When There Is a Weirdness, There Is a Reason
“I thought I had made a mistake in assuming he was Tamil” states by Suresh Canagarajah in his article “Achieving Community.” Suresh starts his argument by sharing his personal experience that he was refused to communicate in Tamil with a car wash attendant who looks like a Tamil. Suresh is pretty sure that the car wash attendant is a Tamil by identifying his skin color as well as his outlook characteristics. What’s more, he even speaks in Tamil, and the car wash attendant seems understand what Suresh said in Tamil because he replies Suresh without asking what he said in English. However, what kind of person would disagree with his mother tongue and prefer the second language when communicating with someone who speaks the same exact language as his/her mother tongue? Suresh was answered by an elder Tamil who knows what is happening in Tamil community that Tamil would refuse to speak in their mother tongue because of the caste system. Difference in language is also the difference in their social status. Speaking in English would make them feels like Canadian instead of lower class Tamil. They enjoy the freedom by speaking in English and being recognized as Canadian.
When there is a weirdness, there is a reason. I would speaking English with my Shanghainess roommate when we both speak mandarin fluently. It’s not because that we dislike Chinese or we have caste system in China as the car wash attendant Suresh met. It’s not because that we do not get along or one of us identifies as American. In deed, since our homeland is very close to each other, our homeland dialects are very similar, and we would communicate in our own dialect without questioning what the other said. The reason we talked in English to each other is our dear cute host mother who is an American and does not understand Chinese at all. Therefore, during dinner time, sitting around the table, we would talk in English even though two out of three are Chinese.
When there is a weirdness, there must be a reason.
