Berkley Center

Before coming to Madrid, the directors and coordinators of the Georgetown program in Spain talked to us about what to expect culturally when we arrived. The Spanish culture is extremely different from the culture I've grown up in. In the United States, we are taught from a young age that productiveness and efficiency are what we should strive for. Spain's culture focuses much more on relating to people and spending time with others, instead of spending time with your desk. Rarely would you be given the brush off, even if the person you are talking to has an appointment or class to get to. The Spanish legitimately want to know how you are when they ask at the beginning of a conversation; it isn't just a pleasantry here.

Keeping that in mind, there are also things that I was not fully prepared for when I arrived in Madrid this past January. It was mentioned to us that political correctness is not a common concept in Spain. There are not certain terms or ideas that are avoided because they might be impolite to discuss or could be construed as rude. For the most part, people are very blunt with the things they say and who they say them to. The most noticeable instance in which this has been a somewhat negative experience has been through the relationship many Spaniards (not all) have with the Asian population in Madrid. Recently, there has been a large increase of Asian immigrants to Spain. Many Spaniards do not like this fact and are upset about the number of jobs the immigrants are taking away from the Spanish people. Especially with the current economic crisis in Spain, with Greece’s crash and the enormous effect it is having on the Spanish economy, many harbor resentment towards the Asian population in Madrid.

In addition to this, Madrid does not seem to be as ethnically and culturally diverse as many other major cities seem to be. In comparison to Paris, there is a definite difference in the quantity of culturally distinctive groups and individuals. Everyone who is Asian in Madrid is called a chino. There is no differentiation between Koreans, Japanese, or Chinese. Everyone is chino, which is offensive in itself. There is no reason to get to find out if they are, in fact, of Chinese descent. Many times, I have heard Madrilenos talking about los chinos in a very negative and dismissive context. Asian people are also stared at more than other foreigners in Madrid. One of my best friends here happens to be Asian, and the amount of time she has been stared at since arriving in Madrid is confounding, especially since the appropriate length of time during which someone can stare at you before having to look away out of politeness is much longer in Spain than it is in the United States.

Before coming to Madrid, I did not even stop to think that I might be in a place where everyone isn’t respected, as they are where I am from. Granted, there is not as much respect for personal differences as there should be in the United States, but it seems to me that there is a general knowledge that there should be respect. People who don’t respect others are partially aware that their attitudes are not universal. In Madrid, especially in relation to the Asian population here, Spaniards do not seem to realize that there is such a thing as political correctness. There is a certain level of respect that everyone is entitled to.