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| Mmm not always… |
A couple weeks ago my dad and I were grocery shopping at our local Costco. Then, as we were waiting for our order of Chicken Bakes (yummy!) to be ready, a fellow Hispanic who we had never met approaches us and asks, Están esperando una pizza también?
My dad then replied, “Excuse Me?” which only seemed to embarrass the poor guy and make him ask the question again, this time in English, “Are you waiting for some pizza too?” “No,” my dad replied.
Now, to clarify, my dad does speak Spanish as well. It’s just that we have a thing against speaking it with strangers when we first come across them. As he put it (in Spanish) when I asked him about it, “We came to this country to assimilate and join this culture–not to seek out fellow Spanish speakers, or to segregate ourselves, or to talk in Spanish with anybody [other than our family or those we’re already used to speaking it with]. …” This can also kind of explain the reason why we’ve never joined any type of Hispanic business organizations.
I don’t think I could have said it any better.
So if you ever see me out and about, know this:
1. Yes I speak Spanish. Fluently
2. And I’d love to speak some with you
3. But I won’t if I’ve never met you before or if the setting doesn’t look like it’d be conducive enough to a Spanish convo.
Ya es Miércoles!!