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Originally Posted by Madmartagen
i dont get how other people claim to know the motives behind immigrants/tourists who dont speak english. how do they know if they are refusing to learn the language or that they dont respect the host culture? you have to give first gen immigrants a break because they come here as adults and spend most of their time working and trying to make a life for their family, so its going to be harder for them to learn a second language.
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I don't know about the particular cases that guy experiences, but down here you go into these peoples stores and they're so fucking rude its unbelieveable. They try and hurry everyone who doesn't speak their language and they get pissed off at you because you're wasting their time or something. The worst part is it's fucking fish & chip shops and bakerys that they're taking over - Stores VERY popular among english-speaking NZers....Fish & Chips are like part of our culture. I can't remember the last time I went to one that wasn't owned by people that spoke broken english at best. I have absolutely no problem at all with someone who attempts to speak to me in english, but when they open up with mandarin/cantonese and look at me like I'm retarded when I reply with english I just feel as though someone is fucking with me or something. It's insane behaviour.
It's like me going to China in a heavily populated suburban area opening up a store that serves traditional chinese food and being incredibly rude to anyone who doesn't speak a word of english...Ridiculous.
My girlfriend works at a chemist and says she has had customers shouting at her because she couldn't understand the language they were speaking.
I never used to have a problem with any immigrants at all, but after you experience more than a single case of this behaviour its hard to deny your own instincts which is to just become prejudice when it comes to Chinese immigrant store owners who don't speak english.
I
really hate being a bigot...I usually make such an effort with other cultures, but when this shit goes on I feel like I'm going insane.