The Ugly American – Still True?
DISCLAIMER: 
Let me begin this post by clarifying that this post is an attempt to question, and is not meant to offend anyone. If it does, I apologize in advance. I am using simply one or two personal incidents, but do not mean to imply these are the only incidents, or the only nationalities that behave this way, nor that everyone from any single culture behaves the same way. I am a huge fan of people from all cultures, and of foreign language, and even practicing new and old ones anywhere I am! So, this post is just an attempt to provide one viewpoint among many possible ones.
A recent event made me contemplate my experiences living and working in France where I encountered the term “The Ugly American”. The way I learned it, it referred to what was considered an arrogant expectation that wherever in the world an American traveled, everyone should speak English, and there was no need to attempt to learn a local language. I was so impacted by this image, and the desire to STOP perpetuating it, that it became an obsession of mine to learn foreign languages. Though I have good working knowledge of six languages today, if I travel anywhere outside my comfort zone, I make it a point to memorize the phrase “do you speak English” in the local language, and bring a dictionary, and try to at least begin conversations in the host country language.
So, on a recent summer afternoon, when in Bryant Park, in New York City, I was quite struck by the following incident. I was waiting on a line (queue!) for the ladies room. The line was fairly long, and the space rather small. The bathroom attendant came around the line, yelled something in Spanish, then looked right at me and said, “Entiende?” as if I was stupid for not doing whatever it was she had just yelled. Eventually, I, and the others in line with me, understood she was asking us to make more room for ladies exiting the bathroom. However, the woman in front of me, who was from Atlanta, was quite perplexed – we commented that this would be quite normal if we were in any Spanish-speaking country, but as we were in New York, it surprised us that someone who was employed, therefore living in New York, would not be addressing us in English. (Note, at Bryant Park, on any given day, the crowd is multinational, and probably no one understands the same language anyway!)
So, I wondered, have we reached a point where crossing cultures no longer means you are considered arrogant if you don’t learn and use the local language? I know New York is a bit unique, and that our population is becoming increasingly Spanish-speaking as compared to other places, so this may be a unique issue. I was equally surprised when I attended Jury Duty earlier this year. Only citizens are allowed to perform this duty. To become a citizen, you must either be born in the USA, or pass a citizenship test, after living here for a number of years. I had always presumed the citizenship test was administered in English. So, when people selected for the same jury as me were questioned, and their eyes glazed over in confusion and they repeated, “no entiendo ingles”, I was again confused. I can’t imagine going to another country and being granted citizenship without having at least a basic command of their language? After all, if the test were in their language, how would I otherwise pass it?
Again, this is post is not meant to insult, simply to question. I am struck by the fact that Americans have been considered highly arrogant for crossing cultures and not making the effort to speak the local language. So, having these experiences, I wondered if perhaps this stereotype had seen it’s final days, or whether Americans have perhaps perpetuated this image to such an extent that other cultures feel they should behave in the same fashion. Or, perhaps so many people are now crossing cultures that domestic languages have less significance nowadays?
What are your thoughts on the subject?
For more information on learning local language and adapting to new cultures, click here.
Tags: crossing cultures, expat, expatriate, language, ugly American
Given that there is no official national language in the U.S., learning English is helpful (but not required) for citizenship. There's also the chance that bilingual folks could fake not knowing English to get out of jury duty.
Thanks for your comment – I had presumed the citizenship test was administered in English, but thank you for pointing out that learning English is not required. And, yes, it is quite possible that they faked the language point, and honestly, plenty of jurors I have seen fake some other excuse to get out of it, so I guess perhaps this example is not as good as the restroom one. Thank you again.
Thanks for sharing the stories Heather. I am now living in a tiny country of 10 millions inhabitants, Belgium, and language is used as a retaliation weapon. 54% of the Belgians live in Flanders and refuse to speak French even if they understand but you are welcome to speak English. In the French-speaking area people usually do not speak Flemish but if they do they don't care to use it or to force the other person to speak French. In Brussels it is a bilingual capital but mainly French-speaking with 90% speaking English because of the EU and the NATO headquarters. The political debate is really hot at this moment and the most extremists are in Flanders and want to split from the French-speaking part (Wallonia).
Hi Anne – thanks so much for the reply. So, I wonder why this happens. On the one hand, we have languages on the verge of extinction because fewer and fewer people speak them, so I do completely understand the desire to continue your native language. However, then you add in the crossing culture piece, and it becomes more delicate – how do you preserve your language, but also integrate into another culture. And, especially if you live in a culture that has a huge population of people that speak the same foreign language as you do, seems there would be less incentive or need to integrate?
Heather,
You made a good point about "languages on a verge of extinction". French is a very good example. It used to be the language for diplomacy, royal families, nobles and rich merchants especially in the XVIII century. That is the reason why still today in the United Nations the two official languages are English and French, but duplicating documents have become unnecessary expensive so French will probably be eliminated. I think English is the language of business and globalization and will keep this status in the 22 nd century even if the number of people speaking Spanish or Mandarin. So the challenge for the "Ugly Americans" is not language but cultural literacy in a "glocal" economy.
Anne – well said!