.that'smelbourne!.Southbank, 2008
I find it amusing when people mistake me for an American.
Yeah, shocking, I know. *raises eyebrows*
Figuring out where I’m from should be a no-brainer, yeah? Slanty eyes, brown skin, fobbish hair; full-on Asian, much?
But apparently the strangers that happen to cross paths with yours truly every now and then just don’t seem to agree.
The thing is, this didn’t happen to me once. Or twice. Or even a couple of times at the most. I’m not sure if it’s just pure coincidence, but this is starting to become a regular occurrence for me, even more so lately. Everywhere I go, this baseless assumption regarding my country of origin always seems to follow suit. And as much as I want to feel flattered about it, it also makes me feel patronized, for some reason.
It all started a couple years ago when I was on holiday in Hawaii. I was about fourteen at the time, and my family and I went to Hawaii to start off our Christmas vacation that year. FYI, I’ve got an aunt (who’s a Chinese Indonesian through and through, by the way) who lives in Hawaii, and her European husband was the very first person to point out that I sounded like an American (a Californian, to be exact), when I speak in English. He thought so because I talked fast and used a lot of “like”s and “so”s and “yeah”s in my sentences.
At that time, I just laughed it off, thinking that he was just saying that to compliment me or something. The topic was simply dismissed. Up to that point I had never thought about how my English had sounded like, and what accent I had adopted into my lingo. But since then, the more fluent I become in speaking and writing in English, and the more frequently I use it to communicate, the more people seem to doubt my fobbishness and assume that I’m an American of some sort. *shrugs*
Moving to Australia does nothing to make the mis-assumptions stop. If anything, it only becomes worse.
And it’s probably because the Aussies get confused when they hear me speaking, or something. They probably think, Omigosh, how can an Asian guy who looks like a fob and wasn’t born Down Under speak fluent English with an American accent?
You see, Australians (esp. Melburnians in this case) have their own stereotypical perception regarding overseas-born Asians here. Aussies view fob Asians as eccentric, unlikeable, cheap, and having very limited English proficiency. And hey, I really can’t blame them for thinking that way, since most fobs that I see and interact with everyday seem to live up to the stereotype. But I’m a fob too, technically. I wasn’t born in a Western country, English is not my first language, and I was raised as a true Asian, so to speak. I just happen to be a little bit different from the rest of the crowd, no pun intended. So when Aussies talk to me, they get confused. Yeah? *shrugs*
Take yesterday as an example.
This happened inside one clothing outlet in Melbourne Central. I was just about to pay for the items that I wanted to buy at the counter, and this very friendly Aussie girl was helping me with those items. Knowing that Australians tend to be chatty, it came as no surprise when soon enough she started a conversation with me. So she asked me where I’d been, what I’d bought, when my exam had ended, stuff like that, and I politely responded to her questions, playing along. Then she asked me about my plans for Summer, and I told her that I’d be flying home for Christmas. Upon hearing that, she was like, “Oh, bummer! It’s gonna be cold up there in the States, isn’t it?” and I was like, oh geez, here we go again. *laughs*
As expected, of course, I had to go through the pain of explaining to her that I wasn’t from the States, and that she wasn’t the first person to have thought of that, yadda yadda yadda. The highlight of the conversation happened when, after I told her I was actually from Jakarta, she yelled out “No effin’ way!” and started laughing.
Thank God she didn’t ask me questions about Obama and the US elections. Now that would’ve been awkward. *grins*
I can go all day telling you guys stories related to this issue. My tutor thought I was American once and asked me about "The Star-Spangled Banner". A barista in my favorite coffee shop asked me about how I celebrate Thanksgiving *winces*. Random waiters in Western restaurants doubt my Asian-ness all the time when I order my food. And even my favorite hairdresser’s new assistant insisted that I was shamelessly lying to her when I told her I was an Indonesian.
Funny, huh?
I’ll just leave you guys at that. Hahaha.
And FYI, now I don’t really bother using my American accent when speaking to my Asian friends anymore. I try to be as subtle and as ordinary as possible when I talk to them. It’s much easier that way, enabling me to, like, “blend in” with the crowd. It gets hard to do sometimes, but I’ll get by.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to brag or anything, really. And I’m not trying to renounce my Indonesian-ness or something, not at all. I just needed to get this off my chest. So please bear with me.
Should I play along next time this happens? *grins*
I’m a fob. I’m not from the States. Deal with it. people.
But thanks heaps for the “compliment”. :)
Yeah, shocking, I know. *raises eyebrows*
Figuring out where I’m from should be a no-brainer, yeah? Slanty eyes, brown skin, fobbish hair; full-on Asian, much?
But apparently the strangers that happen to cross paths with yours truly every now and then just don’t seem to agree.
The thing is, this didn’t happen to me once. Or twice. Or even a couple of times at the most. I’m not sure if it’s just pure coincidence, but this is starting to become a regular occurrence for me, even more so lately. Everywhere I go, this baseless assumption regarding my country of origin always seems to follow suit. And as much as I want to feel flattered about it, it also makes me feel patronized, for some reason.
It all started a couple years ago when I was on holiday in Hawaii. I was about fourteen at the time, and my family and I went to Hawaii to start off our Christmas vacation that year. FYI, I’ve got an aunt (who’s a Chinese Indonesian through and through, by the way) who lives in Hawaii, and her European husband was the very first person to point out that I sounded like an American (a Californian, to be exact), when I speak in English. He thought so because I talked fast and used a lot of “like”s and “so”s and “yeah”s in my sentences.
At that time, I just laughed it off, thinking that he was just saying that to compliment me or something. The topic was simply dismissed. Up to that point I had never thought about how my English had sounded like, and what accent I had adopted into my lingo. But since then, the more fluent I become in speaking and writing in English, and the more frequently I use it to communicate, the more people seem to doubt my fobbishness and assume that I’m an American of some sort. *shrugs*
Moving to Australia does nothing to make the mis-assumptions stop. If anything, it only becomes worse.
And it’s probably because the Aussies get confused when they hear me speaking, or something. They probably think, Omigosh, how can an Asian guy who looks like a fob and wasn’t born Down Under speak fluent English with an American accent?
You see, Australians (esp. Melburnians in this case) have their own stereotypical perception regarding overseas-born Asians here. Aussies view fob Asians as eccentric, unlikeable, cheap, and having very limited English proficiency. And hey, I really can’t blame them for thinking that way, since most fobs that I see and interact with everyday seem to live up to the stereotype. But I’m a fob too, technically. I wasn’t born in a Western country, English is not my first language, and I was raised as a true Asian, so to speak. I just happen to be a little bit different from the rest of the crowd, no pun intended. So when Aussies talk to me, they get confused. Yeah? *shrugs*
Take yesterday as an example.
This happened inside one clothing outlet in Melbourne Central. I was just about to pay for the items that I wanted to buy at the counter, and this very friendly Aussie girl was helping me with those items. Knowing that Australians tend to be chatty, it came as no surprise when soon enough she started a conversation with me. So she asked me where I’d been, what I’d bought, when my exam had ended, stuff like that, and I politely responded to her questions, playing along. Then she asked me about my plans for Summer, and I told her that I’d be flying home for Christmas. Upon hearing that, she was like, “Oh, bummer! It’s gonna be cold up there in the States, isn’t it?” and I was like, oh geez, here we go again. *laughs*
As expected, of course, I had to go through the pain of explaining to her that I wasn’t from the States, and that she wasn’t the first person to have thought of that, yadda yadda yadda. The highlight of the conversation happened when, after I told her I was actually from Jakarta, she yelled out “No effin’ way!” and started laughing.
Thank God she didn’t ask me questions about Obama and the US elections. Now that would’ve been awkward. *grins*
I can go all day telling you guys stories related to this issue. My tutor thought I was American once and asked me about "The Star-Spangled Banner". A barista in my favorite coffee shop asked me about how I celebrate Thanksgiving *winces*. Random waiters in Western restaurants doubt my Asian-ness all the time when I order my food. And even my favorite hairdresser’s new assistant insisted that I was shamelessly lying to her when I told her I was an Indonesian.
Funny, huh?
I’ll just leave you guys at that. Hahaha.
And FYI, now I don’t really bother using my American accent when speaking to my Asian friends anymore. I try to be as subtle and as ordinary as possible when I talk to them. It’s much easier that way, enabling me to, like, “blend in” with the crowd. It gets hard to do sometimes, but I’ll get by.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to brag or anything, really. And I’m not trying to renounce my Indonesian-ness or something, not at all. I just needed to get this off my chest. So please bear with me.
Should I play along next time this happens? *grins*
I’m a fob. I’m not from the States. Deal with it. people.
But thanks heaps for the “compliment”. :)
4 comments:
OH ?!. So if you use a lot of "like"s and "so"s, it'll make you sound like an American ?. That figures !!.Some foreigners I've spoken to said that to me too.Didn't asked them what made them think of that tho'. But now, I think, I kinda know why.
But,if you think about it,I think they're like - partially, blind. I don't look American AT ALL !!.
*shakes head*.
I guess I should see that as a compliment as well. Hehehe.
wow, your american accent must be really good. :D
I'd play along from the beginning if I were you J...
wekekekekek...
You should play along next time, and tell us how the conversation goes. HEheheheheheh...
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