Since coming to Brazil I’ve been made to feel like a foreigner in ways that I’ve never felt before. Anytime I’ve gone to a new place there’s always been that initial phase of unfamiliarity and strangeness, but up until now I’ve only gone to Spanish speaking countries. My Spanish isn’t perfect but I was very confident in my ability to speak it. Even though I was traveling to places where English isn’t spoken very much, I felt about as comfortable there as most Americans would feel in the UK or Australia.
But Brazil is different because everyone speaks Portuguese and I’m just beginning to speak it. Whereas in Spanish I had years of schooling to hammer in the proper pronunciation, word intonation and grammar, I don’t have the same luxury for my Portuguese. Remember that foreign guy you talked to recently who had bad pronunciation, used the wrong words and hesitated between speaking them? Yeah, that’s me right now. Whereas with Spanish I could work on reducing my accent, in Portuguese I have to work on speaking well enough so that I’m understood at a basic level.
Last night I was at Bob’s, which is the Brazilian equivalent of McDonald’s. I walked up to the counter and said “I want an Ovalmaltine milkshake,” which is probably the greatest milkshake in the world. It was 11 o’clock at night and there were a dozen people working at the deserted restaurant. One of the girls that was standing next to the cashier lost control of herself once I started speaking. She started laughing then tried to hide behind her hands. After a few seconds she emerged and saw me staring at her with my patented creepy smile that is guaranteed to make you uncomfortable. This made her laugh even more and she hid under the counter to escape from the embarrassment. The person I ordered to couldn’t understand me very well so my friend had to tell her “Ovalmaltine milkshake” again so that she would understand what I wanted.
I wish I could say that the embarrassed girl’s reaction was uncommon, but its not. Sometimes when I talk to people they just shut down because they didn’t understand a single word and they get very uncomfortable. For some people I’ve been the first American they’ve met and they get excited about it. Others resent the fact that they have to talk to me because it means they have to actually work in order to communicate.
Every time I’m talking to someone and they give me a blank stare, I remember all of the times in the US when I met a foreigner and they talked funny. Most of the time I would try to work with the person to understand them, but some people spoke so bad that I wished they would just stop talking because it was so painful. I’m sure for some people that’s how bad I am, but many people seem to understand me without a problem so I wonder whats wrong with everyone else. Ever since I’ve been a foreigner in foreign countries I’ve felt a lot of sympathy for people who go to the United States because its not easy speaking a foreign language and dealing with people who are uncomfortable talking to you.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
At USC there are countess International Students who have broken english– its really difficult to understand them and I’ve noticed that people usually react the same way in which people are reacting to you.
Its weird feeling that I’ll be in your exact shoes in a few weeks… Hopefully the people in Beijing/ Hong Kong are more understanding. Unfortunately, I’m doubtful.
The problem with Vitoria is that there aren’t many foreigners here. Beijing and Hong Kong are international cities that are used to foreigners so you should have an easier time there.
Experience is the best teacher. People can say “walk a mile in another man’s shoes” but until someone actually does, they won’t fully understand the other person’s situation.
Maybe somewhere along the way you will learn patience and respect so you don’t send your teachers out of the classroom in tears. (Referring to the Facebook post about your Portugese teacher)
When I’m paying an arm and a leg for Portuguese lessons I had better be making light speed progress in that language. Their methodology was highly inefficient. They focused on grammar, I wanted to focus on speaking. If I had stayed with them and done things their way I would’ve wasted a lot of time and made little progress.
They lost my respect when they didn’t speak any Spanish and kept teaching me things in Portuguese that were the same in Spanish. I can’t take any linguist on this continent seriously if they don’t speak Spanish and Portuguese.
The only thing I learned from this experience is that language schools are a waste of time. They don’t have an incentive to make sure that I learn super fast, but they do have an incentive to make sure that I make slow progress so I keep coming back to their shitty school.
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