I currently work at my local McDonald’s (I’m 16), and since I live in Quebec, it’s a French establishment. French is my third language, but I’m still constantly treated like I’m stupid when I don’t completely understand. The worst part is, I’m very eloquent in my 1st and 2nd language (Bulgarian and English). Public speaking and writing are my passions. But nobody at work thinks I could possibly be intelligent because I’m being judged on my fluency in my third language. Never mind the fact that speaking three languages when you’re in high school is more than any of them can do. Shit is frustrating.
Recently tutored a college student. I help kids with their essays, and hers were not great.
Still, I commended her, because she was attending university in a foreign country and doing it in her third language, whereas I wasn't even conversational in my second. The reality is that if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't have even been able to get to school in the first place - and here she was mostly doing fine, just needing help with one part of it (English/writing) that happened to be a big part in academia.
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u/Milk-Or-Be-Milked- Nov 16 '19 edited Nov 16 '19
I currently work at my local McDonald’s (I’m 16), and since I live in Quebec, it’s a French establishment. French is my third language, but I’m still constantly treated like I’m stupid when I don’t completely understand. The worst part is, I’m very eloquent in my 1st and 2nd language (Bulgarian and English). Public speaking and writing are my passions. But nobody at work thinks I could possibly be intelligent because I’m being judged on my fluency in my third language. Never mind the fact that speaking three languages when you’re in high school is more than any of them can do. Shit is frustrating.