What’s up. I was studying Japanese, which is a sinographic-based language; but I, like many foreigners with " round eyes", face a " mental block" by the locals in accepting us speaking the language. I speak it decently, and can read and write kanji(sinographs) well; but 80% of the time, I get replies in English, as in " this stupid foreiger can’t possibly be speaking our language, the hardest in the world". Thus, this is the famous " nihongo" myth. I have no resistance with elderly people, they don’t give a damn if you don’t know a word of " nihongo" , they’ll speak to you in Japanese.
There is also unease and suspicion with a foreigner( again, the ones with east asian faces don't get that much) that is fluent in Japanese; because you cannot be " fooled" or get bullied easily. Anyhow, I've gotten tired of Japanese ethnocentricity, It is still stucked in the Tokugawa Era, when the Dutch merchants in Nagasaki, even after been trading there for more than 200 years, were forbidden to learn Japanese, that's how I feel.
I want to know if in Taiwan they also have that same ethnocentric attitude, if is just a Japanese thing, or a across the board " sinographic-based language thing". When a round-eye goes to a restaurant with an East Asian face friend that doesn't speak a word of Chinese, and the round-eye is the one doing all the talking to the waiter, does the waiter look at the East Asian face and ignores you???
If you speak " broken Chinese" , will they tell you sarcastically that you're so " excellent", and get patted on the head like a pet figuratevly, but when you're really fluent, you get told " your chinese is bad" or simply " lets talk in English". Your proficiecy gets frowned on because you don't fit a stereotype??
Are Chinese as thick as Japanese when it comes to believe that round-eyed people can learn to read and write Chinese characters? can people please shed some light on this issue?
thankyou.