I was on the train and an Asian lady approached me not knowing English. I pulled up google translate and tried to help her before I got off on my stop. She was Korean and I know they have different ways to show respect for the elderly, so I bowed to her before I left, and she smiled and thanked me.
I went to go buy food and I noticed the workers were Hispanic, so I spoke to them in Spanish to communicate better with them. I joked with them, and they were really nice.
I met up with my friend and his mom. I usually act more polite and friendly with his parents than I act with him and I speak Spanish with his parents. With friends I’m more comfortable being myself and speaking English but with parents I want to leave a good impression.
I changed up what I was wearing during the weekend. I either tend to dress up or down depending on where I’m going or who I’m going with. I went out with my best friend, so I went dressed down but when I met other friends that I’m not as close with I dressed up a little more.
I went to a party and had to get a Lyft. When I got in the car, I noticed the driver was Hispanic so I spoke with him in Spanish so we could better understand each other because he didn’t understand English too much.
I was super nice and polite when speaking to the library staff because I wanted to get information on how to book a study room.
I really enjoyed what you did during the course of the week, whether it was conversing in Spanish inside the Lyft or going to the library and being respectful. This made me wonder whether we utilize code switch as a compensating method. How would our lives change if we didn’t have the capacity to code switch?
I really respect how you decided to speak to your friend’s family Spanish because it shows how much you care and respect their culture and I find really cool how you have the ability to switch languages so easy.
Whenever I meet a friends parent, I also am more polite and respectful. I want to make a good impression so their parents don’t think I’m a bad person.
I like how you always try to be polite and respectful even if you do not feel very comfortable doing so (like speaking in Spanish with your friend’s parents when you feel more comfortable speaking in English with you friend). Your line about how different cultures have different ways to show respect and bowing to the Korean lady as a sign of respect really resonated with me; I thought that was really sweet.