Speaking Another Language Somtimes Protects Ourselves!
After reading the article “Achieving Community” written by Suresh Canagarajah, I realized that it is not only we, some fake Cantonese, but many people around the world, also believe that we will be somehow discriminated if we speak our native language in some certain places where people prefer another language. In this article, Canagarajah starts with his personal experience at a carwash in Toronto. He says that he wanted to speak Tamil language to a Tamil attendant there, but the Tamil attendant refused to respond in Tamil language. Instead, the attendant spoke English with him, since the attendant believed that he would be discriminated if he spoke Tamil. This story sounds really familiar to me, as I also have similar experience when I travel to some other regions in China, like Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, people used to speak Cantonese, while for me, even though I am from Canton and live there for 18 years, I still don’t really know how to speak this language and could only understand a little bit of it. After traveling to Hong Kong several times with my family when I was young, we figured out that Hong Kong people sometimes treat the travelers who speak Mandarin and the travelers who speak Cantonese differently. In general, they are much more friendly to Cantonese speaker. Then, during the last several years when my mother, who just knows a little bit more Cantonese than I do, took me to Hong Kong for ACT, SAT II, or TOEFL tests, she would try her best to speak Cantonese with Hong Kong people, and I would always be silent, as we know that we would be treated in a better way or, at least, equally, if we pretend to be Hongkongers or true Cantonese.
The reasons why the Tamil man at the carwash in Toronto in Canagarajah’s story wanted to speak English with the author and we, some fake Cantonese, may try our best to speak Cantonese with Hongkonger are actually the same. We don’t want to be discriminated by the local people or someone else. Then, we pretend to be a different person by not speaking our mother language but the language that other people would like to try to protect ourselves.
