assumptions Salmai Valdez

I think when you see someone you assume what kind of person they are and what their background is like. You assume what language they speak, where they are from, where they live, what their home life is like, how they are raised, etc. I also think that our assumptions about someone have been false a couple times in our life. You would be surprised in seeing when you will be right and when you will be wrong in your assumptions. What you just watched was famous actor, singer, and food writer Gwyneth Paltrow who’s mother is of German background and her father Polish, speak perfect Spanish. I am sure no one would have ever guessed Gwyneth Paltrow knew how to speak Spanish period. Point is you never know and that is just by making the assumption that Paltrow doesn't know a single word of Spanish because she is white. In that video the interviewer tells Paltrow that she was stunned when she saw that Paltrow knew Spanish and was even more stunned when she heard her perfect Spanish. Paltrow goes on to explain to the interviewer that she spent sometime with a family in Spain through a program offered to her during college.

Recently I was working a night shift at my current job Farmer Boys Recently I was working a night shift at my current job Farmer Boys. I was the main cashier that night. As I was sweeping up in the dining room I see a large Hispanic family walk in and I greet them and meet them at the registrar to take their order. The grumpy old dad assuming I speak Spanish starts to order and smiles when I speak back in Spanish. I was delighted to see him happy and feel welcome. In the essay “Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public” by Myriam Marquez she says “When there are two or more people who are bilingual and another person who speaks only English and the bilingual folks all of a sudden start speaking Spanish, which effectively leaves out the English-only speaker. I don't tolerate that. One thing's for sure. If I'm ever in a public place with my mom or dad and bump into an acquaintance who doesn't speak Spanish, I will switch to English and introduce that person to my parents. They will respond in English, and do so with respect.” I love that she says this because that is the way things should be dealt with when it comes to language, people need to put aside their differences and be respectful of one another. I do prefer to use English because i know it better than Spanish but to show respect i will use Spanish when it is necessary. Everything is going well until his very last order. He ordered a double bacon avocado cheeseburger and he told me “sin tocino o queso” translated “without bacon or cheese. Never in my life have I heard bacon called anything but bacon, I knew what “queso” was I think most people know that “queso” means cheese but I didn't know what “tocino” was. So I asked the man “Que es el tocino?” translated “what is bacon?” and his wife began to laugh at me and walked away. The man looked at me irritably, like I was useless, and he said “Bacon! Lets do English because you people can’t do things Spanish!” In a tone that was so unnecessary. As I ring him up and take the payment the man stands there looking at me shaking his head in disappointment. He was probably thinking that I am a disgrace to Hispanic culture and the Spanish language. For a moment I felt inferior to someone.

When I was younger my father used to take me out with him all the time When I was younger my father used to take me out with him all the time. He doesn't like to be alone when he’s out. My dad has been a salesman since I can remember and that’s what I usually went out with him to do. I remember when ever we ran into a Hispanic my dad would easily change his language from English to Spanish. Just taking a look at someone he knew whether or not to use English or Spanish. For my father I knew it was such a plus for him to be bilingual and I am glad that I have that advantage as well. There was one time though that I remember my father and I came across a Hispanic man, he looked like he would speak fluent Spanish and probably only knew Spanish. So my dad approached him speaking Spanish and the man looked at my dad strangely and said “Hi, what can I do for you?” I can see on my fathers face the embarrassment because of the assumption he just made. He looked so flustered but changed to English and went on from there. There were multiple occasions where my father had multiple customers around him and there were some that spoke Spanish and English of course. My dad would switch off between the two languages and no one would be bothered by it but there were some incidents where the spouse of a customer would be a English speaker only and the customer would be bilingual in spanish and English. In those incidents the English only speaker would get on the offense because they feel excluded and have no idea what is going on in the conversation.

The other day when I was at the nail salon, I noticed most of the people working there were Asian. The men, the women, they were all Asian. I guessed Chinese, I'm particularly good with my Asians. While getting my nails done the lady doing my nails was making conversation. She was very nice, gentle. During the conversation she asks me “You Chinese? You so pretty, you look like you Asian.” Being that my mother is half Chinese, I told her “Yes, my mother is half Chinese, her father is Chinese and her mother is from South America.” Then she says “Yes I can see, very pretty.” Her dialect was understandable to me and reminded me of Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue.” Tan has an example of her mothers dialect in her essay: “Du Yusong having business like fruit stand. Like off the street kind. He is Du like Du Zong -- but not Tsung-ming Island people. The local people call putong, the river east side, he belong to that side local people. That man want to ask Du Zong father take him in like become own family. Du Zong father wasn't look down on him, but didn't take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. Chinese way, came only to show respect, don't stay for dinner. Respect for making big celebration, he shows up. Mean gives lots of respect. Chinese custom. Chinese social life that way. If too important won't have to stay too long. He come to my wedding. I didn't see, I heard it. I gone to boy's side, they have YMCA dinner. Chinese age I was nineteen." I think Tan’s Mothers dialect was far more complicated to understand, probably because my nail lady has far more interaction with fluent English speakers I look around and I see all kinds of different ethnicities around me, not much conversation going on between the African  American and her nail lady, or the Caucasian and her nail lady.

Here at California State University San Bernardino, there is such a large Asian community. I see Asian students everywhere all the time. From the ones that stand out, most of them are first generation Americans. From what I recall I have only seen two first generation Asian students interacting with someone of another ethnicity. One of them is Ting Fe from my communications class. From my  analysis he enjoys speaking to another foreign student from the Netherlands. That student speaks great English and of course has an accent but he’s completely understandable. Ting Fe always does his speeches on something from his Chinese culture, he sits in the back with the other Chinese boys and has seemed to create a relationship with them. His style is so different from the usual but is most likely what is the normal attire at his homeland. He would not be put under the FOBs category or the Twinkies category that Hsiang explains in her essay “FOBs vs. Twinkies: The New Discrimination is Intraracial”  The FOBs would be the Asians who choose to only interact with other Asians and the Twinkies are those that are “white washed” and ashamed of their heritage.

In the video “Why don’t Chinese People Speak English In the video “Why don’t Chinese People Speak English?” the two girls explain that Chinese students prefer to speak their native language because it is what they are comfortable with. They do try to speak English but at some point they don’t know what the right words are to use. Hsiang says “When Asian Americans hit puberty, they seem to divide into two camps, each highly critical of the other. Members of the first cling to their ethnic heritage. They tend to be exclusive in their friendships, often accepting only "true Asians." They believe relationships should remain within the community, and may even opt to speak their parents' native language over English in public. Members of the second group reject as many aspects of Asian culture as possible and concentrate on being seen as American. They go out of their way to refuse to date within the community, embrace friends outside their ethnic circle, and even boast to others about how un-Asian they are.” She also says “Not all young Asian Americans buy into the dichotomy between "FOBs" and "Twinkies." Many, like me, understand the term "Asian American" in all its complexity, and embrace all sides of our identity. Rather than identifying with one culture or another.” Ting Fe would definitely be a part of this group. I can tell that he is curious and wants to learn more about being American but the language barrier is holding him back.

Love yourself before anyone else can. Six-word memoir Love yourself before anyone else can.

resources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLTXYP27b-I http://www.lifetimetv.co.uk/biography/biography-gwyneth-paltrow-0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgN7TsL8DtY