Me, an immigration reporter: “Por qué se fue de su país?” You, an immigration reporter: “¿Por qué viniste a los Estados Unidos?”
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Objectivity assumes we all ask the same questions. That never happens. Too many reporters don’t even understand how the way they frame their questions affects someone’s answer. And rarely consider the power relationship between US citizen reporter and asylum-seeker.
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It’s not just tu/vos/usted. It’s what we ask: When we ask someone why they left a country, it allows the opportunity to explain what they’re fleeing. When we ask why they came to the US, they’ll often laud an American Dream narrative. You set the frame when you ask the question.
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I’ve personally heard reporters ask an asylum seeker, “Why did you come here?” only to later complain that the person didn’t really explain the violence they’re fleeing. That’s because the reporter already set the frame.
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Asylum seekers identify reporters as part and parcel of the US. Because we are. They answer the questions we ask — which is not necessarily the same as the stories they want to tell. Think through the frames you’ve used to limit the way your understand someone else’s story.
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¿Y vos?
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I talk to my friends and some of my family in vos. I would never talk to an elder or an asylum-seeker that I was interviewing for a story in vos (exception being children under the age of 15 or so). Only in usted. Tú is especially disrespectful and ignorant imo.
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I agree but, as a non-native speaker, I sometimes slip up. Argentines are also much more casual with informal pronouns.
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This is not true. Argentines knows full well the difference between vos and usted. We’re also not in Argentina and I’m specifically tweeting about reporters in the United States.
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They know the difference, yes, but they're much more casual about it than other Latin Americans, in my experience. I married an Argentine, but was uncomfortable with vos for a long time.
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Again, I’m specifically tweeting about immigration reporters in the United States of America. Those that are talking to asylum seeking adults in tu, and especially in vos, are disrespecting the people they’re reporting on. It’s really not more complicated than that.
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I agree in principle, certainly. I expect that at least some of those reporters are non-native speakers who do not intend to disrespect their interviewees.
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intention < impact
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Can you elaborate on the difference? Asking for a gringa...
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Tu is overly familiar and extremely rude esp in this context. You'd use usted bc two reporters are equals and colleagues and tu makes it seem like the reporter is looking down on them.
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Exactly. In addition, if you were that chummy with your Central American source, you’d use vos.
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Damn. Tú vs. usted is first-year basic Spanish stuff.
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"tú"?
You don't know me like that, other #immigration reporter who isn't Aura!Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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Us Caribbean Latinxs don’t even have formality distinctions very often in our Spanish. I was raised solely with tú with everyone including my abuela. In Cuba it was a product of communist comradery. Super important tho I appreciate your point & language really holds so much power
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maleducados.
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