When Your Gringafied Accent Gets You Goodies in Peru

Speaking bad Spanish gets you treated well. Don’t ham it up too much, though.

“¿Whole-Log, Cuomo es-TASS?”

This is my gringafied way to say, “¿Hola, cómo estás? in Spanish. This means, “Hi, how are you?” I asked my boyfriend, who is Peruvian, what he would have done if I spoke Spanish like a gringa. I thought he would say, “I’d be embarrassed to be with you in public.” Instead, he replied, “You’d be treated better.”

This could be true. US-American privilege is real, but the clincher is, people have to believe you are from the USA for it to do its dirty work. When I first arrived in Peru, I attended a meditation gathering where a woman insisted I was from Brazil even after I told her I was from the USA. She didn´t believe me. “No, you’re from Brazil,” she repeated way too many times.

I couldn’t understand why she thought she could persuade me I was from Brazil. I mean, I would know if I were, wouldn’t I?

Maybe she didn’t think there are black people in the USA, just like many people don’t realize there are black and brown people in Peru. If you watched any popular Peruvian TV show or movie you would think the country is the Brady Bunches’ second cousin.

I can do a mean gringa accent

When I put on my gringa accent, some of my friends from my drumming group laugh and say, “What? I didn’t know you knew how to talk like that!” I congratulate myself inside. I can’t say my accent is perfect in Spanish, but it’s not immediately recognizable as a US accent, gracias a Dios.

I must admit, I have taken advantage of my US privilege. I’m not proud of it, but sometimes I do it for peace of mind. My boyfriend and I, two black folks, drop into English at the supermarket so security doesn’t follow us around.

When I told a group of immigrants from the high-income world about being followed around in stores, one of them said, “Oh, that’s probably because they think you are a black Peruvian.” I suppose racism isn’t a big deal if it only ruffles the feathers of the “natives ” (please know I am rolling my eyes, a lot).

Last month I used my gringafied Spanish to withdraw my retirement savings because the three times I called while talking “good Spanish,” I received bad service. I think I overdid it, though, and the attendant hung up on me “accidentally.”

Gringa privilege+white privilege

In Peru, people say that to get what you want, you need to make an escandalo. An escandalo is a big fuss. Think halfway to Victoria's Secret Karen, but Peruvian style and without the racism. I would say it works 90% if you are white, and maybe 10% if you are not.

My escandalos in “good Spanish” won’t work, because people just say, “Oh, what’s this black lady on about?” They don’t really care.

Escandalos aren’t in my nature, but I should harness their power. They come in handy as a last resort when being reasonable doesn’t cut it. It works for kids, right?

I can make an escandalo if I use my US privilege. I used it once when I was ignored at a woman’s clinic by a station of seven nurses.

I literally was pounding at the desk for them to raise their eyes to address that I existed. Five minutes passed, as I continued to say loudly, “Why are you ignoring me? Hellloooo!!! I’m here to speak to a doctor. Hellooooo! Anyone? Why aren’t you looking at me?”

After their perpetual disregard of me, I made a complaint to the manager. I told her I was a US American who had “friends” (I really had none) and that I would like to come to a women’s clinic where the staff treats women with dignity, but I didn’t think this place met the standard.

If I hadn’t underscored my citizenship, I would’ve been ‘just a black lady.’ A shrug and a curse would have been my response, so I went for the US privilege. I know, it is cringey.

The supervisor tried to calm me down, and she succeeded. I didn’t have the spirit to take it to the next level which is a legal nightmare for companies, a complaint in the dreaded Libro de Reclamaciones. I made my point, I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s career.

Non-US or European accents

When I lived in Peru, I strove to improve my accent, and not talk like a gringa but it cost me. Men said, “You’re Venezuelan, right?” and creepily sat next to me on the bus, trying to get favors.

In reverse, sadly, it is not the same. If you speak English with a Peruvian accent or most accents that aren’t European, at least in the USA, people will look down on you. They might scream at you to “Speak American,” and remind you, “This is America!” I pipe up in my head, “Peru is part of the Americas!”

What’s worse, people might think you are not intelligent or qualified simply because you have an accent unless it’s an accent from Europe.

Be more open about accents

We can’t help that people make value judgments based on the accents we have. But people shouldn’t be so, well, racist. Your country of accent doesn’t bestow on you any value or lack of value.

We make a huge mistake when we think that simply for growing up in a particular country, and for speaking a certain language, we are inherently more honest, talented, hard-working, or affable. This is nonsense.

Take off the filters of who deserves to be heard and who deserves to be ignored. As a gringafied Spanish speaker friend of mine says, “My Spanish is really good, but my accent is bad.” That is a perfectly acceptable combination. Let’s get over these superficial evaluations of speech, and not penalize or uplift people based on discriminatory ideas of “good” or” bad” accents.

Thanks so much for reading! I love followers, claps, and comments.

~MJ