I need to recount this story-it's a true, personal account of being bilingual in Melbourne. My husband, a bilingual (German/English speaker) who has lived and worked in 8 countries over the last ten years and who fully functions in both languages told me the following story last night.
He was recently promoted to take over the management of a project, and went into his local cafe for his daily vanilla latte. The barista greeted him with a jovial, "Good Morning Boss! How ya goin?" My husband replied, "Oh, so you've heard already. News travels fast." The barista, not missing a beat, answered, "Yeah, but couldn't they at least have found someone who speaks English?"
Needless to say, my husband was dumbstruck, as am I, at this statement. When perceptions like those exist about multilingualism in 2007 Australia, where are we headed??
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1 comment:
hi beth,
you are doing your presentation right now. i can't believe that happened to your husband! when i was growing up i had a friend that was bilingual english/spanish (from costa rica) - i thought it was fantastic and was so jealous! her mum always used to tell her off in spanish - we could always tell though! :)
-faye
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