LiC: Chinatown

Last week I went to Chinatown with my mother for some grocery shopping. It's been awhile since I went there. While shopping, I observed some interesting language-related behaviors. I did some tests by using both English and Chinese to see if there were differences in behavior.

For the most part, most of the people in Chinatown don't speak very fluent English. The majority of them are Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Thai. One common thing I noticed among everyone was that they knew the basic English numbers very well. They know how to tell you how much something costs in English if you ask them. However, some places don't even bother to tell you how much something costs, they just point to the sign. Alot of communication relies on body language - wide movements of arm gestures, and facial expressions (most of them angry). It's usually not very pleasant to shop in Chinatown. You end up getting ripped off alot if you don't speak the shop owner's language. They'll charge you different prices than what is labeled. They'll punch in a bunch of numbers into the register that have nothing to do with anything so to confuse you when you watch them ring you up. When I went to pay for something, I spoke in English. Apparently they charged me a higher price because when my mom came to check on me she saw what they did and went to yell at the lady in Chinese. My mom then later told me that she up-charged me because the owner didn't think I knew anything because I was "American". If I had used Chinese with her, I would've been treated differently (that's when I decided I was gonna speak Chinese when I interact with others). She also told me that she once witnessed a haole lady being cheated and when the haole lady confronted the cashier, the cashier acted like she didn't know what she was saying to her so she just said the word "tax". Although the haole woman did not seem convinced, she just didn't want to argue with someone who wasn't even speaking English to her. My mom said that everybody who shops regularly in Chinatown know that there is no tax. This is a sneaky tactic that many people in Chinatown practice to trick tourists and haoles into paying more money.

In observing how people interacted in Chinatown, it is very apparent that people only interacted with those who spoke their own language. And English was rarely heard. It seemed like when you spoke a different language with them, they acted more rude to you. While I was trying to pay for something at a small Filipino shop, another Filipino lady came up to us and told the store owner that she wanted a pack of phone cards. The owner then proceeded to make me wait, even though I was ready to give her my money, so that she could help the other lady. Obviously I was treated differently because I was not Filipino. When you move into the nicer looking souvenir shops, you notice a change in behavior and the way you're treated. Shop owners will follow you around and ask you if you need help. Their English is a little better than the others (and I know this because they actually tried to have a conversation with in me in English). They will try to tell you that "this one is very good. it is high quality".

I learned alot about language-related behavior in my Chinatown experience. Although I knew something like that would happen to me, I needed to experience it for myself to see if it would really happen. And it did. It felt kind of discriminating, especially when I was mistreated by my own people! Just because I didn't speak to them in their language, they automatically assumed I was just another "American girl".