There is one thing that is worse than people laughing at you straight to your face; people who come up with some brilliant comment without realising that it might actually hurt somebody´s feelings.
A couple of hours ago, our house. My boyfriend´s uncle is making a joke, which I do not understand and somebody explains it to me. To this Uncle´s wife says in a soothing voice: "... as she doesn´t speak Spanish well". Oh gee, cheers a lot. But then again, how could she have know that...
... due to insecurities, paranoia and general madness, it is precisely for the fear of this kind of comments that I do not speak foreign languages anywhere else than in my head until I feel that I am in completely safe surroundings. Say what you may, but for me this has worked perfectly well (there is evidence on paper of this).
...I am aware of the fact that I need to improve a lot, it is indeed causing me a big headache once in a while.
...according to good manners, you do not say things like this when the person you talk about is present. Feel free to do so when they´re not around if you suddenly get the urge to do something un-nice. Or maybe I have just spent too much in the country of the politest of the polite...
On the other hand, I am lucky this is only about my language skills. There are worse things people can say to you. It is quite diffcult to understand what is going on in the heads of thise who tell people with eating disorders that they are fat, for instance.
However, I do want to emphasise the fact that the Aunt in question is a very nice person and it probably wasn´t her intention to make me feel like a big loser. And who knows, she might even be right!
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