Hello everyone, I recently moved back to my birthplace of taipei and will be here for a decent length of time. Its nice to see old family/friends but I’m having some serious problems adjusting. It seems to me like being an American grown taiwanese gets me all the troubles of being a white american (language barrier, culture shock, etc) in taipei but none of the benefits (people will tolerate your faults since your a foreigner, you will be regarded as special/unique, etc). For example, a white person with a group of taiwanese people will obviously have communication issues, but they are laughed off and you are lauded for at least attempting to speak chinese. If I was in a situation like that they would just wonder why this idiot can barely form sentences. Not too sure what to do, any other ABCs on this board with any advice on how to adjust to this situation?
I highly doubt they are thinking u are an idiot! With ur accent, they get it right away u are from overseas. In the city ur fine, not sure about country. Smile a lot. If u cant make it, fake it. say the same thing twice, and very fast:
Keyi, keyi! (fine fine!)
Hao, hao! (sure sure)
Ok, ok!
Mei2shi4, mei2shi4! (noproblem noproblem!)
perhaps hang out with your relatives a little more to get used to the culture and language. They’ll know that everything is practically new to you and be willing to explain everything to you.
I’m actually in similar situation as you. Last year I went back to the old country after being in the US for over 20 years. I found everything to be difficult. simple things such as asking food stall venders what they’re selling, and unable to understand their answer left me with more questions then before i spoke. Luckily I had a cousin that took me all over, and patiently explained everything to me while I rebuilt my chinese-skills.
worst case scenario, just say you’re from Korea/Japan/Vietnam, and they’ll be more understanding… I hope.
I read a book by a Japanese American anthropologist who went back to Japan and she mentioned what you wrote as the hardest thing about living there – that is, people thinking she is dumb when she made a language mistake or did something un-Japanese. The book is called Crafting Selves. It’s worth reading.
[quote=“fabricator”]
worst case scenario, just say you’re from Korea/Japan/Vietnam, and they’ll be more understanding… I hope.[/quote]
Whatever you do, don’t say that you are from Korea!
Learn Chinese - that should be a primary goal. That means socializing more with Chinese speakers than English - although you’ll probably want to do the opposite. Being conversationally bi-lingual opens up your work & social life.
Don’t be like many foreigners who’ve been here 5-10 years, and still can’t speak. Being Taiwanese-born American would be even more embarrassing.
Learn to say in Chinese, “Sorry, my Chinese isn’t that good” so that locals don’t think you’re mentally or linguistically handicapped.
Short answer: There’s probably nothing you can do to make people stop asking you dumb questions.
But you can come up with a script to deflect the questions. Explain all in one go: I grew up in America and spoke mostly English, so I’m still learning Chinese.
Try to preempt when you see the question forming on someone’s face. Toss it out there at the first opportunity, and people will keep in mind after meeting you.
Nothing you can do about shop owners and what not, though.
Taipei must be international enough so as to have asians around who speak no Chinese. Just speak English everywhere you go. Speak zero Chinese, rather then poor Chinese.
Because like you say, being ethnically Taiwanese and speaking poor mandarin you won’t be thought highly of. Better you spoke none of it in public, until you can speak it well.
If you never practice Chinese
How can you get good at it?
Get a local girlfriend/boyfriend. Quickest way to learn the language. Oh and try to stay away from the crazy ones.
It depends on what you like to get out from your time here. If you don’t have any intention of reacquiring the language, just speak English. Other the other hand, if you want to become fluent again and know the culture in depth, learn the language. Try not to let their negative reactions get to you, they don’t matter.
I just spoke broken Chinese until it improved lol but my friends thought it was rather cool to have an ABC around
and English comes in handy whenever someone tries to sell you something.
[quote=“archylgp”]
I read a book by a Japanese American anthropologist who went back to Japan and she mentioned what you wrote as the hardest thing about living there – that is, people thinking she is dumb when she made a language mistake or did something un-Japanese. The book is called Crafting Selves. It’s worth reading.[/quote]
I’ll point to Wallace Kaname “Wally” Yonamine 与那嶺要. He was a nisei Japanese American born in Hawaii during the hay days of Hawaiian baseball. He was a two sport star, playing football so well, he was the running back of the San Francisco 49ers. His football career was cut short in 1948 after getting hurt playing baseball back home. He tried to make it in American professional baseball, but being non-white he had a hard time breaking through. His coach Lefty O’Doul who visited Japan with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back in 1934 suggested him to give playing in Japan a try.
So Wally went, and joined Tokyo Giants in 1951 without any Japanese skills. It was just after WW2 and Japanese at the time hated Japanese Americans. They pretty much considered Japanese Americans as traitors. Wally also plays very aggressively. He would slide foot first into base American style, something Japanese baseball was resisting at the time. He would give football-style rolling blocks to second baseman who blocked his path, something the Japanese considers barbaric at the time. He would make diving catches in the outfield, Japanese think of him as a showing off. To make matters worse, his last name gives away that he is Ryukyuan, so some ultra-nationalist Japanese would look down on him based on his ancestry.
He received insults, death threat letters Jackie Robinson style. Some of his teammates hates him and never turned around. They set out to make Wally’s life miserable.
But Wally played in Japan for 11 years, first for the Giants then for the Dragons. He won three batting titles, was a member of 4 champion teams and was the 1957 MVP, 11 time All-star. Afterwards he was the first Gaijin manager, and managed teams for 25 years.
In 1990 he was the first American to be inducted in to the Japanese hall of fame. Till this day he’s the only American in the Japanese hall of fame.
His poor handle of the Japanese language has always been criticized. It’s even in his Japanese wikipedia entry. Even when he managed to be able to communicate effectively, they criticize him for not being able to read or write or communicate well.
Life is much better for Taiwanese American, especially in this day and age. But yes, there are many benefits of being a white dude in Taiwan you will not enjoy.
This could be a complicated experience if it’s a homecoming for you. I would not get hung up on the benefits of being a white American in Taipei, I think they are canceled out by some serious issues (like getting spoken to in English no matter how fluent your Chinese is, I would be super annoyed).
I’m an ABC. I just come right out and say that I am American, no Taiwanese this or that. I say this strongly and without vagueness. Basically no one questions me on this, and all of my faults (there are many) are tolerated just fine by other people. Help them help you-- smile big. When people hear that I only went to American schools, they re-calibrate the yardstick, as they should. If you’re putting in the effort, you don’t really need to answer to anyone. Also if you were educated totally in English, where you were born is a technicality and not anyone else’s business. I think you need to give yourself a break. Also, no one thinks you’re an idiot (I have never gotten that vibe from anyone). Just take stock of what you have to offer-- even if it’s not perfect, it’s probably good enough.
When I first got here people would screw up their faces and be like “Where are you from?” but as my Chinese gets better that has now been downgraded to “You’re from Hong Kong, right?” I think it’s pretty funny and see it as a badge of progress. I wouldn’t recommend seeing it as a statement about who you are.