Ways to get people to speak Chinese (not English) with you

Language Learning Chinese
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[quote=“odysseyandoracle”]It might be annoying for you now, but it’s a really nice feeling once you start winning those ‘language battles’ at the first sentence.

I always answer in Chinese. If they insist on continuing in English and it’s clear they’re Taiwanese/Chinese born and raised, then I tell them, buhaoyisi, English isn’t my native language, can we please speak Chinese? I haven’t run into anyone here who persisted after that, and no one walks away feeling embarrassed, frustrated, or inferior.[/quote]

Taiwanese are really friendly about that and I have never had any troubles speaking Chinese to the Taiwanese. Actually, on my last trip to Taiwan I was stunned at how NO ONE, not even my closest Taiwanese friends, had any interest in speaking English. I guess because they got out of college they hadn’t really brushed up on their English and were getting lazy, but for the most part Taiwan seems pretty easy to use Chinese as long as you seem like you want to.

Responding to English sentences in Chinese is usually the best way to go. Usually if they start the conversation by speaking English to me first I won’t mind responding back in English, I only get slightly annoyed if I keep asking questions in Chinese and get responses in English. Honestly, this doesn’t seem to happen at all for me when I visit Taiwan (as of recently).

Shanghai is a bit different. I get the impression that everyone wants to speak English to me, no matter how bad it is. It’s everyone, collegues, friends, etc. I get annoyed in China in the following two situations:

  1. People are talking with each other in Chinese in the group, but when they ask you a question or try to participate they switch back to English.

  2. You didn’t understand or hear the sentence quite right the first time, and immediately they use English to say what they had in mind.

  3. People tell me that I have a white face thus they are unable to speak to me in Chinese. (I never understood this one)

Anyhow, it’s silly to let these things effect you adversely. I do try to explain to my friends that I wouldn’t mind doing 50-50 (English-Chinese), but sometimes I can’t help but feel that I’m just free English practice. I try not to let it bother me, but it makes me feel isolated from the culture, which never was the case in Taiwan.

For friends, collegues, etc, the best thing is just to explain to them what you would like. I do also have to admit that my Chinese abilities are not as great as the English of the buisness professionals here in China, (I mean many of them have lived abroad for years and years), so for many things I can’t communicate well. For example, today i forgot the word for “fever”.

122

Absolutely. This happened the other way around with one of my local friends who asked if we could speak more English, because I was starting to dominate our language exchanges, and that’s his only chance each week to chat with a native speaker. No problem. Anyone who won’t respect a request like that on either side isn’t really a friend, and if you turn them off by doing that you’re better off for it.

I have no reason to listen to strangers on the street though, sorry Tommy. It’s nothing against Taiwanese - I don’t do small talk in America either, I’m an antisocial mf’er, but at least conversing in Chinese just for the sake of conversing in Chinese still holds some amusement for me.

123

What i meant was. You want to speak mandarin? Go right ahead. Dont revert to English just because the person (who obviously speaks and understands mandarin) insists on using English to converse with you. Just continue answering and asking him questions in Mandarin. It matters not if he speaks Mandarin to you or not? So long as you understand what he is saying to you and so long as you are able to say what you want to say in Mandarin back to him.

This is in fact how I learned mandarin. I had my then GF speak to me in English (so she can learn English) and I spoke to her in Mandarin (so I could learn mandarin). We would correct each others mistakes. In time we both gained good ground in the languages we wanted to learn . She English and me Mandarin.

So to repeat myself. Picture following scenario:

  1. Gringo english speakers goes to ask 7/11 clerk a question using Mandarin.
  2. 7/11 clerk , obviously taiwanese and able to speak mandarin then uses English to reply as best as he could.
  3. Gringo English speaker continues to speak Mandarin to the clerk
  4. Clerk continues best he can to converse using what English he can muster.

Both people “win”. There is no written law that requires Gringo English speaker to switch to English rather then practice his Mandarin just because the opposite party has switched to English. It matters not.

124

Ah yes Tommy but you are a mixed kid who grew up in Taiwan and quite a few years ago at that before the English mania started in Asia. It’s very different for Western looking people who come here as adults.

125

[quote=“tommy525”]What I meant was. You want to speak Mandarin? Go right ahead. Dont revert to English just because the person (who obviously speaks and understands Mandarin) insists on using English to converse with you. Just continue answering and asking him questions in Mandarin. It matters not if he speaks Mandarin to you or not? So long as you understand what he is saying to you and so long as you are able to say what you want to say in Mandarin back to him.

This is in fact how I learned Mandarin. I had my then GF speak to me in English (so she can learn English) and I spoke to her in Mandarin (so I could learn Mandarin). We would correct each others mistakes. In time we both gained good ground in the languages we wanted to learn . She English and me Mandarin.

So to repeat myself. Picture following scenario:

  1. Gringo english speakers goes to ask 7/11 clerk a question using Mandarin.
  2. 7/11 clerk , obviously taiwanese and able to speak Mandarin then uses English to reply as best as he could.
  3. Gringo English speaker continues to speak Mandarin to the clerk
  4. Clerk continues best he can to converse using what English he can muster.

Both people “win”. There is no written law that requires Gringo English speaker to switch to English rather then practice his Mandarin just because the opposite party has switched to English. It matters not.[/quote]

I just don’t see how it’s a win-win. I would think a win-win would be if the Taiwanese person responded back in Chinese and the American spoke in English, that way you can gain more knowledge (new grammar patters, new vocabulary) that you wouldn’t if you didn’t listen.

I can speak to myself in Chinese all day and I don’t think that would help my speaking ability at all. I need to hear people speak it and then mimic it if i want to improve.

126

With rare exception (one being the guy at the local Circle-K), the people here either automatically speak Chinese to me, or if they speak English and I respond in Chinese, they continue in Chinese.

127

Where I live in Taichung 80% of the security guards on the street and in the building (and even cleaners) insist on trying to use some words of English with me, guess to show they know a few words. It’s a bit annoying but I just go along with it to keep them happy. I used to get worked up about it but now just go with the flow. It’s weirder when they start speaking to my infant kid in English, although that doesn’t happen all the time it happens a fair bit. They are being friendly so I can’t complain really.

128

You guys are putting up a mental block where there need be none. Theres plenty of chinese being spoken around you even if not to you to listen in on . And like Chris says once your chinese is really good, they will just speak chinese to you. But once again, it isnt important in my view. Long as YOU speak chinese. You want to listen to chinese? How easy is that? Listen to the NEWS on TV. Theres 24/7 News on TV in Taiwan. I used NEWS to learn chinese. Once I can understand everything spoken by the news casters (who speak really fast too), I know im fine.

Why be put off at all if someone speaks a few words of english with you? Humour them. YOu want them to humour you too, right? Fairs fair.

by the way? I cant get them to speak Mando to me too. Soon as they hear my taiwanese accented mando, they switch to Taiwanese :slight_smile: Which is fine by me. But I used to continue in mando. IN fact my sister speaks to me in Taiwan in taiwanese exclusively but i always answer her in mando. Whats the big deal? There aint any.

Look in the mirror. The problem is YOU.

129

I am not interested in listening to Taiwanese people speak in English unless they have something interesting to say in English. They rarely do. End of story.

I’m already what they call “functionally proficient” in Mandarin (like Chris, I almost never get answered to in English when I speak Chinese, provided that the person in question actually is Taiwanese born and raised), I don’t do this because I want some minor practice, I do it because I don’t want to hear them speak English. Not going to pretend there’s any other reason.

I was not kidding when I said I’m anti-social.

I hope you realize that there is a critical difference here from what you’re suggesting we all do.

130

It would be considered extremely rude for an American to insist on speaking a foreign language with a visitor/immigrant to the US. It’s extremely rude for Taiwanese to insist on speaking English with foreigners, many of whom are not even native English speakers.

131

For my part, no one seems to try to speak English to me when they find out I can speak Chinese. However, there are a few exceptions, mostly before I’ve had a chance to open my mouth.

  1. People coming up to me on the street and talking to me in English. The last two have been middle-aged gentlemen with top-notch English…giving out fliers.

  2. Staff in 7/11 telling me the price in English.

  3. Waiting staff in Western food places.

I don’t have any particular problem with the first 2 kinds, but I usually feel a bit uncomfortable when waiting staff in Western eateries insist on speaking English when I am speaking Chinese. It’s not because I want to practice Chinese, but simply because it’s usually easier to order what I want using Chinese rather than English. This is especially the case when trying to order “English-style” tea here (i.e. hot black tea with a dash of milk), but that’s another story.

132

What I find extremely rude isn’t so much people speaking to me in English first - this is something Taiwanese society teaches them to do, just like gawking at everyone who appears to have been born west of Thailand - it’s people addressing all of their Chinese only to the Asian faces I’m with, especially when we are speaking Chinese with each other and they are not native speakers themselves (and yes, Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese accents are just as distinctive as Western ones).

133

[quote=“tommy525”]You guys are putting up a mental block where there need be none. Theres plenty of chinese being spoken around you even if not to you to listen in on . And like Chris says once your chinese is really good, they will just speak chinese to you. But once again, it isnt important in my view. Long as YOU speak chinese. You want to listen to chinese? How easy is that? Listen to the NEWS on TV. Theres 24/7 News on TV in Taiwan. I used NEWS to learn chinese. Once I can understand everything spoken by the news casters (who speak really fast too), I know im fine.

Why be put off at all if someone speaks a few words of english with you? Humour them. YOu want them to humour you too, right? Fairs fair.

by the way? I cant get them to speak Mando to me too. Soon as they hear my taiwanese accented mando, they switch to Taiwanese :slight_smile: Which is fine by me. But I used to continue in mando. IN fact my sister speaks to me in Taiwan in taiwanese exclusively but I always answer her in mando. Whats the big deal? There aint any.

Look in the mirror. The problem is YOU.[/quote]

I don’t think the problem is YOU if you speak Chinese (the language commonly used in Taiwan) to them and they speak English back, especially if there is nothing wrong with your Chinese, why are they speaking English?!? It’s just them pushing English (I wouldn’t mind so much but it’s almost really crappy English aswell) on you mostly for their own purposes, that’s all. Tommy, I mentioned that it is different for you because you grew up in Taiwan and you are mixed race, that really affects peoples attitudes here. Taiwanese are very much focused on looks more than anything, that’s how they classify things in general.

It’s like that show, Fun Taiwan. Janet can speak Chinese, Taiwanese and English but none of the foreigners are allowed to be seen speaking Chinese (if they know Chinese) or show they know anything much about Taiwan.

White people= speak English, just a dumb assumption they make here, so seeing a white person almost always sets off ‘chance to speak English’ syndrome. The more educated they are the worst it gets, after spending years and 100,000ntd on learning English they are desperate to throw a few sentences at us poor wretches :bow: .

Ok these are generalisations but they apply too often. They even speak English to my mixed kid (they don’t do it much when I’m not around though), who can hardly speak any words yet?!?

134

On the other hand, being the devils advocate here. The desire to speak at least some english leads to sending their kids to learn english (however useless) at some cram school, leading to many jobs for young westerners in Taiwan.

No such desire to speak english could mean less desire to send their kids to cram schools to learn english , leading to less foreigners living on the wan teaching english.

135

:bow:
I see it from a diferent point
1 I am not a local
2 I dont look chinese
3 Its their country
4 I cant change them
5 I choose to come here

so if they talk with me in english and i get angry then its more like my problem not their problem so the solution will be easy

to buy an air ticket home
:bow:

136

thats basically it. If you cant change a situation, change how you handle that situation.

137

I change how I handle the situation by not getting angry and using my previously mentioned very reliable, non-confrontational method of getting them to speak Chinese to me. Which is what this thread is about.

What I’m not sure about is why you or anyone else finds that threatening.

138

It’s funny when I went to China no one was impressed that I could speak Chinese-they merely assumed the rest of the planet conversed in Mandarin. They never spoke English to me. Taiwan is a back water island in Asia, you’re going to constantly be tripping over the locals and their awkward moments because they don’t have a lot of experience interacting with other cultures. It’s what traveling and living in a foreign place is all about. You are a source of their amusement much like they have made their own aboriginals on the island. What are they called “Language Rapists”

Easy method to get Chinese people to speak Chinese to you-take the conversation up a few notches and they’ll revert back to Chinese. Example: “Do you like the country side of Taiwan?”

Answer: “Well other than the obviously over-industrialized and culturally barren west coast I’d say that the remaining natural areas are pleasant but not overly impressive. What are your impressions?”

139

That would be an awesome day… I find it even more pretentious when fellow big-noses don’t even make an attempt to speak Chinese, and walk into 7 blabbing away in English to the poor teenage girl behind the counter. I can see the look on her face as she is thinking… “WTF is this fool trying to say?”

Seen that on more than one occasion. Just sayin’ It’s a fucking Chinese speaking country after all. . . Even if you don’t care to learn Chinese, (which is totally understandable) at least learn how to do basic shit if you are going to be here long term and not have the option of constantly having a native following you around acting as your personal translator.

Personally, this irks me more than Taiwanese who say “Herro Sir” to me in Engrish… After I switch to Chinese MOST, (not all) but MOST are happy to make the change with me.

140

I got a helping of the double-standard in Shanghai the other day from a Chinese girl. It went like this:

A. There are very few foreigners in China so we want to constantly speak English to you because there so few opportunities.
B. When I’m a student in Germany I will not help any Germans learn Chinese because I want to only practice my German/English.

Followed by:

  • Does it really matter that much to you what language we use?