Caucasians speaking unexpected languages

[raoul2]

I know of 2 cases of caucasian peoples speaking unexpected languages:

1- white Paraguayans speaking guarani.
2- the Balti from pakistan speaking a tibetan language.

[ceid donn]

I am far more comfortable with the term "white people" than Caucasians, who are a distinct ethnic group with whom most white people have no real connection beyond a few, trivial DNA markers.

Anyhow, I suppose I am just used to being around multilingual people because it doesn't surprise me much if another white person can speak any other language. There are many reasons for a white person to speak a seemingly unexpected language. i do confess I still get surprised looks when I show people I can speak a little Navajo, Indonesian, Japanese and Swahili, not to mention Celtic languages. But that's their perspective. For me it's odd to not be engaged in our multilingual world while a lot of white people in my country never bother.

[linguoboy]

FWIW, the Balti would not be considered "White or Caucasian" in the USA. (One of the problem with "racial" designations like these is that they are very societally-dependent.) Officially, light-skinned Paraguayans would be classed as "White or Caucasian" persons of "Hispanic origin" since "Hispanic/Latino" is now considered an "ethnic" category distinct from "race". Informally, however, all "Hispanics" are "non-White" to most White people of non-Hispanic origin here.

[vijayjohn]

I know white people who speak all sorts of languages, although probably most of them are documentary linguists.

[raoul2]

FWIW, the Balti would not be considered "White or Caucasian" in the USA. (One of the problem with "racial" designations like these is that they are very societally-dependent.)

How would the Balti be considered in the USA? They look white to me unlike other Pakistani people. They look like Afghans.

Of course we know plenty of white individuals speaking all sorts of languages, but my point was about the mother tongue of an entire people (ethnos). I am not sure my english is good enough to express what I mean.
What is special about Paraguay, is that it is the sole case of europeans adopting an amerindian language. Of course, the europeans are a minority in that country.

[Saim]

How would the Balti be considered in the USA? They look white to me unlike other Pakistani people. They look like Afghans.

Many Baltis have Asiatic features.



https://www.flickr.com/photos/56819064@ ... otostream/

I feel like northern and northwestern Pakistan is one of the parts of the world that really demonstrates the futility of dividing populations into distinct "races".

By the way, in Pakistan the second-largest ethnic group is the same as the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, i.e. the Pashtuns. So Pakistan-Afghanistan isn't really a salient division when it comes to anthropology. You can find "white-looking" people among many northern Pakistani ethnic groups; you'll even find the occasional Punjabi who has that look.

In any case I don't think the case of the Baltis and that of white Paraguayans is really similar. The Baltis are indigenous to Baltistan, whereas white Paraguayans just happen to be the only Europeans/Criollos who still speak an indigenous languages (keep in mind that in Brazil for example white people spoke Tupí until Portugal expelled the Jesuits and started governing the colony more directly, including the imposition of Portuguese).

If you want an example of where a European settler society speaks a non-European language, I think the only other case of this happening is Israel, and that's kind of debatable because it's a very extreme case that's not particularly similar to anything else in history (i.e. many of the early settlers were refugees, and they used a literary language with no native-speakers, which isn't at all the case of Paraguay).

[Jayz]

What about the Basque?

They look quite 'White' to me and speak a language that could just as well be from another galaxy.

[mōdgethanc]

A lot of Maltese people look white and speak a Semitic language.

[vijayjohn]

A lot of people just in general look white, and albinism is a thing, so...

[Prowler]

I guess many Japanese, Chinese and Koreans are a bit taken aback when they see a White person speaking an East Asian language fluently.

Unrelated, but last Spring, I saw about 3-4 Chinese looking girls at my university(it had LOTS of exchange Chinese students last year)... and they were speaking Portuguese fluently with each other. I was like "Wha"

[linguoboy]

I guess many Japanese, Chinese and Koreans are a bit taken aback when they see a White person speaking an East Asian language fluently.

It doesn't even have to be fluent. There's a Korean wing place near where I live and when they ask for a name for my order, I give them the Korean version. I wrote it out for a guy last week when he asked me how to spell it and he kind of stared for a moment before saying, "Sorry, you don't see many White people who know Korean."

I've read reliable accounts of fluent gaijin speakers of Japanese travelling in rural Japan, speaking to older folk, and freaking them the fuck out. Several reported having to adopt a "gaijin accent" in order to be understood. (People would actually ignore them and start looking around for the Japanese person who was really talking.)

[vijayjohn]

Unrelated, but last Spring, I saw about 3-4 Chinese looking girls at my university(it had LOTS of exchange Chinese students last year)... and they were speaking Portuguese fluently with each other. I was like "Wha"

Technically not Portuguese per se but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVy2Z0lHd6c