Re: Linguo-Racial Complex

) You have large ethno-cultural groups of people who are socially and
politically "pitched" against each other. The example would be the US,
especially in large areas where Hispanics feel that they are oppressed
by the "Gringo" and they want to preserve the purity of "La Raza".

LRC would probably never happen in Buenos Aires- people there are all
of different backgrounds: British, Polish, German, Russian, Hungarian,
etc. All are Argentines and all speak Spanish. There is no "Raza"
there, meaning the mythical Mestizo " Jose Rodriguez" who needs to
"protect his culture and race" against a mythical blond John Smith- the
case of the US. An Argentinian more often than not is a "Jose Smith"
himself.

Some Asians ( except tourists and foreign students) after living in the
US also develop the LRC. It is funny that after years of living in some
Asian country you come to the US and want to speak Japanese or Tagalog
to the people and they give you these squeamish looks. Really sad.

2) When you are abroad and places where there are large groups of
tourists or military men whom the natives see every day and whose ways
and behavior they think they already know and are trained to deal with-
Mexican border towns, San Juan, Puerto Rico and the tourist areas in
the Philippines, Thailand, and other such places. Cairo? Paris, maybe?

Places that are not like that at all:

1)Smaller towns- not necessarily very small but kind of like second
biggest cities which do not get many tourists. One is far less likely
to be treated with a Linguo-Racial Complex in Osaka than in Tokyo.

2)Places where all kinds of immigrants come to assimilate- Argentina,
as I have mentioned, Brazil, I guess. And of course, the US, Canada (
with the English language) These people are used to seeing immigrants,
not tourists. The attitude is- "this is Argentina, you are here now,
you had better speak my language".

3) Remote areas where people can speak only one language and they will
not answer to you in English simply because they don't know any
English- rural Russia and other rural areas in E. Europe. Rural China,
I guess? Small town Italy?

4) Places where the person you are speaking to is a foreigner as much
as you are a foreigner. LRC does not happen much in Saudi Arabia or
Dubai if you talk with Filipinos or any other such people there. I was
very happy to be able to speak with Thais in Thai and Filipinos in
Tagalog and even Puerto Ricans in Spanish when I was in Saudi. It was
great.

It is the same if you travel in ,say, Costa Rica and you meet a German
or a Japanese who is also traveling there. More often than not, they
will not behave with LRC.

.

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