My mom immigrated to the US when she married my dad, and I grew up thinking that everyone should aspire to know as many languages as possible. So the idea of reacting with alarm to hearing people around me speak a language other than English is just baffling to me.

So often I see the followup reaction of "and they're probably talking about me in that language". Like, people do not actually care about strangers that much.

PS: When one's mom is an immigrant from Sweden, it becomes oh so easy to see that people who claim to be worried by immigration are not, in fact, worried by ALL immigrants. See also: Melania Trump.

When I first visited Washington DC it was the first time I was surrounded by people speaking many languages. I found it fascinating and exhilarating. It's an affirmation that I live in a great civilization, not a threat to it.

Anyone who has lived in a city and ridden the subway or bus is very, very used to hear multiple languages spoken simultaneously. Freaking out over it is just weird.

One of my fav things about going to Costco #1 in the SODO (industrial) area of Seattle, is the great people watching and listening - the diversity of folx from different culture all participating in the universal activity of “shopping.” Like traveling the world while staying at home.

Exactly! It’s exciting! It’s invigourating! It makes me curious & want to learn languages!

Also, wouldn't the language in question be... French? As an American the idea of being freaked out by hearing French is bizarre to me but then all of this is so 🤷‍♂️

(It’s the racism.)

“I FELT LIKE A MINORITY” is her real problem with the follow-up “and we know how we treat minorities.” So blatant its amazing.

I first experienced this in DC, on an East Coast road trip with my then bf. We were sitting in a cafe in the Smithsonian and everyone around us were foreign tourists from different nations. We were delighted, we couldn't experience that in our Midwest hometown.