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Post by Roam'n on Aug 27, 2007 9:27:44 GMT -5
It happened all the time when I was younger. Doesn't happen as much as I got older.
I might pass for hispanic to non-hispanics (whites, blacks), but actual hispanics somehow know I'm not hispanic... they think I'm a darker caucasian; such as Mediterranean (italian, spanish, etc). I think it's my demeanor more then anything else.
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Post by catgirl on Aug 28, 2007 5:01:52 GMT -5
Interesting.I have never mistaken a mixed-asian person for latino before. Freecia - I remember the pictures you had in your sig so I can see how you might get that sometimes.You can pass for Mexican or El Salvadorean Imo. Nobody mistakes me for mixed asian, and I AM. And I have two friends who are not mixed asian, and they get mistaken for it basically all the time.
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Post by catgirl on Aug 28, 2007 5:07:24 GMT -5
It happened all the time when I was younger. Doesn't happen as much as I got older. I might pass for hispanic to non-hispanics (whites, blacks), but actual hispanics somehow know I'm not hispanic... they think I'm a darker caucasian; such as Mediterranean (italian, spanish, etc). I think it's my demeanor more then anything else. I dont always see the difference between some south americans and Spanish/Italians of Europe. I think Spaniards and Italian vary alot, some have lighter traits and look more northern, while others have coal black hair and dark eyes.
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Post by ladystacey on Aug 28, 2007 13:55:17 GMT -5
It has happened to me a lot when I lived in L.A a lot of latinos assumed I was latino as well and when I told them I was not they didn't believe me, I don't think I look hispanic at all. I sometimes get people come up speaking in Spanish and I am able to communicate back some what and when they find out that I'm actually half asian and white they think I'm joking with them because I can speak Spanish so there for I must be Spanish.
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Post by hellbunnie on Aug 29, 2007 9:58:47 GMT -5
I dont always see the difference between some south americans and Spanish/Italians of Europe. I think Spaniards and Italian vary alot, some have lighter traits and look more northern, while others have coal black hair and dark eyes. Yeah. My great-grandparents were both italian, but one was fair-skinned and blue-eyed and the other was dark, from Sicily. It has to do with the Ottomans who swept through and conquered the region from Sicily deep into Spain several centuries ago. As for me, I live in South Florida and get confused with being Latina every time I get a tan. =/ So I strive to be as white as possible. I've also been confused as full-blooded Korean, Filipina, Egyptian, Polynesian, Arabic, and Mexican. XD No one's gotten it right so far, but I've ceased to expect it.
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Post by Ajeno on Aug 29, 2007 17:59:10 GMT -5
Nobody mistakes me for mixed asian, and I AM. And I have two friends who are not mixed asian, and they get mistaken for it basically all the time. I honestly wouldnt know your mixed-asian unless you told me so you might fool me there.
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jpeezy
Junior Member
Proud to be human
Posts: 144
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Post by jpeezy on Aug 29, 2007 20:18:03 GMT -5
this happens to me all the time and it drives me nuts. i feel the need to clarify:i'm not irritated at being mistaken for Latina but at how incredibly rude people can be if you don't speak Spanish and are perceived to be Latina.Some are up front about it like the ones jpeezy was talking aout,some are really snide and just look at you like you're something they stepped in. I agree with you 100%. I don't mind curious inquiries to my ethnicity, in fact I'm used to it. It's the rude comments and ignorant assumptions that really get irritating.
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Post by Ave` on Sept 10, 2007 2:57:55 GMT -5
when I was in Italy....a lot of ppl come up to me and speak Italian. tbh i only how to say thank you and some in Italian. Its funny. when i was waiting my turn at the toilet. A women came to me and spoke Italian rapidly. I panicked and blurted out "non comprehendo " and the chinese girl behind me replied...funny isnt it the last person you think ud ask..would be more able to answer you then the person u think italian.
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Post by TeeHee on Sept 12, 2007 16:23:12 GMT -5
i feel the need to clarify:i'm not irritated at being mistaken for Latina but at how incredibly rude people can be if you don't speak Spanish and are perceived to be Latina.Some are up front about it like the ones jpeezy was talking aout,some are really snide and just look at you like you're something they stepped in. i'm really starting to get you on this! so a little while back, my folks got a new store/business here in arizona. about 95% of the people who come into our store are latino/spanish-speaking. some of them will come up to us rambling off in spanish. when we look at them blankly, it's "what?! you don't speak spanish?!" in a very rude condescending tone, then followed by "where's that lady?"(the former owner of the store who sold it to my folks is mexican/spanish-speaking). in our rants about this, my dad has said he's felt like snapping right back at them with "this is america, not mexico city. don't come barging in expecting everyone here to speak spanish!". for the record, i've got nothing against the spanish language, learning it or any other language would be great. but even looking at it from their perspective, i would never go into an american store expecting the owners to speak it, and biting their heads off when i see that they don't. my dad is vietnamese/asian, and whiles it would be nice if we came across other vietnamese-speaking people, we would never go expecting them to be able to speak it, unless it was specifically part of their job description or something.
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Post by jefe on Sept 12, 2007 22:04:54 GMT -5
Actually, Tee Hee,
- Spanish is the second language in the USA, spoken by over 30 million and may be the majority language in certain districts
- English IS NOT THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE of the USA as the USA does not have an official language.
- your store used to be Spanish Speaking, and is located in an area with a high percentage of Spanish speakers, if not a majority (95% of your customers, you say?)
It would be equally as wrong to expect storeowners in an "American store" to be English speakers as to expect them to be Spanish speakers, esp. in the parts of the USA with large numbers of Spanish speakers. It would not be appropriate for your Dad to snap back at customers with that remark. "America" is also a Spanish speaking country -- the 4th or 5th largest in the world, and Spanish speakers in the USA will exceed Spain itself in the near future. And Arizona is located in the part of the USA where the use of Spanish has a 450 year history -- English was not introduced there in significant numbers until the mid 1800s.
And, if anything, for business reasons, if 95% of your customers are Spanish speakers, then, by all means, learning to communicate in Spanish would be a very wise business decision. If there was no intention on learning how to communicate with your customers, then it was not that wise to open a store in an area where 95% of the customers expect to be served in Spanish.
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Post by TeeHee on Sept 13, 2007 2:23:41 GMT -5
And, if anything, for business reasons, if 95% of your customers are Spanish speakers, then, by all means, learning to communicate in Spanish would be a very wise business decision. If there was no intention on learning how to communicate with your customers, then it was not that wise to open a store in an area where 95% of the customers expect to be served in Spanish. for the record, my family was pretty much broke after the looting of our store in new orleans, not that that would matter at all to you my folks were pretty much desperate to accept ownership of whatever decent-looking place at the cheapest price(which was this store in this case), didn't have much choice. and we ARE in the process of learning spanish, but whatever little spanish we know isn't sufficient yet. thing is though, some of these people who've reacted with such hostility to us, were able to speak english and therefore, still would've been able to hold a minimally decent conversation with us. but for whatever reason chose not to work with us just because of our lack of proficiency in spanish(even though we were friendly towards them). this actually kinda reminds me of the times i'm out with my bf(who's Deaf and uses American Sign Language), he'll jovially approach the person(usually the case is they're a hearing non-signer) and type/write whatever he has to say to them(in english, a language they can understand), but they'll turn over to me "can you speak?", completely ignoring him; this drives me up the wall, but that's another story... anyways, the point i was trying to make in my original post was that, while it WOULD be nice to come across people who know how to communicate in my respective languages, i wouldn't automatically expect them to know it, nor would i react with the same hostility that these people react to us when they see we're not proficient in spanish. We've had our share of non-english-speaking customers come in as well, but were still able to get things done using a series of pointing and gestures(our store sells/makes snack and refreshment type of things so it doesn't really take that much bridging the language gap). I would basically try to make use of whatever common languages we may share instead of causing unnecessary ill will, makes life alot easier.
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Post by Vietmunde on Sept 13, 2007 5:44:16 GMT -5
And, if anything, for business reasons, if 95% of your customers are Spanish speakers, then, by all means, learning to communicate in Spanish would be a very wise business decision. If there was no intention on learning how to communicate with your customers, then it was not that wise to open a store in an area where 95% of the customers expect to be served in Spanish. for the record, my family was pretty much broke after the looting of our store in new orleans, not that that would matter at all to you my folks were pretty much desperate to accept ownership of whatever decent-looking place at the cheapest price(which was this store in this case), didn't have much choice. and we ARE in the process of learning spanish, but whatever little spanish we know isn't sufficient yet. thing is though, some of these people who've reacted with such hostility to us, were able to speak english and therefore, still would've been able to hold a minimally decent conversation with us. but for whatever reason chose not to work with us just because of our lack of proficiency in spanish(even though we were friendly towards them). this actually kinda reminds me of the times i'm out with my bf(who's Deaf and uses American Sign Language), he'll jovially approach the person(usually the case is they're a hearing non-signer) and type/write whatever he has to say to them(in english, a language they can understand), but they'll turn over to me "can you speak?", completely ignoring him; this drives me up the wall, but that's another story... anyways, the point i was trying to make in my original post was that, while it WOULD be nice to come across people who know how to communicate in my respective languages, i wouldn't automatically expect them to know it, nor would i react with the same hostility that these people react to us when they see we're not proficient in spanish. We've had our share of non-english-speaking customers come in as well, but were still able to get things done using a series of pointing and gestures(our store sells/makes snack and refreshment type of things so it doesn't really take that much bridging the language gap). I would basically try to make use of whatever common languages we may share instead of causing unnecessary ill will, makes life alot easier. That's cool that you and your family have got the store up and running! Though I've been mistaken for Latino in the past, I've never experienced the hostility that you and Lacrimosa have experienced. Though Spanish is very widespread across the U.S., I find it odd as well, that some Latinos would attempt to communicate using Spanish as a lingua franca or common language with your parents, if your parents greeted them in English and the Hispanic customers knew enough English to get by(or enough to tell off your parents for not speaking Spanish), regardless of what region of the U.S. you live in. I also agree with what you said, that it doesn't/shouldn't take much in bridging the language gap in a snack store. I could understand the frustration on the customers part if it were some kind of banking transaction or something that needed extensive translation, but why the hostility over the language barriers of buying snacks?
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Post by juancarlos on Sept 13, 2007 7:06:09 GMT -5
I echo what Vietmunda said. My experience with Latinos has generally been, if not entirely, positive. In fact, I get along better with them than Asians. The Latinos I know are very hospitable and polite.
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Post by TeeHee on Sept 13, 2007 14:44:12 GMT -5
I echo what Vietmunda said. My experience with Latinos has generally been, if not entirely, positive. In fact, I get along better with them than Asians. The Latinos I know are very hospitable and polite. just to clear things up, i've also come across alot of really nice decent polite latinos as well, and in no way were my posts trying to reflect my thoughts about latinos as a whole. my rant was just about those latinos i mentioned about. and i can say as well, for the cool ones that i do get along with, my relations with them are better than with alot of asians i've come across!
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jpeezy
Junior Member
Proud to be human
Posts: 144
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Post by jpeezy on Sept 13, 2007 15:17:55 GMT -5
Although Jefe has some valid points regarding the large number of Spanish speaking people living in America as well as the fact that English was never adopted as the US's official language, it is important to note that the vast majority of Spanish speaking individuals are concentrated only in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Northern states (those not in proximity to Mexico) virtually have little to no Spanish speaking communities, therefore if someone were raised, in say, Michigan or Ohio, then moved to Texas, they would experience quite a culture shock from the pervasive latin culture/community they would find there.
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