Friday, October 30, 2015

When I took Ate Neneng to Elmhurst Hospital, I was surprised to see that there were no Tagalog translators because that area has a large Filipino population. Everyone there, including the Korean receptionist, could speak Spanish, and they often conversed with patients in that language. When I mentioned this to my aunt, she seemed rather put off and said, "Well, that's not fair. How come Hispanics get all these bilingual speakers? I had to learn English, and these guys just have receptionists who can speak their language?" I never really thought about it that way. Usually the dialogue about learning English is between Hispanics and whites, but it's the first time I've seen it from another group. It's impossible for all businesses and institutions to cater to every single language, and if they're going bilingual it'll probably be Spanish because those're the dominant immigrants at the moment. But my aunt has a point: Is that fair?

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