this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2024
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in what universe is speaking two languages considered trashy ?
Immigrants. If you're a poor and/or undocumented person, especially second generation, you'll speak two languages as a matter of your upbringing; and the majority race will see you as trash, a reminder they are lesser than you in some way because you have more skills despite being lower in the hierarchy.
ah, yes
English speaking majority monolingual countries who don't travel much (US, UK, etc.)
Generally means you're an immigrant, and not the "good" kind. Unless you otherwise seem wealthy in which case you're "worldly" or whatever. Also depends on the language. French, German, Swedish or something would be overall seen more positively - Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese more negative.
If you're an immigrant.
I don't think that counts as "trashy", though.
I certainly wouldn't say it's trashy, but there are plenty of others who look down on it because they're racist and/or insecure. Plenty of people will say stuff like "You're in America, speak English!" if they hear someone having a conversation in another language. Hell, I grew up a monolingual English speaker and learned a couple other languages as an adult, and I'll get dirty looks sometimes if I'm talking to my coworkers in Spanish, or my sister-in-law in Portuguese. Some people assume that if they show up, whether they're part of the conversation or not, you have an obligation to switch to English as soon as you're in their presence. There are a lot of ignorant people out their who try to mask their racism with a veneer of "proper etiquette" to force others to change language.
If I'm talking with my coworkers about what we're going to eat for lunch, and someone gets pissy about hearing Spanish because they assume we must be talking shit about them, that's not my problem.
Being from a non-English-speaking country, it really took a moment to process what they're even trying to say. Everyone below a certain age speaks two languages here. It's so normal that I wouldn't even describe anyone as "speaking two languages"...
I caught it right away, but as a bilingual polish-english speaker with enough french to be annoying to locals in France I get what you mean, and I pity the fools.