Ignorant Americans

The first thing The Mouse Linguist did when she discovered she was going to Korea is...

Start learning about Korean language and culture.

There is only one thing The Mouse absolutely detests about her home country, and that is the tendency of Americans to criticize and poke fun at foreigners who do not speak English well, when they themselves, upon traveling to other countries, rarely take the time and effort required to learn even a little bit about the language and culture. Especially in the era of technology in which we live, where a simple Google search can tell you a lot about the culture in just about any country of the world, she finds it unacceptable that Americans feel it is okay to visit other countries and, upon offending someone, think "Oh, I'm American. I didn't know," is an excuse.

Now, The Mouse Linguist herself will even admit there have been times she has come across a foreigner in the US and has found it frustrating when there is a huge language barrier, but The Mouse Linguist tries to be patient. Perhaps this is because she is a Linguist, and tends to understand accents better than her fellow Americans, but she will especially be patient and try to help when it is obvious that the foreigner is TRYING and just obviously does not have a good grasp on the language yet, something that The Mouse has not seen from many of her co-workers in the customer service industry.

But the point here is that The Mouse refuses to be the Ignorant American, the one who uses being an American as an excuse to be ignorant. This is unacceptable to The Mouse. She would rather learn a little about the culture and language now, than learn later when she mistakenly offends someone, because to her, "I'm American" should never be an excuse to be ignorant. She has more pride in herself and in her country than that.