to not be Japanese, his name was Fred Korematsu” (Japanese Internment). However: “He was arrested for pretending not to be Japanese and he took his case to Supreme Court, where they decided that it was legal to put them in internment,” says George. This was a case where obliviousness meant life or death.
Sometimes, Asians pretend not to pretend; or pretend to pretend; or pretend to pretend to not to pretend. Which is which? It all depends on the “strategic necessity.” By Faking Obliviousness, they are able to raise their children without forgetting their culture, rid themselves of liability in the workplace, and be defiant in the face of adversity. Obliviousness is a skill that helps Asians thrive wherever they go.
Thanks for reading this week’s post,
Peter Nguyen
Stuff Asian People Like Staff
Sources:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/
http://voices.teachingmatters.org/node/771
http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Asian/dialogue_opinion_letters/
Last 5 posts by Peter
- Asian Flush ("Blame it on the Ah-Ah-Ah-Alcohol") - March 12th, 2010
- Open Dialogue: Northern vs. Southern Asians - February 20th, 2010
- Happy Lunar New Years 2010! - February 13th, 2010
- Year of the Tiger 2010 Community Reception - Presented by Coca-Cola and Target - February 5th, 2010
- Featured Topic: Double Names - January 23rd, 2010
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5 responses so far ↓
1 kvietgrl // Apr 28, 2009 at 1:16 pm
love this post. i couldn’t agree more. i really think parents should help their kids learn their native language.
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2 YeahIKnow // May 9, 2009 at 8:34 am
I think you also missed the part where its rude and nasty to people who are at times simply trying to be polite or friendly. Sorry it really is sad that Asian lose some of their culture when they become American citizens but what does that have to do with how you treat other people who don’t speak your language. You pretend to be dumb and not understand but when called dumb or treated differently because of the way you act you get upset.
And the whole “white people deserve it” line only works when you do it to white people when it seems to done to everyone. I don’t like when people use adversity from their past as an excuse for bad behavior. So what white people were mean to you hell they are mean to everyone and being the “good minority” means they are better to Asians then to the rest of us.
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3 Anonymous // Aug 14, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Internment camps, don’t forget the other enemies of the US at the time: Italians & Germans. They too were in internment camps.
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4 Um, actually. // Nov 21, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Italians and Germans were not put into internment camps. There were far too many of them plus, it was ((supposedly)) thought to be harder to tell the difference if someone was Italian or German.
=/
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5 John M // Jan 2, 2010 at 4:49 pm
If you and your spouse speak a foreign language, don’t speak to your kids in English. Our daughter’s s school did in fact try to get us to do their job for them when they suggested we speak to our daughter in English. I told them that teaching English is their job. Our job is to teach Japanese.
See my post at http://www.voom.net/rearing-bilingual-children or to restate in case links are forbidden, “voom.net slash rearing-bilingual-children”.
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