Am I Being Rude?

Question

While in public I will engage in light conversation with a Spanish speaking person. There have been times when the person will respond in English and walk away seemingly annoyed. Why is this?

Sounds like they're the one being rude... ;-) - Faldaesque, Mar 26, 2015

The person may think you're rude, and if this happens a lot perhaps you need to introduce your conversation with something like: Disculpe, ¿Me permite practicar español con usted? - Jubilado, Mar 28, 2015

Answer 1

I went to Guatemala and everyone there, the second they found out I spoke English, immediately tried out their English on me. It was annoying to the point where I wanted to tell them "Hey! I speak Spanish you know!"

I guess the person is insulted by the fact that you speak to them in Spanish. A lot of immigrants are proud of their English ability (which probably took them hard work to hone) so someone switching to Spanish could seem to them like you're devaluing their English.

Answer 2

The other thing could be accent/pronunciation. I can relate to the flip-side of this as I'm target being white and living in Mexico... when I'm walking around town I'll hear people say/shout/mumble to me as I'm passing by:

"hkheyylo hhau arr jew" or "Hkhey wat yur naim" (this usually taking me 3-4 seconds to decipher)

Sadly my natural reaction and tendency in the moment is to ignore them. I hate the assumption that because I'm white, I don't speak Spanish... or that because I'm white, I'm a target for random rapid-fire english practice.

As I think about it more, I would prefer my reaction to be better, I could either respond nicely pass by and say goodbye; or possibly even stop and end up with an opportunity to practice my Spanish and make a friend.

I'm not assuming your accent is bad, even for those who talk to me with a decent accent, the human gut reaction is "I don't know you why are you talking to me" ...the language barrier just adds complications to that.

Sí. - annierats, Mar 27, 2015

Answer 3

First, make sure the person speaks the language and ask if they want to help you practice your Spanish skills.

Of course there will be people that will feel insulted because you spoke in Spanish to them assuming they did too, just because of their looks or accent.

What do you think?

In my case, I couldn't care less, but then again, that's me.

My wife's uncle's SO is a 75 yo Mexican American (US born) with traces of classic Hispanic accent in her English, but is only able to recognize words when I bring them up and cannot form a sentence. Decades of disuse can do that. :) - bosquederoble, Mar 26, 2015

"they speak"---"they want to help" You are correct on the 'assumption to their being Spanish speakers, that happened to me a lot when i was young ,I had people speaking to me in Italian a lot. - ray76, Mar 26, 2015

I just noticed your corrections.... my fingers type faster than my mind. That's for sure! ;) - chileno, Mar 27, 2015

Answer 4

What did you say to them?

Just friendly chit-chit like comments as to the weather. - Warren-Miller, Mar 26, 2015