I make it clear to new Taiwanese friends that speaking English from time to time is great, even preferred, but that we shouldn’t stick to English when it impedes the flow of conversation. My Mandarin is better than most of my local friends’ English, so we end up speaking Mandarin most of the time, unless English is more appropriate to the situation. Most of my friends get it pretty quickly, and give up their insistence on speaking English once they realize that speaking Mandarin with me is a helluva lot more convenient.
GC, is that you? If not, I’ve got a buddy who speaks very passable Mandarin, thanks to the energy and time he put into learning to communicate with his Taiwanese girlfriend.
I came to this topic wanting to give some ideas about chasing away people who want to mooch “speak in English”. But it seems like the real name of it should be HOW TO USE FOR FREE CHINESE CONVERSATION.
Let’s review:
- Go to the night market for a free conversation about the pretty goods marked at $2900 that are selling for $100.
- Get a Native girlfriend. Never teach her free English lessons. Mooch Chinese conversation from her, all her friends and especially her relatives’ kids.
- Only talk to students who are majoring in Chinese.
- Make them uncomfortable when speaking English by mentioning you’d prefer speaking Chinese, and demonstrating that the conversation is more interesting when it’s in Chinese.
- Pretend Spanish is your native language.
- Refuse to speak English at all. Answer in Chinese even if they ask you a question in English.
- Move somewhere that nobody speaks English like Taichung.
- Get plastic surgery so you look Taiwanese. This one is not surefire, because some people are ethnically Chinese but nobody will speak to them in Chinese. Go figure.
Oops, after looking at them, I guess number 5 is really more about avoiding using English at all.
Anyway, if you want to talk in Chinese, make friends with the old guys who guard apartment buildings. They do nothing but sit around all day waiting for someone to come chat to them.
If the English moochers are holding you back find a new crowd. Usually if moochers are hanging on then your Chinese probably sucks. Still don’t hang out with people who work in English schools. Go out by yourself and chat up the cute bored sales girls all over town (night makets suck for chatting up). Also try going to classes if your not going yet.
If pretending to be from a non-English-speaking country doesn’t work, you can always try the reverse psychology approach. Sometimes I find that if I try to force the conversation into Mandarin, they will sense this and try to force the conversation back into English. It becomes this childish tug of war that I find quite uncomfortable. So I find a much easier reverse psychology strategy is to just try to speak as much native speaker English as possible. Maybe bring your Taiwanese friend out with your expat friends and just act like your Taiwanese friend speaks perfect fluent English. Respect your Taiwanese friend’s English and treat them like an expat. Your Taiwanese friend will be scared shitless when they realize what it really takes to speak fluent English with foreigners. They will naturally try to shift the conversational territory onto friendlier ground…namely, Mandarin. Hence, you let them lead the way towards Mandarin, without seeming like you wanted it to go there. People are much more willing to do things when they think they are the ones who want it that way.
Great list except for this one. There are just as many people in Taichung who took English in high school or college or at an English cram school and want to practice their English. People in central and southern Taiwan mix in tons of Taiwanese with their Mandarin. If you can get someone to speak Mandarin or Taiwanese, Taipei is definitely the only place where they will naturally speak Mandarin rather than Taiwanese, particularly in large group situations.
Mmm, it’s worth a try. I do like your idea,Neo. Wish I’d thought of that earlier. I know after some beers I can slur and muffle words so that even native English speakers can’t figure out what I’m saying.Maybe I should even throw in some local slang just to lose all communication whatsoever! I can’t stand that game of tug of war with 2 languages but I know it works both ways. My “friend” knows I can understand a lot of basic Mandarin and so he deliberately speaks to me really quickly in Taiwanese just to say “Hey mate, you’re never gonna have a convo with me in Chinese,so just forget it!”. I might tell him to just have a nice life!
How do you say that in Taiwanese?
I went to Taipei for the first timew recently. I can understand that feeling that people are just talking to you for some practice. Especially cab drivers. In taichung no-one will talk to you in English.
You could wear a bagde that says “Hello = 200 dollars. 10 dollars a minute, thereafter”. That should get them to bugger off.
You could always start using them for free sex.
I hate it when people assume that since you are white (or at least not of Asian descent) that you cannot speak Mandarin, or that you can only speak English. It sets me in a bad mood for a bit, especially when I end up speaking Chinese and the other person English for the whole conversation.
I even made a shirt that says 我不要跟你說中文 ( I dont want to speak Chinese with you. (Maybe it says “say Chinese,” but close enough.)). I wore that a couple of times, but it is a little too blunt for some of the Taiwanese. I think I will make a shirt that just says “中文” on it.
shouldn’t the shirt say “I don’t want to speak English with you”?
If you want people to speak Chinese with you, try wearing a different shirt.
HAHAHA.
I wrote it write the first time, then I thought, wait, no that’s not right!
Yeah, well I guess you guys got it that i meant that I dont want to speak with them in ENGLISH.
I’m not really sure how long you’ve been in Taiwan or your Chinese level.
Sounds like this guy is a good friend (or could become one) and that he has similar interests. This can be a real bonus for you. There are endless situations where expats are dependant on locals for translating, mediating, showing us where stuff is. Don’t burn your bridges.
If your Chinese level is still very low ask him if you can use Chinese exclusively for the first 5 minutes or so each time you meet and after that whatever. Or you could ask him to spend ten minutes each time specifically covering what you’ve been learning in class. (assuming your taking classes)
Not compensating your English for their level of ability can be really useful. Speak fast. use slang terms often. They will lose their feeling of superiority. You can use this as a tactic from time to time if you like or when you first meet new people.
I spent a few weeks in China and was used so much for my English that I spoke very little Chinese while I was there.
When I first arrived in Taiwan I insisted on speaking Chinese with most friends ( I am the one who forked out big bucks to be here -plane ticket, travel insurance, storage of things back home, etc.) at least until my level started reaching a point where I got a fair exchange. Speaking quickly can help to enforce this as it saps their confidence enough to get them speaking Chinese. But, I always found it refreshing to have a friend who I could talk more freely with in English. Sounds like your friend might be that guy.
I found that finding a really chatty local vendor has been very helpful. He likes chatting naturally. He likes having a foreigner eating at his shop and he is persistent in talking to me even when I can’t understand. I usually go home with half a dozen characters to look up and then I understand what he was trying to tell me (well sometimes anyway). These new words are good to get the conversation rolling again next time. I deliberately drop at off peak time and he will sit and chat with me for half an hour easily.
Everybody’s a little different. These are just a few of my tactics of language learning and survival.
I told my pal that I want to learn Chinese and that I’m not keen to be anybody’s English teacher and he said sorry and that he wasn’t aware of how I felt. This goes to show that you have to be open about what you want . Some locals see foreigners here who only use English and so they presume they aren’t interested in learning Chinese, just being here and enjoying life here. Make sure they know the difference.
One of my friends here, used to speak to me in English everytime we met and now I can speak a “little” Mandarin, never calls me to go out!