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   Girl on the Net (girlonthenet@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 13-Dec-2025 21:01:58 JST Girl on the Net

   in reply to

   As someone who'd grown up in a place with very little immigration, then spent a couple of years abroad struggling to learn as much of the language as I could to get by, it absolutely floored me that I now lived in a city where people working the checkout in Sainsbury's could casually switch languages just to make it easier for an old lady to get her Nectar points or whatever.

   What an astonishingly beautiful thing.

   What a gift!

   • Alexandre Oliva likes this.
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     Girl on the Net (girlonthenet@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 13-Dec-2025 21:01:59 JST Girl on the Net

     in reply to

     One of the things that made me fall in love with London was a visit to Sainsbury's in Whitechapel a couple of weeks after I'd arrived. I always swore I'd leave London quickly - it was dirty and smelly and busy and stressful. But I grew to love it pretty quickly, not least because when you have so many people in one place, people suddenly become endlessly fascinating.

     Anyway. Sainsbury's.

     A lad was scanning a lady's shopping through the checkout, got to the end and asked her something. 🧵

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     Girl on the Net (girlonthenet@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 13-Dec-2025 21:01:59 JST Girl on the Net

     in reply to

     Can't remember what, probably 'do you have a Nectar card?' or sthing. The lady was quite old, and wearing niqab, so he couldn't see her face, but she just tilted her head to the side like she didn't understand and this kid immediately switched language and asked again.

     Another head tilt.

     And he asked again, this time in a new language.

     She got it, and chatted back to him.

     Blew my mind, honestly. This kid who was working a shift in Sainsbury's was just CASUALLY TRILINGUAL.

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     Girl on the Net (girlonthenet@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 13-Dec-2025 21:02:00 JST Girl on the Net

     I see racists are doing "did you know X% of kids in Glasgow/London/Birmingham don't have English as a first language!?" bullshit again.

     BILINGUAL. The word you're looking for to smack them down is 'bilingual'. Most children who 'don't have English as a first language' have two languages. Sometimes more! Why do you hate this? It's fucking beautiful!