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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ^veganboy^ Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5917 days ago 51 posts - 51 votes  | Message 1 of 11 27 April 2009 at 8:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Let's face it, in any English speaking country, hardly anybody appreciates the efforts of a foreigner trying to speak English (it's taken for granted). I think (not very sure though) the same occurs in France. Instead, if you go to Albania and speak their language, you will be idolised and very loved for your efforts.For those westerners who've lived in Mainland China I was wondering... how do the Chinese react to a foreigner speaking Mandarin or any other regional language? do they react to it in the same way native English speakers do?
For those polyglots... what countries have you been idolised for your efforts to learn their language? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6888 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 2 of 11 27 April 2009 at 6:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think I've ever been idolised for speaking a language. People have been impressed, yes, but that's about it. In fact, when I was living and studying in China, people thought I spoke very good Mandarin but then went on to say how Dashan was the only foreigner who would ever speak as well as any native Chinese speaker. Dashan was the bane of my classmates' existence..
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| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7179 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 3 of 11 28 April 2009 at 2:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Well they'll compliment you a lot for speaking any Chinese. But this is a cultural thing here. Chinese people in general are much more likely to give a compliment than a Westerner. But is it heartfelt? It feels almost a politeness thing for someone to say 'your Chinese is good', regardless of how good your language skills really are. I just brush of the compliments now, which really also fits nicely into the culture of modesty here in China.
The thing is many will compliment you and then try to continue their dealings with you in English. As for Dashan, hmm yes good Chinese but someday I hope that I can be as good as him. Really a good model for any foreigner who wants to learn Chinese. Unfortunately I didn't pay much attention to my tones and now i'm paying for it. Suddenly as I correct my accent I'm finding I have to slow my pace down to accomodate the corrections. I've been learning for over 4 years now and I guess to be like Dashan it will take AT LEAST another 4 to 6 years of solid work... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ^veganboy^ Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5917 days ago 51 posts - 51 votes | Message 4 of 11 28 April 2009 at 2:38am | IP Logged | ||
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delectric,nI'm under the impression you are into buisness in China... do you feel that you could survive in china speaking only English? I mean, have you found yourself in a situation where the chinese haven't wanted you to speak Mandarin and instead, they've used English??? (be it buisness or leisure)
Edited by ^veganboy^ on 28 April 2009 at 2:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Satoshi Diglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5821 days ago 215 posts - 224 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, Japanese | Message 5 of 11 28 April 2009 at 2:45am | IP Logged | ||
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Brazilian people will surely like you a lot if you speak Portuguese.
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| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7179 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 6 of 11 30 April 2009 at 4:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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^veganboy^
No i'm not in business I teach here and it lets me learn Chinese at the same time. As for getting round entirely in English! I know people that do, do that (save for the bare basics) so the answer is yes. Of course this 'yes' is comes at a price. This price is that you'll have to stay in the big cities like Beijing or Shanghai. In Shanghai especially there's many places where they will give you service in English. It's sometimes easy to find a young person to help you if you're in trouble, if not Chinese people will probably go out of their way to try to find someone to translate. They start learning English now from, I think, 5 years old. Having said that most of it is not good English and I work in a good university in China so my perception of the English level in China is actually higher than the truth of the matter. If you don't speak Chinese the time and effort it takes to do simple tasks will be a nightmare. Many foreigners have their native 'kuli's' to help them navigate the language barrier. These people are often happy to be the foreigners go between because for them it's a valuable free English lesson. Have I had people refuse to speak Chinese with me? Yes many times. But this is the environment i'm in. Many students want to practice their English with a foreigner and even if their level is poor some will still continue in English. However out in daily life there are few places where people will refuse to speak Chinese. I would actually say for business speaking Chinese is very important and knowing Chinese culture is extremely important as business culture is very different over here. Also from my experience many businesses don't have especially good English speakers. Satoshi Great my other great love in life besides learing languages is Gracie/Brazilian Jiujitsu. I'll have to go over to Brazil sometime. Actually i'm only in Beijing because it has one of the best jiujitsu schools in the country (there's only 3 in total). If it wasn't for Jiujitsu i'd be in a much nicer place in China. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5733 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 7 of 11 30 April 2009 at 6:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Delectric: Care to share the name and address of that Jiujitsu school? I'll movie to Beijing in a month, and am looking for a good martial arts school :)
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| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6663 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 8 of 11 30 April 2009 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | ||
I second that. The same goes for Spanish in the rest of Latin America. I've never been complimented as much on my language skills as when I spoke horrible Spanish in Argentina! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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