Actually, I hear that you can rent a Chinese g/f if you really want one. There’s this place near my house that rents g/f’s that give massages (I mean Spa therapy) and finish with something really “handy”. What a great way to learn the language, perhaps you’ll learn more Japanese like “O gi” though.
I whole heartedly agree with Tomas. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you should be boinking all of them.
Well Bassman, I guess that was sort of how it started.
She very obvoiusly wanted to speak Chinese with the waiguoren who had terrible Chinese.
I guess after 8 months her ambitions were not purely financial
Tomas - I do not know if I was extremely lucky - I cannot believe all Shanghai girls are the same - well actually from what I read I have been astoundingly fortunate.
My taiwanese gf’s english is adequate, not good, but no trouble holding an english conversation… because of that, we communicate in english but that also means my manadarin is improving at like a snail’s pace… also her english hasn’t improved that much either cuz we have no trouble communicating… I think my English is starting to slip as well… too much ching-glish when hanging with her taiwanese friends, grrrr :?
Once you are rarely with westeners - English “slipping” is a BIG problem - last night I could not remember “antiinflamatory” as the medicine i was using
[quote=“Bassman”]
Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you should be boinking all of them.[/quote]
Nor would I, though who another person decides to boink is generally not up to you or me, now is it? It also doesn’t have much to do with learning Chinese.
My girlfriends here have probably taught me more colloquial Mandarin than I could ever have learned elsewhere. They have been very patient, willing to stop and explain the origins and variants of the words or phrases they are using. I have a friend from Canada who speaks excellent Mandarin who would say the same thing.
I have been here a bit over a year and my Chinese is not that good, despite having a Taiwanese/Chinese bf. The problems I find are:
He is not very patient as a teacher. Because he wants me to learn it well, he is tends to be very picky about my pronunciation not letting me get away with any “deviation” from his perceived norm. This is despite the fact that half the native speakers I hear speaking Mandarin don’t pronounce the same word the same way. Anyway…
Because we are dating, I find I take his criticisms/corrections of my Chinese ability more seriously than I do when anyone else does it. I’m not sure having your “life partner”/“love interest” teach you is always the best way.
We met in the US so our first language of communication is English. By habit, we tend to fall into English and I find it hard to remember to “practice” my English with him. Or, is that “on” him.
We’ve noticed that his English skills are slowly degrading, as he speaks English a lot less here than in the US. He speaks Chinese 80% of the time at work, 100% of the time with his family, 70% of the time with his/our friends, etc… So, we sometimes find he can’t remember words he used to know or makes grammar mistakes he never did before. Therefore, I’m always hesitant to speak Chinese with him, for fear of causing his English to deteriorate even further. I’m his biggest source of Enlgish practice.
As for Taiwanese/Chinese friends. I do have a number of them. In fact, I work in a company were Chinese is used for general communication 80% of the time. However, I still find that I (and others communicating with me) automatically fall into the habit of using English. For my friends, most of them want to practice their English and if I try to speak Chinese with them it only lasts a brief period of time. With my coworkers, they always seem surprised (and, often, a little confused) when I speak Chinese. As they don’t seem to expect me to speak Chinese.
I’ve also noticed this when I’m out in the “real world.” If I try to use my limited Chinese with someone and they don’t understand the first time, they usually revert to English (even if theirs is only rudimentary). If they speak Chinese to me and I don’t understand them the first time, they usually revert to English. And, because I’ve been speaking English for nearly 35 years, I find myself automatically reverting to it myself. It is always a struggle to continue to remember to speak in Chinese (especially since I can’t yet hold a long conversation on any topic).
Same here, but he mostly does it, when we are arguing and that drives me mad… 
I’m looking forward to the day he starts to learn German… 
He’s the only one who does critize and correct my mistakes, others won’t even bother, cause they think it’s good enough for a foreigner… :?
Yup, he is complaining about that too, but then again, I’m not a native English speaker either, so we naturally speak Chinese. It’s a little disadvantage for me especially when arguing, but then again, better one of us speaks his mother tongue than none of us…right?
If their English is worse than my Chinese, I usually say, my English isn’t that good either and we stick we Chinese… 
I understand a lot of what Mesheel and Quiet Mountain are talking about. I think learning each other
[quote=“Jive Turkey”]I understand a lot of what Mesheel and Quiet Mountain are talking about. I think learning each other
None of my boy toys are Taiwanese (or asian) and the few words they have learned in the 2 yrs relationship are
never get to learn their language since i am a very bad student…very bad!!
[quote=“Kenny McCormick”][quote=“Jive Turkey”]I understand a lot of what Mesheel and Quiet Mountain are talking about. I think learning each other
[quote]Kenny, what were you doing in Guangdong? What kind of people did you normally talk to? I
I always wanted to learn Cantonese, but guess now, that I’m stuck with a Taiwanese boyfriend I might as well learn taiwanese or hakka…=)
Taiwanese sounds more difficult than Cantonese to my ears though, cause when I listen to Cantonese songs the pronounciation reminds me of mandarin and sometimes I can guess the meaning. But then again when I listen to Taiwanese I have no clue at all, what they are talking about…
well, we can certainly change that, can’t we?
followed by the
“i’m sooo kidding” excuse.
I’ve seem guys going on Taiwan yahoo chat to pick up Taiwanese girls, they just go around n ask if any nice girl would willin to teach them chinese…=_="
Does it ever work? Because I have never gotten a girl online to come out… 
I usually try the department stores, coffee shops and bars. Better LUCK there! 
What other lines have you heard them use? Just curious…
[quote=“danny”]Does it ever work? Because I have never gotten a girl online to come out… 
I usually try the department stores, coffee shops and bars. Better LUCK there! 
What other lines have you heard them use? Just curious… 
[/quote]
lol* Actually I asked couple of them… they said they went out with A LOT of girls 
I guess it’s quite successfull for them, maybe you didn’t ask the right word?
wut line… uhmmm… let me think
They tried to speak or type Chinese to impress girls
have web cam or mic help
But I would say… talking about the things they don’t like about Taiwan is a big turn off, I have seen people team up on that guy
Be careful, though, as this is why so many otherwise-masculine foreigners end up speaking Chinese like girls.
[color=darkblue][/quote]In general, I think what I’m asking is; how important do you think a shared language or languages are to a relationship, and can difficulties be easily overcome?[/color]
Positive! 
About 8 years ago, I was having a relationship while studying in the U.S.
He is a Russian, whose English speaking ability could barely buy him a burger in McDonalds. Mine is okay.
This relationship kept for 6 years, English is definitely improved for both of us, so as other languages (Russian for me and Mandarin for him ).
I didn’t find many troubles or problems between us regarding language barrier. The only problem is the culture differences.
Overall, it’s a very wonderful memory. BTW. i did get a chance to visit his house in Russia, that’s cool.
PS. we didn’t get involved that relationship just to practice English, it was for love~ But… it’s a long story…
Hope you guys all have good experiences of learning Mandarin here in Taiwan .