[drethemadrapper]

I am a globetrotter and now in France working at a tertiary institution. I learnt french only for a few months, when I was younger (elementary school) as it was one of the compulsory languages to learn. Overtime, I lost it. On getting here, I tried to pick it up but was very intimidated. To add insult to injury, they don't want to hear me speak the phonetic/queen's English Lang. It is even not understood by them; hence, I speak the basics (most times grammatically wrong). They tend to speak English but the conveyed message is often confusing let alone torturing to me. I often cry and on many occasions, I think there is a systemic racial profiling going on here given that I am dark skin. I appreciate them picking an additional language and improving their skills via me, yet I am intimidated by not allowing me speak their language but must communicate in English. The whole experience seemed to be a new-age skills transfer - French<-English. They are using folks from the 2nd/3rd world as the 1st world folks cannot stand the harassment - they would have left the job.

An interesting observation is that my thinking changes as I learn/improve on the French Lang. I sometimes think the English folks could have been more picky all the while i.e. the systemic racism is higher with them. I tend to see the culture in French - love/friendship even I have my reservations (history has shown that they could be dangerous - colonialism). I see the hidden traits in French (Lang.), which is fearlessness/aggressiveness and English,\ (Lang.) which is respectfulness with a possibility of deception in it.