Although a resident in Taipei for nearly three years, I, like most of my expat companions, have never taken the time to formally study Mandarin. Despite this, I have managed to acquire what I consider to be an acceptable level of speaking fluency. My rant, I suppose, although perhaps more of a ramble, is that I often find my Chinese tonal pronunciation being mocked by Native speakers with whom I am communicating. I have little pride at stake here but can harldy imagine such mockery occuring if the situation were reversed. (e.g.- a Chinese person being mocked by a Native English speaker for leaving off ābeā verbs or placing āveryā in front of verbs) Often, I find that those whom Iām speaking to will respond to me in my accent or will intentionally misplace tones in entire spoken sentence. I assume that these offenders donāt credit me with the intelligence to know that Iām being mocked and, of course, herein lies the insult. Many of my expat friends have told of similar experiences and those who have been here a long time even remember when this ātrendā of mocking the Non-native speaker began. Itās disheartening and discouraging, especially coming from a culture that is so embarassed by its own lack of command of the English language. In my teaching days, I recall, it usually took me weeks to break down the āfaceā issues in adult classes just to get students to start conversing. Wouldnāt it seem that the Taiwanese could empathize with the plight of the Mandarin learner?
Taitodd,
On a similar noteā¦
One thing that I find annoyingā¦ Although I am Taiwanese-American, I guess most people find that I look like a Japaneseā¦ what is annoying to me is the fact that first, people look at me, and assume that I am a Japanese, and then when there is a language problem, they will speak to me directly in Japaneseā¦ even when I tell them that I am an ABCā¦ of course, I can speak Japanese, so maybe some of my accent sounds like a Japanese, but itās just the plain idiocy that I cannot be recognized by my own kindā¦ not to mention the fact that I have already told them that I am one of themā¦ then, they also tell me that they are able to tell the difference between a Japanese and a Chinese, and a Korean, etcā¦ whateverā¦ However, I do play dumb a lot of the time, and pretend to be Japanese and use it to my advantage at timesā¦ there are times when it is beneficial for me not to speak in Chinese, or to pretend to be Japaneseā¦ for example, I did it once at the Computex Show since I didnāt have a ticket to get inā¦ noticed a corner for Japanese people to get free admission, so I just used my Japanese name, and got my free admission and packet of goodiesā¦
so I guess it canāt be all that bad to be mocked atā¦ you can probably find some way to turn it to your advantageā¦
To Taitodd,
I agree with you in that local people tend to mock non-Chinese speaking people who are making concerted efforts to learn the local languages. Itās tough, but at the same time, Asian immigrants who move to the West face the same (if not worse) hurdles.
What I donāt see in Taiwan at least, is outright racial discrimination, prejudice or ethnic violence to the same degree that exists in the U.S. and in other parts of the world. Thus, if you can keep that in perspective, situations may not seem so frustrating. For the most part, the local people are friendly and open-minded. Try confronting (politely of course) about how you really feel when they mock your attempts to speak Chinese. Most of the times, I would think, itās just a matter of explaining to them that what they are doing is condescending, rude, and unacceptable to you. Wherever possible, I try myself to āteachā them what they donāt know. Just a thought.
I wouldnāt say Taiwanese people a very tolerant when it comes to racial discrimination. I think the only reason people may feel that Taiwan is a very tolernat place towards other races is because Chinese society in general is isolated from the rest of the world from their own continued doing. Unlike America where race has nothing to do with national citizenship, here you generally have to be Chinese to be a member of China. If there were suddenly a lot of races living together here (like Singapore), youād probablly find a different situation. From this point of view, Iāll always be a foreigner here in Taiwan, no matter how long Iāve been here or how well I speak Chinese. Iāve pretty much given up on trying to change Taiwanese thought, and have sought to get by on a few tricks: (1) Always start a converstation with a Taiwanese stranger by aksing if he or she can speak Mandarin. This takes them for a loop. Better yet, in the middle of the converstation, complement them on how well they speak Mandarin. Sometimes I even ask them what country they are from. (2) Always play dumb about how good your Chiense is. Itās always best to āplay the pig to catch the tiger.ā Never swagger into a situation with your Chinese ability. You can only get spanked. (3) Learn a few complete Taiwanese phrases. Find a place to natually interject them into your Mandarin. Although they know you canāt really speak Taiwanese, it always brings a smile to their face, as if Taiwanese people could actually smile. (4) Tell them your mother is Chinese. This is especially interesting in my case since Iām butt white. If you can say it with a straight face, this also can take them for a loop ā¦ Good luck!
Oh my gawd! This is HYSTERICAL!! LOL!!
Jeremy-
Good pointers- Youāve tickled my cynical funnybone. I couldnāt agree with you more, esp. where racism is concerned in Taiwan. It is the very lack of ethnic diversity that masks the prejudice that is raging in this society. Although,in truth, one neednāt look further than the three distinct separations on the island (Taiwanese, Chinese and Aborignal) to see that intolerance, even among Taiwanese countrymen, reigns.
As for your pointers, I must confess to having employed them all at one point or another with sadistic glee. I often respond āTaiwaneseā when asked my nationality as this is hilariously unacceptable to Taiwanese. āSHEN ME KE NENG?!!ā
Iāve also began dealing with this ātonal mockingā stuff differently. When mocked I immediately say in Chinese āYour English is laughable too but I wonāt laugh at you if you donāt laugh at me.ā Instant recognition of the offense follows. Blunt but effective.
Keep posting! Todd
Hmmā¦ Jeremy, not sure if I am looked at as an American until I talkā¦ Iāve been equally annoyed in the two Asian countries I have lived in so far (Taiwan and Japan) when people scorn me for telling everyone that I am an Americanā¦ the usual reaction is hey, youāre not whiteā¦ how can you call yourself an Americanā¦ when I am back home in American, even in my hometown of the Silicon Valley, where you would think would be a more Asian tolerant place, strangers still speak to me slowly and ennunciate very clearly as if I donāt understandā¦ I speak the same way back to them until they finally figure it out (for those who are smart enough to figure that I am mocking them)ā¦
face itā¦ racism exists everywhereā¦ I donāt think people do it blatantly since they are usually the ones that are adamant in the fact that they are not racistā¦ I will be the first to admit that I amā¦ I like both sidesā¦ both my American-ness, and my Taiwanese-ness (donāt let my handle fool yaā¦ ) anything not American or Asian (mainly the Confucian influenced countries such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan), I have really no interest in, and I am fairly ignorant to (thus, being a racist for being ignorant to other cultures)
In any caseā¦ not trying to flame here, just trying to point out the fact that you can do whateverz, but you can never get rid of the racism that exists anywhereā¦
i find this
PAT The HORSES BEHIND (PAI MA PEE)
Taiwan person: Your Chinese is so good.
ME: No youāre English is better than my Chinese
Taiwan person: No my english is very poorā¦ youre chinese is so good.
ME: Then if my Chinese is much better than your Englishā¦why the F*** are you aspeaking to me in English ??
Why do I only see one side of the conversation?
maybe Todd and Jeremy were Siamese twins and shared one forumosa account
this is hilariousā¦ i also now want to say my mother is chinese and i am taiwanese although i will have to wait about 10 years for such hi jinks because my chinese isnāt good enough yet.
It was possible to post anonymously back then, and thatās how those posts are interpreted now.
If they mock you, threaten to sue them for loss of face. Thatās a big thing here.
18 years later
18 years later?
Some things never change.
Itās throwback Thursday and weāve decided to throw way backā¦
Shit, I couldāve sworn it was Friday. This shit happens like every week.
Some people will strip tones from their speech on purpose, falsely believing that will somehow help a foreigner understand them better. I could see how that might be conceived as mocking, but I think itās more just that theyāre kind of snarky and impatient.
What I donāt like is people talking slow at me and treating me like an idiot just because they see my face and process it as foreign, and donāt actually listen to me speak. If they did listen, theyād immediately realize my Mandarin accent is very local, almost too much so.
Story time!
Some time ago I popped by a couple shoe stores to ask if they sold laces because I wanted to replace mine. I went in the first one and inquired normally, ååļ¼č«åä½ åęę²ęå®č³£éåø¶ļ¼
First, the girl at the counter stared at me and repeated éåø¶ļ¼ slowly.
I was like ā¦åÆļ¼éåø¶
Then, still staring at me, she pointed to the shoelaces on a shoe she was holding. I nodded very slowly in response, with an expression that said āā¦yes, you dumb bitch.ā
FINALLY she got the picture and said ę²ęč¶ to which I said ok, spun around, and left.
I decided the next time that this sort of thing happens, Iām going to act theyāre the one whoās retarded. Or just initiate a completely nonsensical conversation until everyone feels too crazy to continue.