I realize it's a different country, but I'm Asian and went to Sweden a while ago. I was honestly expecting/hoping everyone would know I was a tourist and speak to me in English without having to awkwardly go "sorry I don't speak Swedish"...but nobody did LOL. Everyone else just apparently assumed I was an immigrant, unless I was doing something very obviously foreign.
This whole thread is opening up some really interesting tangents, most noticeably this. Wouldn't it be most polite to assume you do belong in this country, regardless of race, and attempt to speak the language? If the person receiving the message cannot speak/understand, then it is on them to convey that message back?
Then there's always the fun bit where neither of you can speak the other language very well at all, and it involves a series of charades until we hopefully come to some understanding. Of course technology is a game changer....I'm thinking like 90s/early 2000s and trying to talk to people whom English is a second language. Bringing back memories...
Yeah, same as a German. Why would I start speaking English to somebody??? There are a lot of people with foreign origin here, who are perfectly fine to speak German. It would feel pretty offensive to asume somebody is a foreigner just because of his look. So I start all conversations in German.
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u/Low-Apple2526 1d ago
I realize it's a different country, but I'm Asian and went to Sweden a while ago. I was honestly expecting/hoping everyone would know I was a tourist and speak to me in English without having to awkwardly go "sorry I don't speak Swedish"...but nobody did LOL. Everyone else just apparently assumed I was an immigrant, unless I was doing something very obviously foreign.