Because I’m Asian and I can remember like at least 10 instances where people in the US (Including Both White and Black people) would assume I don’t speak English before I had a chance to talk. I’ve lived in this country since 8, I speak on a native level. I wonder if there is just a subconcious “perpetual foreigner” stereotype engrained into people.
Because I sometimes feel uncomfortable. Like it just feels very awkward after I get asked that, then I speak English perfectly lol.
I assume basically everyone around me can speak English even if I hear them speaking a different language. Kind of hard to get by in America without learning a little English.
If their English is difficult for me to understand then I’ll profile them like asking if they speak Spanish if they look Latino. My Spanish is bad but if they talk slow I can understand it pretty well.
If they don’t look like they speak Spanish (or their accent doesn’t sound like it) we just have to keep trying to communicate in English because I don’t know any other languages well enough to be useful lol