{"id":797,"date":"2023-07-01T01:43:58","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T23:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=797"},"modified":"2023-07-01T01:50:08","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T23:50:08","slug":"where-do-you-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=797","title":{"rendered":"Where do you come from?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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“Where do you come from” is\na phrase that gives me goose pimples. I have answered this question more than a\nhundred times and expect to encounter the same query at any moment. Do they\nmean where I was born, where I have studied, worked and lived, where I have\nimmigrated, or where I feel I belong? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s summertime in Europe, the holiday\nseason. “Where do you come from” is one of the most uttered\nquestions, from tourism staff who need your answer for statistical purposes to\ncurious strangers because of your look or accent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(I was trying to learn English and I\nwas very worried about my accent. I’m sure I’ll always have it but I remember\nTom Hanks said to me, \u201cDon’t lose the accent. If you do, you’re lost.\u201d Antonio\nBanderas (sic) (https:\/\/www.ef.co.uk\/english-resources\/english-quotes\/language\/).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical attributes (i.e. your look)\nand accents are used as categorisation factors of ethnicity. The latter is\nbased on skin colour, hair texture, facial features, and other physical characteristics.\nThe Iowa University Digital Press’s article on Dress, Appearance, and Diversity\nin US Society (https:\/\/iastate.pressbooks.pub\/dressappearancediversity\/chapter\/race-and-ethnicity\/<\/a>)\ndiscusses this subject, which – although it has an American perspective –\nresonates globally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long ago, I heard a fellow bus\npassenger saying, “I look Indian, but I’m not; I’m South African”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research has been done on physical characteristics concerning “racism”. In comparison, accents have received less research interest. Several studies and anecdotes have shown how people with a nonstandard or “non-native” accent are perceived as less competent or of lower socio-economic status. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An accent is different from a dialect.\nAn accent is a sound we produce when we speak; thus, we all have an accent,\nwhich is our identity and a clue to group membership, whereas a dialect includes\ngrammar, spelling, and vocabulary differences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about if your look doesn’t match\nyour accent; is it all right to ask, “Where do you come from?”\nGrammatically, this question is correct. It\u2019s also socially and politically\ncorrect if it is asked by tourism staff to improve their services. However,\nthere are situations in which this question can be understood to imply that the\nperson you are asking is a foreigner and doesn’t belong in the country. For\ninstance, children of immigrants in Australia and Canada and Asian-Americans\n(born and raised in the US and speak only English) might take umbrage when keep\ngetting asked, “Where do you come from?” as this assumes that they\naren’t citizens of their countries and are from somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, think twice before asking\nsomeone (Where do you come from?) to avoid insulting them. Anyway, the person\noften brings it up without you having to ask when it is relevant to the\nconversation. I haven’t heard of someone getting offended when asked,\n“What’s your nationality”. People often take pride in answering this;\nI do. If we aren’t sure what and how to ask, then don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To effectively communicate, we\nmust realise that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use\nthis understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” Tony\nRobbins (American author, philanthropist, and business strategist). (realise \u2013\nUK) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Where do you come from” is a phrase that gives me goose pimples. I have answered this question more than a hundred times and expect to encounter the same query at any moment. Do they mean where I was born, where I have studied, worked and lived, where I have immigrated, or where I feel … Continue reading Where do you come from?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-immigration-and-multiculturalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions\/805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}