These types of things happen when you’re a minority, anywhere in the world. An Asian person in the US will hear “Ching Chang Chong” or see people stretch their eyelids many many times in his life.
I’ve heard “Very Good!” shouted out I don’t know how many times. I think they’re answering the question, “How does that bin lang make you feel?” though it was never asked.
This is my hair when I first got here.
There was a man at Taipei Main Station who was a touch special. He used to jump out at me and scream “Hello NiHao!” at the top of his lungs and scare the bejebus out of me. Then one day he did such while grabbing my hair so hard that it threw me onto the ground. He just kept pulling me hair until someone pulled him off of me. I was screaming it hurt so bad. I know he didn’t mean to do it. He’s just special. But I was so freaked out by it that I didn’t go into that part of the station for over a year to avoid him. To this day when I hear “HelloNiHao!” it startles me.
Nonsense. My wife had that happen to her exactly one time when she was a little kid, and she grew up in a small town in East Texas.
Americans are much, much more culturally sensitive than the average Taiwanese. Americans don’t point at foreigners excitedly and scream “foreigner” or random foreign phrases at them from across the street, nor do American parents allow their children to treat foreigners like freak shows. If you think the levels of cultural insensitivity in Taiwan and America are comparable then you’re sadly deluded.
Kooky old man - “Pants or trousers?”
Me - “Huh?”
Kooky old man - “Pants or trousers?”
Me - “Pants”
Kooky old man - “You’re American! Welcome to Taiwan!”
Pretty cool encounter at Carrefore.
Off topic, I suppose, but…
When I first arrived here many moons ago, an elderly gent started speaking to me (in fluent English) at a Taipei bus stop:
him: You have a moustache.
me: Well spotted.
him: You shouldn’t have a moustache.
me: Why not?
him: It’s very disrespectful to your father. A son should not grow a moustache while his father is still alive.
me: Really? How do you know my father is still alive?
him: Don’t be silly. You’re much too young.
That’s great! But the next time Kooky Old Man asks you this question, you should answer “slacks”. I wonder what he’ll say to that.
Try “kilts”. Then say, “And to answer your next question, nope, nothing underneath,” while giving him a suggestive smile.
:bravo:
Or when going back home and in the local bar…my friends always introduce me to their bartender and drinking buddies as, “My friend from Taiwan”.
Always gets great responses like:
You sure don’t look Thai!
What’s Tokyo like?
What the fuck you living over there for?
Your English is very good!
Or most often, just a blank stare.
Perhaps Canadians are less sensitive then. Most of my East Asian friends who grew up here have encountered numerous such taunts both as children and as adults (though very rare as adults).
Yeah but you could you imagine walking through a mall in anywhere USA and people singing–“Foreigner Foreigner Foreigner” as you passed by? There would be more Virginia Techs I’d bet.
I don’t need to imagine.
How about being told in public to “Go back to Japan!” by complete strangers at the top of their lungs?
How about being refused service at a restaurant?
Both happened to yours truly.
But HG really does have a real job. I’d give my left gonad to sell duck arses on the streets of HK, and there he is, living the dream!
Well, it happens in Taiwan to white people.
Conclusion? Everywhere has bad people.
I’m back in Oz now and I actually miss being heckled.
What I wouldn’t give to hear someone rave on about the size of my nose…
:moo:
Geez you’re right.
I stacked up a skewer with all the duck arse on my trolley and it’s still short of your shnozz!
To you and your dog!
HG
Sure, but can’t there be differences between nations? Don’t get me wrong…it’s perfectly understandable that a country that is 98% Han Chinese with a very small aboriginal and foreign population is in general going to be less culturally sensitive than heterogenous countries like the US. But I don’t get these equalizing statements. Was the level of racism in South Africa in 1990 comparable the level of racism in the UK in that same year?
Sure there can be and there is. I certainly won’t argue that the Taiwanese are less culturally sensitive than Americans. However, statements such as the shopping mall comment above, your wife’s singular experience as a minority, and your assertions that “Americans don’t do ” seem to suggest an almost-utopia of racial harmony that simply flies in the face of the experiences of many racial minorities.
In Taiwan I got:
“Ha-lo! How ah yooo?”
“You like ko-hi wif me?”
“You su-peak Chai-lese?”
And I always answered appropriately and with a smile. I am of the school that you always answer a question no matter if it’s in jest or not. And often times they’re being silly but when they realize you’re going along with it they actually are quite entertaining to chat with.
I have never experienced any racism/ethnicism as much as I have in Taiwan, and even there I don’t believe it’s malicious, just ignorant. Nothing that can’t be “corrected” with a few minutes of explanation if one even bothers. And gawd I’m not white in North America, I’m starting to think it’s all a matter of attitude.
Does anyone stop to think for a moment that the shouts you hear on the street are generally good natured acknowledgments?
For crying out loud WTF does this above statement doing in this thread? Can anyone out here, for one second, be upbeat about something?
Stop to think that a bunch of kids who drive by on their scooter think it’s funny to shout “fuck you!”. So what? I scream back “Fuck you too!” having a laugh about it. Aside from some violent fuckery that I’ve encounter in Taiwan (which BTW happened to me in CanaDUH too) I haven’t even given a second thought to some of the English that I’ve had spoken to me. Lighten up!
BBQ Buffet here I come…and hopefully someone will speak English with me…OH FOR SHAME!!!