The Girl Who Spelled Freedom is one of my favourite story. The story revolves around a family of Cambodian refugee living in America. One of the girl won the spelling bee competition.
I was 6 when I first saw the story on the telly. I was surprised. I never thought that American looks like us. I never understand the story at first. But gradually begin to see the story as a worth watching one. It is a memorable one. I still can recall a scene where the family hides cans of foods under their bed.
I reminisce this movie after seeing my Vietnamese colleagues presenting their presentation. English is not their first language. Also not their second. Colonized by French for years unlike us under British. English is not our mother's tongue, but after centuries under the rule of Englishman, we regard English as an important language. Our parents would 'force' us to speak better English.
My Vietnamese colleague pronounce English words differently. Probably because of the French orthography, which is very different from English.
They are pleasant people to be friend with. They always smile. And they look like us too.
Well most Asians are. We may speak like gongs and drums, but we are friendly... and also xenophobic... sort of. friendly xenophobic? Oxymoron.
Yes, a friendly xenophobic would best describe us. We are quite hospitable but at time would be hostile when a foreigners don't adhere to our customs. We would blame other race for anything. Boycotting 'Western' establishments,censoring materials, oppressing the minority... the truth hurts but that's what we are. And we like to DENY and give EXCUSES.
But we are still friendly. Very friendly...
(p/s not all Asians are like what I described, most of us are really really friendly... if we can remove the language and cultural barrier...)
And a few moments later I watched a BuzzFeed video. On spelling. Apparently, Asian American spell better. Eugene
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