Yes. I’m Asian, not a US citizen and I CAN speak English well. And what about it?
Literally. I’ve been having this problem for a month or so ever since I moved to the States.
What really ticks me off the most is whenever I talk to new people, they get really shocked over how good my English is or that how I act isn’t what they expected (Well apparently at least).
I get it…I’m foreign and stuff, but you say, “Your English is good” with a surprised tone gives me the vibe that I shouldn’t have good English in the first place. If you didn’t know you’re indirectly stereotyping me and assuming that Asians generally have broken English.
Now I really understand how Asian-Americans feel when they’re stereotyped by Western people.
I can’t imagine what people have to go through especially those who don’t use English as their first language, but they use it for the sake of studying in the States. Broken English, weird accent, etc., you shouldn’t just stereotype us just because we’re “Asian”. As an international student, I’ve met many other students who speak English so well, but tend to get insecure because their accent is deemed ‘wrong’. That should never be the case!
As a person who spends most of her time on Twitter, I’ve realized that people only think of East Asians when they think of Asians. This annoys me so much because light-skinned Asians aren’t the only people that represent the biggest continent in the world. South Asians and Southeast Asians, for centuries, have already been looked down upon for our tanned and dark skin. Now, we are also always ignored and suffer from a lack of representation. To be honest, I blame colonialism for this.
“You’re a Journalism major? That’s odd,” “You’re not taking science? Like at all?” These statements are some I had to endure when I moved here and it annoys me to my core.
I’m sick and tired of being told I should’ve been this or that. I’m HAPPY that I’m studying Journalism and not science, I have DECENT English (aka people can understand me) and I’m a PROUD Southeast Asian, who is striving to represent my country and my culture in the West. Please take your ignorant comments for better use by educating yourself.
Shoutout to all the Asians out there who endured or are still enduring this! I’m still figuring out how to get over these stereotypes considering I’ve been living in my mainland for the longest time. Me being outside my mainland and people plastering stereotypes onto me are still odd to me.
In the end, if any of you out there have felt what I felt, you’re not alone. If anyone stereotypes you again, EDUCATE them. If they don’t bother, then it’s a waste of time to educate them anyway since they choose to be ignorant.
WE ARE ALL SO DAMN UNIQUE! DON’T LET IGNORANT BITCHES TELL YOU OTHERWISE!!!!!!