Mexican girl in Germany, can’t speak English, sign language, & Mexican intelligence stereotypes
My ask is basically about the stereotype that Mexicans can’t speak English at all or only broken English. My idea is about a Mexican girl who lived her entire life in Mexico and expected to never move away from this place. Her mother speaks perfect English and tried to teach her daughter the language, but the girl was never good with learning languages, she only ever learner sign language because of her grandmother. At some point she just gave up learning English, because she was frustrated and saw it as plain unnecessary. But then her mother meets a German man and falls in love with him. She decides to move to Germany with him. They communicate through English of course, but the mother starts learning German. The girl doesn’t even wanna try learn it. With this whole language barrier she has a lot of problems in school. She was always really good in math and science subjects, but with the problems even this grades drop. She stops going to school, but then, through her new father, she meets a deaf girl. They speak with each other with sign language and become friends. The story is about the Mexican girl overcoming her language problems, learning German with the help of the deaf girl and getting used to her new life in Germany.
I decided to make the girl Mexican, because I think Mexican culture is really, really interesting. It’s a culture you don’t see often in Germany and I was interested in seeing how Mexican and German culture interacts, how they compliment each other and where differences are. For me, the most fun and interesting way to explore such a thing is through writing. But I’m still worried that people will see her as this stereotype, that she can’t speak English because she’s a ‘st**id’ Mexican. But she’s smart and she has a reason for not learning it, but is it a st**id reason? It’s part of her character that she is stubborn.
Thank you in advance for an answer and thank you for taking the time reading this.
Like spoken languages, sign languages aren’t universal. Mexican Sign Language (LSM) is different from German Sign Language (DGS). And in some countries, American missionaries brought American Sign Language (ASL) and taught it in the schools for the Deaf that they set up. You would have to think of an explanation for how these girls speak the same sign language (SL).
Lipreading is a common method of communicating with hearing people. Lipreading is hard to learn and some people never master it fully. Anything from accents to facial hair to speech impediments affect the ability to understand someone by lipreading. There would be significant communication barriers if the Mexican girl doesn't speak German and the German girl doesn't speak Spanish and they don't speak the same SL.
How does the Deaf character prefer to communicate with hearing people? What type of education did she have? A brief search indicates that the first Deaf schools in Germany used oralism - teaching the Deaf to speak and lipread. Most schools that taught oralism in the US banned ASL - was this the case in Germany? How much residual hearing does she have - enough to hear some with hearing aids or is she unable to hear any speech? Is her first language German or DGS? And how does her background affect her method of teaching German? How about the grandmother? Does she speak LSM? What is her background as a Deaf person? All these should be taken into account when writing and I strongly suggest doing more research into deafness, Deaf culture, and communication before proceeding with the story.
Edit for clarity: SK is Deaf and speaks ASL
Mexican readers, feel free to add commentary on this.
