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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/1nZUP2F:
if you’re using someone’s language as an accessory and you don’t even speak the language, it’s rude and disrespectful
when diasporic asians are unable to speak their own native tongues because we were forced to assimilate into just speaking English and a lot of us were made fun of as children when we tried to even speak even a whisper of it and now many of us can barely even read or write or even understand or speak the languages that were once supposed to be ours to claim
when a lot of us can’t even communicate to our grandparents, sometimes even our parents, because of that language gap and all we can say is: hi grandma, i love you, did you eat today? things that a two year old can say and you can’t understand or respond to anything she says and you just give the phone back to your parents. the shame and sadness that comes with it hurts more than anything. wanting to communicate but the words were always someone elses and you were never allowed to hold them as your own.
when first generation immigrant parents of diasporic asians refuse to teach their children their native tongue because they’re afraid their children will be bullied or lose opportunities for speaking it, because they sacrificed everything for you to come to america to give you a better life and how could they impede your chances even if it means also sacrificing communication with family, of culture, of knowing your own roots
when first generation immigrants lose job opportunities or employment or housing or become victims of hate crimes just because they can’t speak english and that their native tongue, their ‘asian accent’, is deemed as less-than, as not worthy compared to european and western languages and accents
when people who do speak the language are made fun of and told to go back to where they came from and why don’t you speak English because you’re in America
when all this and more is happening, using our languages as an accessory is salt in a festering wound.
it’s disrespectful and cultural appropriation.
it doesn’t have to be religious or ceremonial
people think it’s so cool to bastardize our languages in order to make their own sound more interesting and ‘cultured’ when we’re vilified for even speaking it
it’s fucked up
if you’re using someone’s language as an accessory and you don’t even speak the language, it’s rude and disrespectful
when diasporic asians are unable to speak their own native tongues because we were forced to assimilate into just speaking English and a lot of us were made fun of as children when we tried to even speak even a whisper of it and now many of us can barely even read or write or even understand or speak the languages that were once supposed to be ours to claim
when a lot of us can’t even communicate to our grandparents, sometimes even our parents, because of that language gap and all we can say is: hi grandma, i love you, did you eat today? things that a two year old can say and you can’t understand or respond to anything she says and you just give the phone back to your parents. the shame and sadness that comes with it hurts more than anything. wanting to communicate but the words were always someone elses and you were never allowed to hold them as your own.
when first generation immigrant parents of diasporic asians refuse to teach their children their native tongue because they’re afraid their children will be bullied or lose opportunities for speaking it, because they sacrificed everything for you to come to america to give you a better life and how could they impede your chances even if it means also sacrificing communication with family, of culture, of knowing your own roots
when first generation immigrants lose job opportunities or employment or housing or become victims of hate crimes just because they can’t speak english and that their native tongue, their ‘asian accent’, is deemed as less-than, as not worthy compared to european and western languages and accents
when people who do speak the language are made fun of and told to go back to where they came from and why don’t you speak English because you’re in America
when all this and more is happening, using our languages as an accessory is salt in a festering wound.
it’s disrespectful and cultural appropriation.
it doesn’t have to be religious or ceremonial
people think it’s so cool to bastardize our languages in order to make their own sound more interesting and ‘cultured’ when we’re vilified for even speaking it
it’s fucked up
