So… when I was a kid, like soon after I gained proficiency in English, they made me translate:
every paper they fill, tax documents, USCIS (the government agency in the US that deals with immigration) shenanigans, letters, bills, phone calls, talking to customer support (I mean like utilities, phone bills, banking, etc…), trying to buy a house, car dealership, court cases, doctor’s appointments, city hall stuff, bussiness licenses, and um…
fucking parent-teacher conferences? Wtf so… am I supposed to translate the negative things the teacher says about me? Huh? 🧐 (I kinda just refused, just sit there in silence while teachers were trying to find some adult in the building that can translate). I remember it felt so awkward.
Like, bruhhhh I went to 2nd grade in my previous country, I don’t even have the vocabulary to explain shit.
Then like if I refuse, my parents ask my older brother, then he gets mad and is like: “why not ask him [aka: me]?” So then it’s a sort of 3-way mini-cold-war at home.
Such a chaotic childhood.
I can sometimes almost sort of “hallucinate” my name being called for some weird bs.
When you think about it this way, I’m sort of like a diplomat between my household and the outside world. I guess I should just get a job at the UN (/kidding, no way in hell I wanna do any more “translating” bullshit as a job)
Not an immigrant child but I bet it feels like knowing how to use a computer and being forced to do IT for grandma.
Kinda of, yea. Computer literacy is, in a way, a type of “language”, and people kinda “migrated” from “world before computing” into “world after computing”. Its kinda like that lol. Except I’m kinda doing both human language stuff and tech support. Its kinda slightly worse tho, you have to be the in-between your parents yelling at the customer support, and like you get sort of antagonized by both ends, you’re the messenger that gets shot at by both sides of the “telephone war” (I mean, isn’t customer support calls just a verbal phone call war?)
Raising my kid in the UK as an American I sometimes get a sense of this. He gets stuff I don’t about the English. Even with such similar cultures there’s a gap to be bridged.
Edit, typo. I shouldn’t even be awake lmao
I got a smaller version of that - my mum isn’t an immigrant but I work as a translator, so she’s often asking me to translate stuff from English and rarely German into Portuguese. (Don’t ask me why so many oil painting videos are in German.) Plus IT stuff, like Kolanaki.
I don’t mind either because it’s uncommon enough and mostly fluff, unlike in your case.
I saw this happen a lot to students at the high school I went to. It clearly was frustrating for the kids but they couldn’t say that without being labeled as mean, cruel, unhelpful, ungrateful while my autistic ass was just thinking “but you live here you really do need to know the language a bit???” (About the parents)
Good luck! I’m sorry!
“but you live here you really do need to know the language a bit???” (About the parents)
I’ve seen it reversed with English speakers moving to other countries and not bothering to learn the local language because they didn’t see the point. And I’m not talking about Thailand, I’m talking about the Netherlands or Spain
They should be learning the local language as well! Not just people going to English speaking countries.
Definitely! It kind of baffles me that people can live for years in a place and not learn the local language, but because they speak English it’s fine
The Netherlands is a special case because everyone knows English and “helpfully” switches when you struggle with Dutch.
Not everybody knows English, I’ve been to the Dutch countryside where quite a few people aren’t comfortable speaking English. And even if they were, it’s not their native language, so if you never speak you will always be less integrated.
Denmark and the other Nordics are a bit in the same situation, of course people know English there, but not knowing the local language is still frowned upon.
My experience is solely as a tech worker in urban areas. It’s hard to break out of that bubble.
Yeah I feel you. I got burnt out (on top of clashing over other differences) so I went minimal contact. I’m sorry but… It’s my life now.
I’m not an immigrant but my dad is still a selfish cunt.
Hey,
Sorry to hear you went through this, it’s unfortunately quite common for immigrant children.
I was lucky enough that my parents knew the language of the country they moved to and lived on their own for a while before having me, but I know other people my age who definitely have a similar experience to yours.
By the way, I feel like an second generation Asian community is missing here on Lemmy/Piefed, would you like to start one with me? It could be a dedicated space to share such experiences between people who lived through them
Sorry but weird question, why is your account so new, why is this post the first you commented on, and why is your account creation timestamp after my post’s timestamp?
🤔
Well, as you can guess, this is an account I created mostly to discuss being a second generation Asian (that’s usually some information I don’t tell on my main account). I created it after seeing your post (to be honest, it was at the back of my head for a bit after seeing some of your posts).
We can wait for a bit if you prefer to see if I’m trustworthy.
Lol I just got so sus after seeing the “Nicole” stuff and various mass spam bots. 😆
Yeah, that’s definitely a valid concern x)
I feel like you’ve benefited immensely from the experience despite the headaches it might have caused? 🤷😅
I can understand a language better? But there aren’t any Cantonese shows worth watching, IMO.
If my family was like… Japanese instead, those skills could’ve been used in watching anime lol
But nope, I have a language that is spoken mostly by the older first-gen immigrant diaspora and I kinda don’t have much in common with older people, younger people mostly speak English now, so what’s the point lol. Maybe great for going to Chinese restaurants? That’s about as useful as it gets lol. That and the sort of bragging rights I have for knowing more languages lol.
Oh man the hallucination thing is such a good point!
So its not just me. 💀
