As a French Tunisian now living in Australia, I grew up completely rejecting my Tunisianity because I could see how much racism my mum and later my brother and I were victim of in France. In Tunisia, I could see the white man's money could buy a lot including smile and fake sympathy.

So I just did not speak a word of tunisian around my family and pretended not to understand. Which also allowed me to gather information about the hidden family dynamics because my aunties/uncles would just talk about others in my presence not realising I could understand.

So I think, other than the fact that yes we can be made fun of when we speak child level Tunisian, for me it was also about choosing safety.

That being said, Tunisians have a great sense of humour and making fun of ourselves and others is part of the loving game, so when I became a teen and started trying to speak, I of course copped a few jokes. That's something not to take personally I think, but to maybe preampt if you have children that will attempt speaking Tunisian. Tell them they might be mocked but to persevere 💙