Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Mannerless or just plain relieved?

So a Sr.Manager in a respectable company Mr.X shared his office room with another Asian manager who reports to him. Whenever fellow Asians come to talk to this particular Asian manager they seem to speak in mandarin which is their mother tongue. Mr.X thinks they are 'mannerless' for doing that.

I could not share my entire thoughts obviously at the time - did I not start with his title? So no. I did not ask if he thought he was 'well-mannered' calling a fellow employee 'ill-mannered' to others behind their back.

Most Americans speak only one language - English, sorry 'American' English. And they might not be able to understand this because of it.
Imagine going to China and working everyday for the rest of your life. You will need a dictionary to learn to translate every word you know to Mandarin to be able to communicate your thoughts.
After a while, you will learn the language. You will be able to speak the language. But in your head you will still be translating every word you want to say (from English) to Mandarin. The words that sound in your head will be English. The words that have to come out from your mouth have to be in Mandarin. Every second of every day. For the rest of your life. If you want the tiniest bit of human contact, if you have to communicate - you have to depend only on your mental dictionary/translator.
And then one day years later, you happen to meet a fellow 'American' in your office pantry. You will be so thrilled that you can connect to what little you have left of your culture and the memories of your homeland. You will not be translating at the point. You will be able to communicate your thoughts so freely - it will bring you joy. Almost like you were in your own town even if you were not. You will feel a friendly bond with this stranger almost instantly.
Are you thinking about being mannerless at this point that you could connect with your culture in the least tiny bit possible or are you just plain relieved with joy?

P.S: This was not meant in any way as a racial post. It so happens that the characters I am talking about are who they are. This in no way is meant to hurt anyone in any way. I just hope that people who read this will be able to learn to respect people from other cultures and speaking other languages.  Sometimes we just  need to realize that everything that happens in this world is not about us and that we share this world with a lot of different people. 'Different' yes. But just as bit human as you. That is all.

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