tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post6703459693825662270..comments2023-10-29T21:14:24.325+08:00Comments on SHE in China: Not what it looks likeJonna Wibeliushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08954672453008704738noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-52690894696032273592009-01-29T21:14:00.000+08:002009-01-29T21:14:00.000+08:00Hi there!I am from India and I can assure you that...Hi there!<BR/>I am from India and I can assure you that if you were learning Hindi and tried to speak the language people in India would have the exact same reaction... It is a wonder for us when a foreigner, especially any western speaks our language.... I love it when my British flatmate tries to speak in Hindi... I think its so cute! :)n.aka.zephyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10941874992478058614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-24149576974283947512009-01-29T05:08:00.000+08:002009-01-29T05:08:00.000+08:00Hi there. I'm just randomly reading your blog : )...Hi there. I'm just randomly reading your blog : ) I lived for a year in Japan so I understand how you feel. There was not a single place I could go in the whole country and not get stared at. My Japanese was always laughed at- not beause it was bad (which it probably was) but because it was coming out of a white face. So weird. In America, I just assume that everyone speaks English and that everyone living here is an American. I just don't have that concept of foreigner/not foreigner... : ) Good fortune to you in all of your travels. I'll be back to Asia soon, I hope... Thanks for the wonderful pictures.Jessica Rhodeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04501311391114866851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-25908566914100997282009-01-29T02:41:00.000+08:002009-01-29T02:41:00.000+08:00UGH the staring. I encountered the same problem i...UGH the staring. I encountered the same problem in small towns (mostly in the Yunnan Province). we would go to shops and the shopowners would snap our pictures, and then call friends, and then when we left the shops there would be a small crowd waiting for our exit. <BR/><BR/>More than a few times I would be working at an internet cafe, and people would just walk over and stand behind me and watch what I was doing on the screen. I would give them my dirtiest look, and make a "shoo" gesture with my hands. <BR/><BR/>It can be very trying for laowais.BigRedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09759749577650048187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-85657133684711115812009-01-26T03:45:00.000+08:002009-01-26T03:45:00.000+08:002. Again a few years back, I attended a training c...2. Again a few years back, I attended a training course in Northern Ireland. One of the item was orienteering. At the beginning, my group mates completely excluded me from the discussion to solve the problems. When I tried to join in, their response was a bit dismissive. It was word game at 1st, so fair enough, I'm not good at it, so kept quiet. But soon, the questions changed. I was able to solve one after another. Oh, it was fun to watch their faces. I recon this was because they were a bit young, mostly fresh out of local uni, probably haven’t worked with foreigners before. Just a bit of ignorant, more contact with foreigner will fix it for most of them no doubt. <BR/><BR/>By the way, I always tell my British friends that Chinese is easy, especially the grammar. The verbs do not change with tense. The nouns do not have plurals or singular form. Not to mention no gender related variations. The tone might be a bit difficult to get used to at the beginning, but there are only 4 of them. To write the characters might be the most difficult. But with time it will come, 1000 characters can read newspapers. <BR/><BR/>I find Japanese is relatively easy for me to learn. English is not too easy. I still make a lot of grammar mistakes after living in UK for many years. French is difficult, so is German. I gave up very quickly on learning French and German. <BR/>Some Chinese think Chinese is difficult to learn, I think it’s because they haven’t try to learn other languages. <BR/><BR/>SueAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-54244071344343305432009-01-25T20:14:00.000+08:002009-01-25T20:14:00.000+08:00Hi, Jonna,Love your blog. I've been reading it for...Hi, Jonna,<BR/><BR/>Love your blog. I've been reading it for a while, this is 1st time I leave a comment. :-)<BR/><BR/>This entry brings a couple of memories back to me.<BR/><BR/>1. I'm a Chinese living in UK. A few years back, I went to Japan with a British colleague to attend a trade show. People always came up to me to speak but ignored my colleague. Every time I had to turn to him with a confused expression and look for help. Cos he is the one speaks Japanese, lived in Japan for 8 years. We had a good laugh about that afterward. <BR/><BR/>more later<BR/>SueAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-23477857563914704502009-01-24T04:00:00.000+08:002009-01-24T04:00:00.000+08:002 things:-Chinese is not hard to learn, try learni...2 things:<BR/>-Chinese is not hard to learn, try learning Greek! Yikes!<BR/>-15Yuan manicure! Ok I am coming to Suzhou just for that!<BR/>-While one thinks Chinese can be a little snobby towards foreigners, they are really just shy and not sure how to talk to foreigners until they know there is something in common.<BR/><BR/>Damn, that's 3 things not 2...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-27279066158128233362009-01-23T10:59:00.000+08:002009-01-23T10:59:00.000+08:00Was there a time when you were treated better than...Was there a time when you were treated better than Chinese in China?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-51342875038975591462009-01-22T22:25:00.000+08:002009-01-22T22:25:00.000+08:00The feeling is mutual for Chinese living in the We...The feeling is mutual for Chinese living in the West. That is just the way it is. We are so physically different that people generalize about us. Sad but true.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-43670571841479719072009-01-22T22:12:00.000+08:002009-01-22T22:12:00.000+08:00This needs to be said. Youd turn alot of heads in...This needs to be said. Youd turn alot of heads in many cultures. I think there is a tendency from men of one culture treating women of another rudely. To make a long story short I know foreign students on college campuses dont integrate that well with local students. Foreign students also are distant from other students of different cultures or even their own. I saw this again recently. Im on public transportation and there is one African already on the bus. Another one gets on by a university. They end up sitting across from each other. They dont speak English but I can tell one is asking for directions. That is the end of the conversation. They still were strangers when one got off. Youd think there would be more commonality in a chance encounter of someone speaking your native tongue. Nope, it was like they were riding buses in their own country. Ive gotten over any reticence when I go shopping in Russian, Arabic, Chinese stores where the only common language is the dollar. A college mathematics professor friend of mine is the big man on campus when he comes from out of state and I take him shopping in the local Arabic stores. He hands his cell phone over to the store clerk who does all the shopping for one of his Arabic speaking students at the other end. Once again a matter of business and nothing more from what I understand. <BR/><BR/>JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-3930971386334383652009-01-22T14:49:00.000+08:002009-01-22T14:49:00.000+08:00just so you don't feel too many, chinese people th...just so you don't feel too many, chinese people that are not local to the place also gets ripped off just as much.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8491088023973371313.post-39303435322083328262009-01-22T10:22:00.000+08:002009-01-22T10:22:00.000+08:00I so agree about how strange it is that people thi...I so agree about how strange it is that people think it's weird to have a laowai speak Chinese. I HATE it! China is a major modern power built on an ancient, cosmopolitan civilazation! This kind of behavior makes people look so provincial (in the worst possible sense), and it's utterly unworthy of them! Last time I was in China (12 years ago), we called it "The 'Monkey Can Talk' Syndrome."<BR/><BR/>I also totally understand about the staring and pointing. I don't get them anymore here in Beijing (I'm a lot less eye-catching than you and Beijing is a different city), but I certainly used to. Once I got so fed up I broke down and cried on the streets of Tianjin. I was with a Chinese friend and I just loved the way she pitched into the guy whose stare "broke the camel's back." She told him he was losing face for all Chinese, acting like an uncivilized bumpkin, and didn't he realize we were all part of the same world (this was way before "One World, One Dream"), and so on.<BR/><BR/>Actually, I know this sounds strange, but I am often asked if I am Chinese. (I have browny-red hair, HUGE muddy-green eyes and a very big nose.) My language skills are definitely NOT that hot. The only good thing about them is my pronunciation, which is more or less native depending on whether I'm having a good Chinese day (rare) or a bad Chinese day (common). I am afraid you are right, you will likely never be mistaken for a local no matter how good your Chinese gets, but, if you would like to experiment with seeing how quickly you can reverse some of those attitudes, you might try focusing really, really, really hard on pronunciation for a while. I don't know, maybe you could even get a special coach if you wanted. I'm not saying that pronunciation is more important than actual command of the language (I don't think it is), I'm just saying that I know for sure kick-a** pronunciation, no matter how sucky your Chinese is otherwise (and mine is pretty bad), is a definite key to impressing the hell out of people. I'm not kidding about being asked if I'm Chinese. It's happened to me more times than I can count. And I promise you, I'm not being modest when I say my overall language skills, apart from pronunciation, are really pretty lame!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com