A few days ago, after I was done tutoring, the mother of my student spoke to me, sharing some of the events of her rather lousy day. This mother works as a cashier at Dunkin' Donuts and has, on a few occasions, shared with me some of the frustrations she feels as an immigrant struggling to provide for her family.
She tells me a lot about some of the disparities she feels due to her inability to properly communicate in English but nonetheless expresses a great appreciation for whatever opportunities she has gained in this country, despite her immigrant status.
She was telling me a few days ago about a particular event at work that was truly disheartening and discouraging. As this mother was at work taking the orders of customers, one particular customer responded with hostility and annoyance because of her accent and inability to properly structure her sentences. The customer proceeded to not only condemn the cashier’s communication skills and accent but responded in a rather harsh and offensive manner.
Hearing this from the mother of my student, a woman whom I have only known to be incredibly friendly, outgoing and diligent, was truly saddening. As upsetting as it was to hear, I could not help but feel a slight pang of guilt, knowing that I too have been in a position over the past years in which I found subtle humor in regards to a person’s inability to speak English with fluency. Though I have never been someone who has mocked or found anything wrong with immigrant status, there is no doubt about the overwhelming amount of negativity that can be and is attached to individuals who cannot properly speak the English language.
As someone who has a profound admiration and love for the cultural diversity in this city that I have grown up in, I cannot deny the stigmatization of children and adults who struggle to articulate and speak in English. I do not believe that any ethnic group receives this hostility any less than another, but the fact of the matter is, it's utterly wrong and does not live up to what it means to be an American individual. Even amongst my own peers and acquaintances, I have seen this predominant mindset, one in which the inability to speak English with fluency somehow equates a lack of knowledge or intelligence. This ideology as a whole is not only offensive but truly demeans the efforts of immigrants as well as cultures in our country.
As a member of the adolescent demographic, I cannot deny that I have grown up viewing an overwhelming amount of shame that many children and teenagers alike, feel at the sound of their own parent’s accent. This shame is induced by the common notion that there is a displeasure attached to the very sound of a person’s native tongue.
Though I do not know how exactly to make sense of these stigmas and deeply rooted discriminatory thoughts, that many people of this country have about individuals who do not know how to speak English well, I have been realizing more and more how impacting it is.
Laughing at the sound of an immigrant’s mispronunciation of English words ultimately strips that individual of his/her efforts and truly functions to devalue his/her capabilities. I am well aware that most people that utilize accents, disregarding the difficulty that many immigrants have with English, as an instrument for harmless laughs and jokes, however, I have become more increasingly aware of the fact that the concept as a whole is not only impolite, but discouraging.
It is unfortunate that many of us living in the United States or at the very least the culturally thriving heartland of New York, fail to offer our utmost respect and assistance to people that are new, to not only our country, but the difficult language that we all seem to believe that we have perfected.
As a woman who has been born and raised in a household that emphasizes the importance of being in touch with my roots and rehearsing the language that my ancestors have fought long and hard for, it is due time that I acknowledge my own shortcomings and shed light onto the sad truth of the way in which our society responds to this issue.
It is hard enough for immigrants to try fitting into American society without the addition of supposedly harmless jabs at the way in which they speak. It is in nobody’s place to pinpoint the incorrect conjugations or misuse of articles when people speak, but rather it is our duty to offer our utmost support, understanding and consideration to the individuals who take on the difficult challenge of attempting a new language for the sake of communication.
Immigrants do not get enough credit for the obstacles that they face upon their arrival to our beautiful nation and nor are their efforts given much appreciation or recognition. But it is never too late to provide our sincerest respect to individuals that go to great lengths and attempt a language that is perhaps extremely foreign to them, just so we can understand them a little better.
