Yeah, when I get pulled over by cops in Taipei, they’re usually flabbergasted that I can only speak Spanish, too. :p[/quote]
People always know that I am lying when I say I don’t speak English. White people all speak English. One girl told me (and I have no idea what the fuck) that I must have been hurt before by an English speaker to not be able to speak English…
She said this in (broken) English, so I know that is what she said… But … uh… what?
I must have been hurt by someone from Germany too. Cuz I can’t speak German.[/quote]
Works the other way too. You don’t know how annoying it is when Chinese people here in Asia automatically assume that, from your ethnic identity alone, you are somehow automatically imbued with fluent comprehension of the Chinese language. People are flabbergasted and simply unable to accept that someone who looks Chinese, is ethnically Chinese, cannot speak or comprehend Chinese. With that in mind, I leave you with this fun article by David Moser (which brings me to another question, why is there seemingly a proportionately large number of students of Chinese or sinology whose name is David):
Probably because a lot of people in general are named David.
The situation sounds a lot like that of some non-English-speaking Caucasian in Taiwan whom everyone assumes automatically speaks fluent English. People are “flabbergasted and simply unable to accept that someone who looks Caucasian, is ethnically white, cannot speak or comprehend” English.
I think it helps a lot if there is an “Asian foreigner” in your social circle along with the “foreign-foreigner”. That makes for a more harmonious transition.
It takes a little time and effort on the part of the locals to speak Chinese to the foreigner. But Taiwanese people like to expand their minds - it’s just as much a mind-expansion to learn English as it is to speak Chinese to a Westerner, not only in terms of adjusting to the language/ethnicity contrast, but also in terms of empathy as language learners.
[quote=“Buttercup”]Wildly generalising, but older people are often the nicest to speak to in Taiwan. They don’t have any attitude or insecurity about their English/lack of English, smile and speak clearly and slowly.
An elderly lady asked me for directions the other day. After the double take, she listened carefully then thanked me and went off in the right direction. I guess older people have the social skills and confidence to deal with people who speak their language incorrectly.[/quote]
I think it’s because the older people have gotten to the point in their lives where they realize they don’t really have to give a shit anymore. They just rock their shit and let you rock yours. Which results in one of two types - the aggro “I’m old, give me my senior discount coffee bitches!” type, and the chilled out, awesome type. Shit, one of the best conversations I’ve ever had since coming to Taiwan was a couple of years back, sitting in the war memorial park in Yonghe talking with a retired officer from the ROC Army who served in the 1958 attacks on Jinmen about his experience in the army and what the memorial was for. Not once did he try and speak English, or even dumb down his Chinese to any sort of patronising level. He just talked. Younger people are still tied up in the face-gaining contest bullshit that permeates this place.