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Some of the things only immigrant children understand is that parents someone just force you to be their free translator/interpreter... (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to c/casualconversation@piefed.social

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So... when I was a kid, like soon after I gained proficiency in English, they made me translate:

every paper they fill, tax documents, USCIS (the government agency in the US that deals with immigration) shenanigans, letters, bills, phone calls, talking to customer support (I mean like utilities, phone bills, banking, etc...), trying to buy a house, car dealership, court cases, doctor's appointments, city hall stuff, bussiness licenses, and um...

fucking parent-teacher conferences? Wtf so... am I supposed to translate the negative things the teacher says about me? Huh? 🧐 (I kinda just refused, just sit there in silence while teachers were trying to find some adult in the building that can translate). I remember it felt so awkward.

Like, bruhhhh I went to 2nd grade in my previous country, I don't even have the vocabulary to explain shit.

Then like if I refuse, my parents ask my older brother, then he gets mad and is like: "why not ask him [aka: me]?" So then it's a sort of 3-way mini-cold-war at home.

Such a chaotic childhood.

I can sometimes almost sort of "hallucinate" my name being called for some weird bs.

When you think about it this way, I'm sort of like a diplomat between my household and the outside world. I guess I should just get a job at the UN (/kidding, no way in hell I wanna do any more "translating" bullshit as a job)

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not an immigrant child but I bet it feels like knowing how to use a computer and being forced to do IT for grandma.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

Kinda of, yea. Computer literacy is, in a way, a type of "language", and people kinda "migrated" from "world before computing" into "world after computing". Its kinda like that lol. Except I'm kinda doing both human language stuff and tech support. Its kinda slightly worse tho, you have to be the in-between your parents yelling at the customer support, and like you get sort of antagonized by both ends, you're the messenger that gets shot at by both sides of the "telephone war" (I mean, isn't customer support calls just a verbal phone call war?)