Have you ever felt discouraged to learn because of your nationality/race?

I’m Filipino from the Philippines with an interest in other cultures and travel. I moved to Canada (temporarily) 2 years ago and since being here I’ve been exposed to other races, nationalities, cultures, etc. It’s been really great! I’m in Ontario and am currently in French classes. I’ve always wanted to learn a foreign language and French feels do-able as a native english speaker in Canada.

There’s also a huge Chinese population where I live in Ontario which is making me interested in Mandarin or Cantonese too. China has influence all over Asia so if I went back to the Philippines it might even give me an edge career-wise.

I’m not sure how beneficial French would be in Asia though, which is another topic.

Anyway, despite my positive experiences there have been some negatives too. For example, East Asians (like Chinese) tend to look down on Filipinos. They’re polite to me and all but idk if they’d be friends with me like that?

I’m also put off by the casual racism, especially towards black people. Ive heard the hard N-R from them. I’ve hung out with a Chinese friend group here, it was me and 1 African guy. They’d make racist jokes so casually with the African right there. Even when it’s just them and me (a filipino) the jokes are still there, I don’t trust it because who knows what they really think of me? It makes me feel discouraged to learn.

It brings up a some complicated feelings since my experience with racism is more asian racism. Coming from Asia myself, it’s complicated there. I’ve been refused Airbnb in HK for being filipino. stuff like that and I can’t say anything about it because that’s just ‘how it is’ in Asia.

EDIT: If it matters, YES i have confronted them before! I ask about it and what they really think and they said that’s just how it is in China or Hong Kong. It’s a reality that a lot of low wage workers are filipino and yes, they have jokes about it. That was the end of the conversation.

EDIT 2: About English Speaking Filipinos:

The Philippines has 2 official languages, Filipino and English. Many Filipinos speak both fluently. I actually speak English way better than Filipino that’s why I consider it my native.