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The Chinese can be blunt | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6762 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 25 of 52 01 May 2007 at 6:00am | IP Logged | |||||
Sorry mate, but that's hilarious :). Edited by Walshy on 01 May 2007 at 6:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| orion Senior Member United States Joined 6841 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 26 of 52 01 May 2007 at 6:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have to admit this anecdote had me cracking up too!
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| epingchris Triglot Senior Member Taiwan shih-chuan.blog.ntu. Joined 6848 days ago 273 posts - 284 votes 5 sounds Studies: Taiwanese, Mandarin*, English, FrenchB2 Studies: Japanese, German, Turkish | Message 27 of 52 02 September 2007 at 4:24am | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, Chinese people (and Taiwanese as well) do like to ask them these questions. : ) For one thing, I think in our traditional culture these are highly valued aspects. So it’s possible that most people who ask this are just concerned with you, or want to start up a conversation. They would ask the same questions to any native Taiwanese people as well. I understand why foreigners might feel awkward about these questions, but I’ve never been able to answer those "How are you doing?" without feeling awkward and just replying in the same old "fine" either. As for the weight issue, let’s just say peer pressure and media propaganda are powerful weapons for driving certain aesthetic value into people. While it is true that some westerners are unhealthily overweight, it is equally tru that some East Asians are just unhealthily underweight. A girl is deemed unattractive if her feet or arms are “too thick” – which rules out lots of sportive girl immediately. And the pursuit for whiteness is crazy also – look at the commercials that want to polish every woman into a piece of marble. I don’t think the superficiality is healthy, but unfortunately it’s hard to change at any time soon. That’s why I don’t want to talk about girls with my classmates, their aesthetics are just not acceptable to me.
Admittedly, Taiwan isn't as internationalized as we believe it to be. We've done a lot (perhaps more than enough) to improve our English, but our attitude is still somewhat narrow......younger, more educated people may act better, I hope. Still, I want to point out that the situation, I think, is getting better. I don’t see people today in Taiwan cut in lines or gawk at foreigners anymore, at least not from my observing. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jee Senior Member Australia Joined 6129 days ago 105 posts - 105 votes Studies: English | Message 28 of 52 02 September 2007 at 7:17am | IP Logged | |||||
I totally agree with you It's just different way of greeting in different cultures. Actually,most time you do not to be serious about those questions:"Have you eaten yet?", "What is your job? Your salary?" and "Are you married? Do you have children?" Those are just like the questions"How are you doing","It's a nice day" blablablabla and so on in English conversation. Those Chinese conversation questions look like such private questions, but most the askers do not really wanna know the answers, it's just a greeting at the beginning of the talking in order to make a friendly conversation, to make persons closer. Those questions can be replied by the following way: "Have you eaten yet?"........... ... YES /NO "What is your job?"............. ..Just a little business " Your salary?"........... ..........Just a little/ not too much "Are you married?"........ .........YES &nb sp;/NO Do you have children? .............YES /NO If need to be, make up an answer and ask the person back. No need to pay attention on those questions It's definetly a cultural misunderstanding, I have the same problems in English conversation when I lived in Australia Even I know that the askers don't really wanna get an answer, I can not help giving a detail answer after being asked "How r u doing",which makes the asker tired to listen to my so complicated answer. It'll be a little bit funny,if you can think out of it Edited by Jee on 02 September 2007 at 7:23am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| manny Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6178 days ago 248 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Tagalog Studies: French, German | Message 29 of 52 02 September 2007 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think she: * saw that you have a very cute son; * saw that you were not responsible; and * attributed it to your wife. Take it as a compliment that you have a much better looking wife than you deserve. :-) I also do!!! Edited by manny on 02 September 2007 at 2:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| MOSF Newbie Antarctica Joined 6288 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Speaks: EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchB2 | Message 30 of 52 08 September 2007 at 8:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've lived with Chinese people for quite a long time and... where to start..
After some months I ended up thinking that far east Asian adults have the emotional intelligence and personality of a western 6 year old. Horribly racist, I know, but I couldn't help it. Now I just think that the cultural gap is way too wide. Everything that's been said they did: commenting on the things you eat and staring at you while you eat like if they were at the zoo, making remarks about the fact that you've lost/gained weight, comparing their wealth with yours ( "How much do your parents earn?"), making fun of you in Chinese while you're just in front of them, being terribly loud and having no consideration for other people's sleeping time, etc.. As a side note, the popular culture they consume, the one produced in China, is horrible. If this is the future for international music and cinema we're f**ked. Long live Hollywood. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6370 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 31 of 52 09 September 2007 at 12:54am | IP Logged | |||||
Jimmy Soul says never make a pretty woman your wife. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6162 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 32 of 52 09 September 2007 at 3:19am | IP Logged | |||||
I personally think it's the other way around. I guess it's all about opinions. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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