Giugiaro
Member
Good evening everyone!
This is a question that I have since I started contacting with people from different countries and makes me think about it a lot.
What really means to be a foreigner? Does the "love for the motherland" makes someone a foreigner or just the "birth country"? Can someone actually hide his real nationality, living naturally with people on another country?
Since I joined this forum, the first completely based on the UK, that I felt a huge sense of responsibility that I never had in Portugal. The British take things with great seriousness, which is something that I admire. The Portuguese more often lose track of their sense of responsibility, something that led the country to the situation it is right now.
Also, it is a constant challenge for me has a foreigner to have a good English writing, not only to learn new words, but also to blend myself between you, writing in a more naturalistic way rather than a "this is the basic way to speak English".
I like to learn other peoples language and culture, their ways, habits and differences, not to find ways to prejudice them, but to learn how to be like them. This way I can stay with other people without them noticing I'm a foreigner, because that way we feel more closer and the "supposed" imaginary boundaries disappear, having more space for a greater friendship and easiness to talk.
This gave me some sort of skill to fool other people when I'm abroad. Not in a negative way of course! I'll show now some of my recent experiences with people from other countries, to show what kind of impact I was able to create:
In the last year I've been in the Strasbourg European Parliament, at the Euroscola. There was a part in which we could make questions to the Parliament's President and Staff. I made two questions, one in English and the other in Spanish. Later, on the break, when I faced the Spanish to answer some questions on the EuroGame, they were astonished when they learned I wasn't Spanish, but Portuguese! I couldn't believe myself someone would think I were from another country, not mentioning someone born in the homeland of the language I spoken...
On that same brake, on the way to lunch, I deliberately left my Portuguese fellows and went to another place. I seated on a empty table and later I was with Cypriots, if I remember well. We've gotten along very well and went answering the Eurogame. From that moment on I felt better hanging with people from other countries rather than my Portuguese fellows. Everyone was surprised to know I was Portuguese.
On that night I passed some good time talking with teachers from Greece. It was a little bit difficult this time because only the English teacher was the one I could talk directly to, but we carried the conversation with any problems, sharing about education and curiosities in both Portugal and Greece.
Later that year, when I went to the World Youth Day, in Madrid, I had an excellent talk with a group of North Americans. I kept hidden my nationality for most of the time, and we talked about Latin, America, UK, the British and the American accent, trains and the curiosities about the $ and the €, until they asked me where I came from... couldn't lie to them so I said I was Portuguese. They were surprised by such, even known I was talking with stutter, trying to find the better words and expressions, but they kindly said I talked very well English anyway.
The two other days I contacted with people from a large variety of places, I couldn't stop being happy! I was lucky to even be able to catch a pair of Japanese people and test my "super-basic" Japanese accent in "Hello", "Thank you" and "Goodbye". I also tried Italian, but wasn't so prepared that time.
In general, I prefer to appear in a international plaza in a "neutral" position, then adapting my "way to be" depending to who I'm talking to, placing my national identity in last position.
Now here's a final question for you. Do you think about me as a foreigner, or do you feel like I'm much closer to you than you though I would?
This is important to me because I feel much better if I can be closer to other people by assuming they're national identity, rather than dragging them to mine. This doesn't mean that I try to forget my own national identity, it's just that I'm not that kind of people who first thing they say is "PORTUGAL IS THE GREATEST!", when at home they are always complaining about everything and anything.
Curiosity: If I were in Portugal 200 years ago, I would be called an "Estrangeirado" (something like "foreigned") and in an extreme case a "traitor to the motherland".
This is a question that I have since I started contacting with people from different countries and makes me think about it a lot.
What really means to be a foreigner? Does the "love for the motherland" makes someone a foreigner or just the "birth country"? Can someone actually hide his real nationality, living naturally with people on another country?
Since I joined this forum, the first completely based on the UK, that I felt a huge sense of responsibility that I never had in Portugal. The British take things with great seriousness, which is something that I admire. The Portuguese more often lose track of their sense of responsibility, something that led the country to the situation it is right now.
Also, it is a constant challenge for me has a foreigner to have a good English writing, not only to learn new words, but also to blend myself between you, writing in a more naturalistic way rather than a "this is the basic way to speak English".
I like to learn other peoples language and culture, their ways, habits and differences, not to find ways to prejudice them, but to learn how to be like them. This way I can stay with other people without them noticing I'm a foreigner, because that way we feel more closer and the "supposed" imaginary boundaries disappear, having more space for a greater friendship and easiness to talk.
This gave me some sort of skill to fool other people when I'm abroad. Not in a negative way of course! I'll show now some of my recent experiences with people from other countries, to show what kind of impact I was able to create:
In the last year I've been in the Strasbourg European Parliament, at the Euroscola. There was a part in which we could make questions to the Parliament's President and Staff. I made two questions, one in English and the other in Spanish. Later, on the break, when I faced the Spanish to answer some questions on the EuroGame, they were astonished when they learned I wasn't Spanish, but Portuguese! I couldn't believe myself someone would think I were from another country, not mentioning someone born in the homeland of the language I spoken...
On that same brake, on the way to lunch, I deliberately left my Portuguese fellows and went to another place. I seated on a empty table and later I was with Cypriots, if I remember well. We've gotten along very well and went answering the Eurogame. From that moment on I felt better hanging with people from other countries rather than my Portuguese fellows. Everyone was surprised to know I was Portuguese.
On that night I passed some good time talking with teachers from Greece. It was a little bit difficult this time because only the English teacher was the one I could talk directly to, but we carried the conversation with any problems, sharing about education and curiosities in both Portugal and Greece.
Later that year, when I went to the World Youth Day, in Madrid, I had an excellent talk with a group of North Americans. I kept hidden my nationality for most of the time, and we talked about Latin, America, UK, the British and the American accent, trains and the curiosities about the $ and the €, until they asked me where I came from... couldn't lie to them so I said I was Portuguese. They were surprised by such, even known I was talking with stutter, trying to find the better words and expressions, but they kindly said I talked very well English anyway.
The two other days I contacted with people from a large variety of places, I couldn't stop being happy! I was lucky to even be able to catch a pair of Japanese people and test my "super-basic" Japanese accent in "Hello", "Thank you" and "Goodbye". I also tried Italian, but wasn't so prepared that time.
In general, I prefer to appear in a international plaza in a "neutral" position, then adapting my "way to be" depending to who I'm talking to, placing my national identity in last position.
Now here's a final question for you. Do you think about me as a foreigner, or do you feel like I'm much closer to you than you though I would?
This is important to me because I feel much better if I can be closer to other people by assuming they're national identity, rather than dragging them to mine. This doesn't mean that I try to forget my own national identity, it's just that I'm not that kind of people who first thing they say is "PORTUGAL IS THE GREATEST!", when at home they are always complaining about everything and anything.
Curiosity: If I were in Portugal 200 years ago, I would be called an "Estrangeirado" (something like "foreigned") and in an extreme case a "traitor to the motherland".
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