Korean in Korea
I speak Korean reasonably well, though I am far from proficient (I have been certified as Intermediate-High based on an ACTFL SOPI test, or roughly B1 in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference). My wife is Korean, and I need the language to communicate with my in-laws. It's also quite nice to be able to follow along and get in a word or two in Korean social situations without having everyone else switch to English to accommodate me. For the 2.5 weeks I spent in Korea this summer, I had lots of opportunity to converse in Korean with family and friends, which was really enjoyable.
However, more public contexts of communication were different. On planes, at stores, and in restaurants, it was more common for strangers to initiate encounters in English (or speak only to my Korean companions). This was also true when I lived in Korea in the past. Although it could be frustrating back when I was a resident of Korea, it nonetheless makes sense from the perspective of the cashier or flight attendant: it would be very uncommon for a Caucasian (or Black/Latin@) tourist to have an easy time handling a service encounter in Korean. Even among resident foreigners (i.e., people with non-tourist visas), the majority of Western non-Asians are US military or English teachers who typically stay for a year or two and do not progress very far with Korean (though of course there are exceptions). So, the waitress/clerk/attendant makes a choice to use his or her linguistic resources in a way that is most likely to be successful, and you can't necessarily fault them for it.
Italian in Italy
I speak virtually no Italian (Novice Low ACTFL, sub-A1 CEFR). I picked up a few phrases before leaving and a few more while I was there, along with a smattering of single-word vocabulary items. I also do not have any personal relationships with Italians in Palermo. Nonetheless, I had lots of opportunities to speak the language- well, at least try to speak it, and often switching to English shortly after. Shopkeepers, cashiers, baristas, and flight attendants typically initiated encounters in Italian. Although I may not necessarily look like a prototypical Italian, I blended in well enough with the Caucasian majority. And it was fun to struggle through the simple transactions of buying tickets or coffee, telegraphing my requests with my limited vocabulary and gestures. And of course, many Italians who work with tourists have excellent English and were very accommodating in using it for more complicated matters.
Racialization of Language
Reflecting on these experiences, which were separated by just a couple of weeks, highlighted a contrast and made me think about how race interacts with language use in multi/plurilingual settings. Racialization is the phenomenon of associating a social practice with a particular racial/ethnic group. A common example is religion, such as how Middle Easterners are often assumed to be Muslim. This happens with languages, too, and I think the phenomenon is magnified in public and tourist realms. In the case of Korea and Korean, it's often assumed that white people speak English and cannot speak Korean. In Italy, and I hesitate to speak too definitively about this because I know so little of the country, it may be assumed that whites speak Italian: even in places with lots of tourist traffic, I'd imagine the majority of whites one encounters would be Italian speaking locals. In the case of Italy, it may also be the case that Italian comes first; if communication in Italian fails then comes the utilization of other linguistic resources (and Italy has become quite racially/ethnically diverse, so this practice would also make a lot of sense).
It's very interesting to think about how racialization of language as a broader social phenomenon affects the individual and potentially affects language learning. In my case as a white dude with passable Korean and virtually non-existent Italian, my individual linguistic competencies were washed-over by larger social practices- but in ways that made sense, logically, from the perspectives of the people I was communicating with. I recall similar things happening when my wife (who is Korean) and I traveled to Japan and Hong Kong: even when doing very touristy things in touristy areas, waiters and clerks would often lock their gaze on my wife and address her in Japanese or Cantonese (where she no doubt felt like I did in Italy). From the view of language learning, racialization has the potential to affect the quantity, and perhaps quality, of linguistic input that is crucial for learning, particularly at the beginning stages.
Racialization of language, though not necessarily malicious, has also had effects on language and political policy in countries around the world. For example, it determines schooling for students in Singapore (the Mother Tongue system) and has been used as one means of separating "non-Hispanic whites" and Lantin@s in US demographics. It also has effects on the hiring of language teachers (e.g., job postings for EFL teachers specifically requesting Caucasians). A topic worth thinking about, for sure!
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So obviously, I had a lot of time to get lost in thought while waiting in airports and sitting on planes. Hope you enjoyed the read, and feel free to share your thoughts or experiences related to racialization of language, Korean, or Italian (or anything else) in a comment below.
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