I understand that some foreigners cannot speak Mandarin but I sometimes find some Taiwanese are really obtuse. On Friday, I mentioned to my co-worker that I usually don’t speak English outside of work. The woman has never heard me speak Mandarin and laughed and said, “So you speak French outside of work?” Why is so difficult for Taiwanese to understand that a foreigner doesn’t necessarily go home and speak English? I can speak three other languages other than English and have dated women using all four languages as a medium for communication.
I guess what I mean is why is it so difficult for her to look past normal stereotypes? She is not the first person that has reacted this way in Taiwan. I never had anyone expect that I speak English all the time in Germany. Even if it is not common for English teachers to speak Mandarin, one would think that people could fathom that some try to speak Mandarin in their free time.
[quote=“steelersman”]I understand that some foreigners cannot speak Mandarin but I sometimes find that Taiwanese are really obtuse. On Friday, I mentioned to my co-worker that I usually don’t speak English outside of work. The woman has never heard me speak Mandarin and laughed and said, “So you speak French outside of work?” Why is so difficult for Taiwanese to understand that a foreigner doesn’t necessarily go home and speak English? I can speak three other languages other than English and have dated women using all four languages as a medium for communication.
I guess what I mean is why is it so difficult for Taiwanese to look past normal stereotypes? Even if it is not common for English teachers to speak Mandarin, one would think that people could fathom that some try to speak Mandarin in their free time.[/quote]
What you have done is drawn a conclusion about a situation and then applied it to a bigger spectrum of people than you need. There really is no such thing as Taiwanese or Chinese in any sort of they ALL do this sort of sense. It could be that you found out that all those people were Librans or that they all liked to not wash their hands after they went to the bathroom. They are just broad categorizations which your mind wants to engage with because they allow you to get out of bed each morning without too much trouble. When you are in certain uncomfortable environments you engage in basic behavior again, like a child does. You draw very broad categories and then slowly begin to refine them. But at the start, and for a long time in some instances, you remain pissed in a scatter gun fashion.
Just be careful not to punch anyone or do any irrevocable damage to your future.
[quote=“wollemi”][quote=“steelersman”]I understand that some foreigners cannot speak Mandarin but I sometimes find that Taiwanese are really obtuse. On Friday, I mentioned to my co-worker that I usually don’t speak English outside of work. The woman has never heard me speak Mandarin and laughed and said, “So you speak French outside of work?” Why is so difficult for Taiwanese to understand that a foreigner doesn’t necessarily go home and speak English? I can speak three other languages other than English and have dated women using all four languages as a medium for communication.
I guess what I mean is why is it so difficult for Taiwanese to look past normal stereotypes? Even if it is not common for English teachers to speak Mandarin, one would think that people could fathom that some try to speak Mandarin in their free time.[/quote]
What you have done is drawn a conclusion about a situation and then applied it to a bigger spectrum of people than you need. There really is no such thing as Taiwanese or Chinese in any sort of they ALL do this sort of sense. It could be that you found out that all those people were Librans or that they all liked to not wash their hands after they went to the bathroom. They are just broad categorizations which your mind wants to engage with because they allow you to get out of bed each morning without too much trouble. When you are in certain uncomfortable environments you engage in basic behavior again, like a child does. You draw very broad categories and then slowly begin to refine them. But at the start, and for a long time in some instances, you remain pissed in a scatter gun fashion.
Just be careful not to punch anyone or do any irrevocable damage to your future.[/quote]
I agree that when people live abroad they tend to overgeneralize things and believe certain things that may also happen in their country are only a product of the locals. I think that when you are dealing with a certain groups of people such as Taiwanese that you lose touch with the fact that many people in your own country do the same stupid things as well.
[quote=“steelersman”]I understand that some foreigners cannot speak Mandarin but I sometimes find some Taiwanese are really obtuse. On Friday, I mentioned to my co-worker that I usually don’t speak English outside of work. The woman has never heard me speak Mandarin and laughed and said, “So you speak French outside of work?” Why is so difficult for Taiwanese to understand that a foreigner doesn’t necessarily go home and speak English? I can speak three other languages other than English and have dated women using all four languages as a medium for communication.
I guess what I mean is why is it so difficult for some Taiwanese to look past normal stereotypes? Even if it is not common for English teachers to speak Mandarin, one would think that people could fathom that some try to speak Mandarin in their free time.[/quote]
What is that saying about casting the first stone? Or should I use the glass houses bit? Well, insert proper stone metaphor here [INSERT].
We all do it. Stereotyping is a natural function of the mind. It’s one way our little brains deal with loads of complex information-we just compartmentalize it into small bits that make sense.
Or, it could be as simple as she has never heard you speak mandarin, so how would she know?
The point is not really about speaking Chinese. I could be speaking German or Korean everyday after work. The point is why is it so hard to believe that if I say that I don’t speak much English outside of work that it is so unbelievable?
The thing is though people often form stereotypes in their mind. I have surprised countless people with things I can do but in the context of day to day living they don’t come up.
I guess the problem is that I have lived in Europe and people don’t often seem to assume that people only speak one language. I guess the problem is that Taiwanese believe that white English teachers can only speak English.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense. There are many people in the US who speak languages other than English. Some people in the US cannot even speak English.
Yes, that’s because all [strike]English teachers[/strike] white people are from the US or Canada [/quote]
Mind you, that’s an improvement. Ten years ago all white people were from the US.
The point is not really about speaking Chinese. I could be speaking German or Korean everyday after work. The point is why is it so hard to believe that if I say that I don’t speak much English outside of work that it is so unbelievable?[/quote]
She probably thought you were bullshitting in an effort to gain face. One thing I found very annoying about living in China, Korea, and Taiwan was that people would often clearly not believe me when I said something innocuous about myself; ordinarily these were things that no one back home would bother lying about.
You can’t blame her. Too many foreigners live here for years but they never bother to learn the language. Her assumption was wrong in your case but it would have been right nine times out of ten. Foreigners in Taiwan do not exactly have a reputation for being good language learners.
I think this is just a case of a co-worker getting to know you better. The way you write about her suggests that you don’t like her very much, though.
[quote=“RobinTaiwan”]You can’t blame her. Too many foreigners live here for years but they never bother to learn the language. Her assumption was wrong in your case but it would have been right nine times out of ten. Foreigners in Taiwan do not exactly have a reputation for being good language learners.
[/quote]
I do think this is partly because the locals in Taiwan are so accommodating - you’re a guest in their country and they always try to speak to you in ‘your’ language, even when you have local citizenship (you could also say it’s insulting: You’re too dumb to speak our language, even when you live here, so we must try and speak yours - you can never learn, we can). From what I’ve heard foreigners on the mainland tend to speak fairly good Chinese, just like English-speakers in France tend to speak fairly good French, and for one simple reason - you need it to survive. Here, you can get by on English, so it’s easy to fall back on it and just not bother with Mandarin.
??? I thought everybody knew white people cannot speak Chinese… Don’t confuse people by claiming anything differently, anyways they probably won’t believe you.
It used to be that they spoke English because nobody spoke Chinese, but now it is really because a lot of them want to learn/practice English (easy to tell as you speak Chinese but they insist on speaking English back, Chinese don’t bother with that because they are happy in their skin. of being Chinese…Taiwanese not so much). Taiwanese are very competitive when it comes to language learning, some actually resent it when you speak Chinese to them! This is the way the society works quite often. You may have made your co-worker feel uneasy by this statement.
What she said was ignorant , there are plenty like her but they are probably not the majority.
What gets me about this is that you are telling her you do not speak English outside of school, you always speak to her in English, and yet you assume she should know you speak Chinese? She speaks Chinese…why don’t you just show her and speak with her in Chinese? No one knows I speak Chinese until I do. Mind you, I don’t work in the bubble known as the English teaching world, but I am sure your school has secretaries/cooks whose English blows. Speak with people in Chinese and then they’ll know you speak it. I don’t get it…how is this her responsibility???
Me thinks you are not confident enough in your speaking ability to just speak Chinese at work
