When I was in New York. I went to a small flea market in Manhattan. There I saw two separate individuals buying coffee mugs. One was an African American man who was fluent in English while another was a Chinese woman who seemed to have limited English speaking skills as I saw her talk to some of the people working there about the prices and everything. What I saw was that the African American man and that Chinese woman were buying the exact same mug. I don't remember how much that mug cost honestly but I remember that it was pretty cheap of course since it is a mug.
I saw the African American guy purchase it first for a certain price and then I saw the Chinese woman buy it but this time for a larger price as the man running the stall charged extra to her. I realized immediately that he was able to take advantage of her limited English and charge her extra because she would be unable to realize the price difference. He succeeded after all and this moment reminded me about how difficult it is to live in countries that have a heavy emphasis on the English language and how in certain situations it can be a weakness exposed. The woman had absolutely no clue in this instance and I realized how much of a disadvantage not knowing a native language could be.
Since I speak English, I tend to forget how much of an advantage it is to know the English language and I forget often to see the other side of the picture and see how it can be a huge problem if one doesn't know English as they can be taken advantage of in the smallest of situations such as the coffee mug. Learning a language like English, which tends to have a good portion of speakers in nearly every country in the world really does help you be aware of your surroundings and helps us get through the simplest of situations with ease. This also links me back to the power of English over other languages as I have been to China before and been able to get through successfully by just knowing English and not knowing its main language which is Chinese but in places like USA or Australia you cannot get through by not knowing its main language. Really shows the power of the language.
I saw the African American guy purchase it first for a certain price and then I saw the Chinese woman buy it but this time for a larger price as the man running the stall charged extra to her. I realized immediately that he was able to take advantage of her limited English and charge her extra because she would be unable to realize the price difference. He succeeded after all and this moment reminded me about how difficult it is to live in countries that have a heavy emphasis on the English language and how in certain situations it can be a weakness exposed. The woman had absolutely no clue in this instance and I realized how much of a disadvantage not knowing a native language could be.
Since I speak English, I tend to forget how much of an advantage it is to know the English language and I forget often to see the other side of the picture and see how it can be a huge problem if one doesn't know English as they can be taken advantage of in the smallest of situations such as the coffee mug. Learning a language like English, which tends to have a good portion of speakers in nearly every country in the world really does help you be aware of your surroundings and helps us get through the simplest of situations with ease. This also links me back to the power of English over other languages as I have been to China before and been able to get through successfully by just knowing English and not knowing its main language which is Chinese but in places like USA or Australia you cannot get through by not knowing its main language. Really shows the power of the language.
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