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I am of Latino background, and I do speak Spanish fairly well; it is my second language and I lived in a Spanish-speaking country for an extended period of time. However since I've returned to the United States and gone back to work I have CONSTANTLY been spoken to in Spanish by customers WITHOUT BEING ASKED IF I SPEAK SPANISH. Most people don't take the time to ask "Hablas espanol?" conveniently forgetting the fact that we are in the United States of America and English is the primary language! Until just recently I would simply respond in Spanish, but now I am sick of this rude mentality and I don't even bother to respond in Spanish, only in English, until it becomes absolutely necessary for me to communicate in Spanish!
I am sick of this!
It may not be rudeness by your customers. If you've recently spent a lot of time in a Spanish-speaking county & just returned, it's possible you've picked up (or remembered) their manner of dress, body language, gestures, maybe speech patterns (intonation, speed of delivery, etc.) Something is cuing your customers that you may or likely speak Spanish, & they're responding to that.
You could ask them, of course. Or ask anyone who is familiar with Spanish-speaking patterns of dress, movement, etc. what they think - if you appear to them to be a likely Spanish speaker. If you can pin down what your customers are cuing on, you can try to eliminate the cue.
When I am walking in an area with a lot of Hispanics and a beggar asks me in Spanish for money, I tell them “No hablo espanol”. When they then ask me in English, I tell them “I don’t speak English either.”
I am Mexican and I never learned Spanish. People speak to me all the time in Spanish and I just politely say " No hablo espanol". Then they continue in english. No harm no foul. I see nothing rude about it.
The assumption that someone speaks a given language is not rude necessarily, but it is presumptuous.
Where I work some Hispanics just assume that if you're a human being, you must speak Spanish. I'm white also and don't look Hispanic but some people just walk up to me and start asking me questions in Spanish because I live in So Cal. Sometimes, I'll even take a phone call and the other person on the phone just starts speaking Spanish as though they called Mexico City.
It's actually kind of funny and it gives me pleasure to tell them I don't speak Spanish only because they assume everybody does. I do speak Italian and understand a lot of Spanish. I also have plenty of co workers who are Hispanic and don't speak Spanish. You should see the look on some people's faces when those Hispanics tell them in plain simple English they don't speak Spanish. If looks could kill....
When I am walking in an area with a lot of Hispanics and a beggar asks me in Spanish for money, I tell them “No hablo espanol”. When they then ask me in English, I tell them “I don’t speak English either.”
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Another possibility
