Fun at whose expense?!??!

In continuation to one of my previous posts on Cultural Sensitivity… not quite the same issue but somewhere along the same lines…

Have you noticed how people react when u speak a foreign language..?? I mean a language that u actually dunno but are trying to learn..! Take my own example…

I am not very fluent in Hindi, it being a language that I did not have much exposure to… Now definitely it is a lot better than what it was back in MBA… I still get confused with the grammar et al but anyways… that apart… back when I was in MBA I used to try to speak in Hindi trying to develop it but well where was the goddamn chance.. The very few times that I tried to speak in that language well I got ridiculed for my Tamilian accent when I spoke… and therein I got a little conscious of the way I spoke and stopped speaking or even attempting to speak in front of my friends..!

And now here in the Telugu Desam, it is like a rerun of the same thing… Every time I try to talk in Telugu I am jeered at because of my mispronunciation of certain words…! Well..!! But I don’t give up now… it’s not imperative or crucial that I learn Telugu… But still now the feeling that comes up in “WHY GIVE UP?”… That was not the case with Hindi… it was imperative that I learn Hindi ‘coz it’s the most useful language in India. Anyways…

One other thing that I have noticed with this kind of jesting and jeering is that it’s mostly done by boys/guys/men/males….!!!! Wonder why? Has it been just my experience… Maybe.. Maybe not..!! :$
The girls I have found are not that bothered about how the language is spoken as long as the meaning is conveyed… in fact they might even try to correct you if you have gone wrong somewhere… but with guys… Well…Humph!! ... First they’ll poke fun at you… next they will tell you why people like us should never attempt a new language… then they will poke fun of all girls and if that was not enough, they will make fun of the place you come from (in my case, Palghat, a district in Kerala), and proceed to tell you reasons as to why people from my place find it difficult to learn a new language..!! ARGH!! It is irritating to say the least and you actually don’t expect it from people like that..!! Especially people you consider your friend..!

Anyways …. I guess it’s like the dog’s tail thingy…!! U just can’t change some things… and I figure.. Chauvinism is one thing you just cannot change about MEN!!!

I have just one thing to tell them all…
“Ir al infierno”..!! :-)