Comments on: Big Noses Can't Really Learn Chinese

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By: Bryce Hathaway

Bryce Hathaway — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:09:20 +0000

I find the pet analogy that wenjonggal gave to be highly relevant to this discussion. In my experience, I have encountered many many “Chinese Puppy Trainers”: people who seem interested in teaching Chinese, but when they discover that you already know the basics lose all interest in helping you. Learn to recognize and avoid these people because they are a complete waste of your time. On the other hand, Chinese people’s personalities are as various as Westerners’. Chinese people with a genuine interest in cultural dialogue exist, you just have to find them.

By: James Forsyth

James Forsyth — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:32:21 +0000

Michael says:　”I don’t really think this is true in China these days at-least,maybe earlier on and maybe it is still true in overseas Chinese communities. I mean nowadays many Chinese are exposed to foreigners who speak great putonghua, just look at DaShan (Canadian whose Chinese is perfect), every Chinese person knows his name.”

Hi Michael. To start with, I think your term “foreigner” is very vague, who, exactly, do you mean by it? White people living in China? Canadians living in Canada? Japanese people living in China? Japanese people living in Japan? You confuse me. What a simple and unhelpful term it is you use.

Also, your central idea seems to be that many Chinese are exposed to non-Chinese who are able to speak lots of putonghua. To point to a Westerner who has celebrity status because he can speak the language well doesn’t seem to do your argument much good. It’s like saying “The modern generation is very proficient with technology, one guy even visited the moon.” Such a statement doesn’t say much for the rest of us.

People who talk to me about dashan and Kevin Rudd don’t enthuse me much at all. I tend to point out to them that the hu jintao and wen jiabao can probably speak a bit of English. Big deal.

Westerners: You should know this… You have as much ability as anyone else to learn a language like Chinese. Any Westerner who is given celebrity status because of success in this area is actually undermining the credibility of the rest of us.

By: Jan M. Gronski

Jan M. Gronski — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:07:09 +0000

If you are reasonably proficient in a language other than English and Chinese then there is another tried and true method to get the Chinese to speak Chinese.

When they say something to you in English you simple look at them, slightly confused and say (this is just a German example) “Entschuldigen Sie bitte, aber ich verstehe Sie nicht. ” (Excuse me please, but I do not understand. My favorite version of this would be to say in Chinese: “Excuse me please could you speak Polish I really do not understand English”. My native tongue is Polish

By: chitchatchinese

chitchatchinese — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:35:29 +0000

By the way, Dan the Mandarin groups I run are:
http://www.meetup.com/Mandarin-Mixer-Meetup/
which I started and…
http://www.meetup.com/peninsulachinese/
which I took over

By: chitchatchinese

chitchatchinese — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:31:17 +0000

Hey Dan,
Ha, I run the Mandarin Meetup here in San Francisco. It is a great way to meet Chinese people who want to speak their language. I lived in Taiwan for 3 years, and strangely it is easier to find Chinese people here in the U.S. willing to speak Chinese. The reason is they are sick of English already and there is no thrill in speaking it. They have to use it all day long for work. I have a post on “How to Foil a Chinese Pirate” on skills I picked up in Taiwan to get people to speak their language with me. Another blogger (laowaichinese.net) says he just speaks Chinese and let’s the other person continue in English, but I don’t think that is a solution – how can you ever move your Chinese past a certain level if you are always listening to English? You’ll be in good shape though Dan by the time you get to Taiwan. Since you are already practicing speaking it’s much easier to break through the English Pirate barrier when you are at a higher level and comfortable speaking.

By: Dave Flynn

Dave Flynn — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:39:26 +0000

@dan cheers for the tips, I just might set up a group

By: Dave Flynn

Dave Flynn — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:02:37 +0000

Thanks Dan, I remember one time I went into the Kaoshiung Film Museum here in Taiwan and the 服務員 insisted on speaking English even after I asked about 3 times if she could please speak Chinese to me instead. I ended up frustrated and she seemed angry I was almost demanding she spoke in Chinese and not English.

Now I pretty must just continue in Chinese and if they want to use English then so be it

By: Dan Ednie

Dan Ednie — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:37:34 +0000

Hey Dave,

I’m planning on going to Taiwan to study – so thanks for the heads up. I think telling people (in Chinese) that you came to Taiwan to learn Mandarin and that you are paying a lot of money will make people less trigger happy with their English. Suggest that if they want to talk all English you’re teachers fee is NT$1000 an hour, but if they want to talk in a mix then its free.

I come up against this problem a lot and blog about my experiences of learning Chiense from the INCREDIBLE number of Chinese speaking international students in Melbourne at http://www.danednie.com.