I feel the same way.
Actually, I am interested in observations of similar behavior from Western intellectuals.
I donāt think this womanās attitude has much to do with her being Taiwanese. I think sheās just a bit of an ass.
[quote=āTomasā][quote=āstevieboyā]
This thread is like many other complaining about Taiwan.
[/quote]
Actually, I am interested in observations of similar behavior from Western intellectuals.
I donāt think this womanās attitude has much to do with her being Taiwanese. I think sheās just a bit of an ass.[/quote]
yah, thatās easy. just look for americans who are well-traveled. 
like fred smith and his derogatory comments about the french (iām complimenting you fred, youāre a āwestern intellectualā)
but seriously, I have met few if any academics that possibly sound, at least from reading Tomasā story, so openly biased, rude, and prone to believing in stereotypes. possibly says something about her academic training and professionalism.
lucky for me, my experience with professors, whether chinese, european, american, etc, have been great.
Stevie, Iāve done it myself. Almost every time, Iāve afterword thought that my criticism could easily be applied to people from a lot of other nations. Just for the record, the Taiwanese professors Iāve dealt with have mostly been very courteous and kind, going out of their way to provide information I hadnāt asked for (mainly because I wasnāt even aware of it!).
[quote=āTomasā]Actually, I am interested in observations of similar behavior from Western intellectuals.
I donāt think this womanās attitude has much to do with her being Taiwanese. I think sheās just a bit of an ass.[/quote]
No doubt, there are asses everywhere, but thereās something uniquely Taiwanese about the way she was being an ass. I canāt recall such an extreme example as that but it sure rings a bell.
Then again i come from new york, i donāt know if the rest of the states is the same or not, but there itās pretty much, oh youāre from lower gazorbia? bfd, how are you 
I do not even know what an intellectual is anymoreā¦ it is similar to that scene in Taxi Driver where the senator tells Deniro he has learned more about this country in the back of a taxi cab blah blah blahā¦ well taxi cab confessions asideā¦ some people have passive personalities, others have to get every lil sting incident off their chest. I donāt really put any value into someone university education/degrees as a scale of anythingā¦ it is really just a scale of chance and circumstanceā¦ I suppose we will never stop with generalizations of a group of peopleā¦ espically when you are strikingly different, we make generalizatons about this island where we are visitorsā¦ so reallyā¦ there is tons of foreigners that can barely order dinnerā¦ and yah people liek to start conversations yes, so if they dont think through your qulificatiosn first dont be madā¦ unless youāve never been bumped into by ablackman and whispered niggerā¦ or got denied a loan at a bank and thought kike etc etc etc
[quote]It seems any time I discuss anything relating to history, I get a long, pedantic, and irrelevant lecture that ends with a sigh and the standard line:
Well, having had the identity of this woman revealed to me via PM, I can state that I do in fact know her, have met her, and SHE IS NOT AN INTELLECTUAL ā just a consummate marketer with a BA from NTU. I aināt saying who she is, mind youā¦but those in my field of endeavor will readily imagine when I mention āname recognitionāā¦ 
Plus, I have NEVER heard anyone, Chinese or foreign, who had a positive encounter with the woman. Well, it must make for a very unpleasant life for her, I would imagine. At least I can vouch that she is, AFAIK, NOT a teacher at NTU, just using the facilities, because she does not hold the necessary minimum MA degree to teach college-level courses.
This kind of person truly gives the profession a bad name, however. First of all, teaching such a large group āinterpretingā is irresponsible unless it is designed primarily and probably only as an interesting exercise or language-enhancing activity; you wonāt become a competent interpreter that way. And as I have personally gone to a class held by this āteacherā (this was back in 1995) I can vouch for the fact that she aināt no teacher. The woman listened to two third-year university students try to translate Chinese into Spanish (and I am fluent in Spanish, but kept my mouth shut ā amazingly enough :shock: ) making errors that a first-year high school student in the States would be embarrassed about, and just said, āGood, good,ā and went on to the next person. Iām sure she accepted their money, too, and had them thinking, āIām studying with such a famous teacher, I know Iām going to be a great interpreter.ā The ethical thing to do is to gently, encouragingly, but firmly tell the students their level is just not sufficient to join such a class ā but then again that would require ethics and a knowledge of the language in question. How anyone would dare to āteachā a class into a language they do not even understand (based on the complete lack of comment or correction) is beyond me. 
This still makes me furious years later, although (fortunately) in my case this was the āfree trial lessonā so I wasnāt out any cash for the experience.
When asked if I speak/read Chinese in a situation where anyone with the brains of a clockwork mouse could work out I do, I always answer ānoā. This invariably either amuses me, or them, and occaisionally both.
When people ask me if I understand the television news (after they see me sitting in front of a news broadcast for about a half hour), I say: No. I just like the pretty pictures. It gets the same reaction you get 
I donāt have a problem with people asking me how much I understand. I donāt mind it when they ask me if I can write (unless they watch me actually write something). It doesnāt even really bother me when people ask if I can eat with chopsticks (unless Iām using them to insert something into my mouth). I think Iām very open to silly questions, unless the asker can figure out the answer by him/herself. Donāt waste my time or yours. If you want to chat with me (even practise your Englishā¦ groanā¦) at least come up with a real question.
I try to keep my fluency in Mandarin as low key as possible. Too many Taiwanese invade my space uninvited and too many foreigners enjoy pissing contests.
How about just ignoring them? Thatās what I doā¦
I think those pissing contests are amusing as long as Iām an observer. I see it in the bar every once in a while when a couple of people try to show up each otherās Chinese-language skills. The first one orders some beers, the second one chips in that they also want glasses, the first asks for a menu because heās hungry, etc. Invariably, one of them corrects the otherās Chinese and soon theyāre rolling around on the bar floor and fighting with broken beer bottles (okay, maybe it doesnāt go that far).
He forgot to mention he speaks Chinese with a lisp.
Okami
He forgot to mention he speaks Chinese with a lisp.
Okami[/quote]
Heyā¦watch it or Iāll have to unleash my hoard of Mom jokes.
Interesting. I speak Mandarin all day in my work. Iām used to it. When I go out in public and speak Mandarin around foreigners, I know that some of them think Iām showing off. In fact, Iām just acting the way I do all day, when there arenāt any foreigners around. I couldnāt give a shit what they think, so I never tone anything down.
Interesting. I speak Mandarin all day in my work. Iām used to it. When I go out in public and speak Mandarin around foreigners, I know that some of them think Iām showing off. In fact, Iām just acting the way I do all day, when there arenāt any foreigners around. I couldnāt give a shit what they think, so I never tone anything down.[/quote]
I keep mine medium key. I havenāt had anyone really invade my space, unless you count a few strangers coming up to me on the street in my neighborhood, asking me to teach their children English. My unmagnetic personality probably works to my advantage in that case.
The only time Iāve had a pissing contest from other foreigners in my 10+ years here was from an asshole homophobic foreign āsupervisorā years ago at a bushiban who took the time to tell me ābu zhi daoā shouldnāt be pronouced as separate words and not one (and who probably had no idea the only reason I was hired at that place was because I was having an affair with his boss). What a clueless idiot.
I use Mandarin at work on a daily basis. When I mean ālow keyā it is in times like when that asshole foreign supervisor at AIT insists on speaking Mandarin with me. Just speak English 'cause I got people to see and places to goā¦I donāt have time for pissing contests. I am also not interested in having political debates with people who hear me speak Mandarin in the 7-11. Let me buy my Jim Beam and be on my way. There is a new waiter at my after-work drinking hole and because he knows I speak Mandarin he interferes with my quiet time by wanting to talk me up. Just drop off my Super Long Island and then f**k off . I have just found that by not wearing my Mandarin ability on my sleeve, I can protect my free time much better.
OK, let me get this straight. You (I assume) are an American citizen, and thereās someone working at AIT (a fellow American, I assume) who insists on speaking Mandarin, and not English, to you when you go in for services? Good Lord.
I wonder if it was the same jerk that gave me a big lecture on how I SHOULD visit the botanical gardens when I was just calling for a routine appointment.
OK, let me get this straight. You (I assume) are an American citizen, and thereās someone working at AIT (a fellow American, I assume) who insists on speaking Mandarin, and not English, to you when you go in for services? Good Lord.
I wonder if it was the same jerk that gave me a big lecture on how I SHOULD visit the botanical gardens when I was just calling for a routine appointment.[/quote]
Yes and yes. I finally had to ask him to please use English as I couldnāt understand his rather poor attempt at speaking Mandarin.