Uncomfortable

[David&Wendy]

When I was in China, most people didn't speak english. I often felt as a broken wheel. No one did anything to make me feel this way, except they spoke thier native tongue.

 

I felt bad that I didn't take the time and effort to learn the language more. Does anyone else feel this way sometimes?

 

English is the offical language of the millions of people that live in Texas. I've heard many of my fellow Texas citizens comment about people who move from other places (umm Mexico haha) who don't speak English. Their comment is usually, "why the hell don't they learn English if they want to live in Texas." So I never complained about going to another country without knowing their language.

 

I do have the Pimlusur CD's. I have listened to them all, listen to http://www.chinesepod.com and I had a Mandarin tutor when I lived in China. After 1 year of living there my Mandarin is far above the "Ni Hao" level. I can handle questions and short conversations.

 

Now when I lived in China and went out to dinner most of the conversation was in their native tongue. Whenever they were asking me something I could generally answer but the rest of the conversation flew past me because of the speed of usual speech.

Sometimes I just sat quietly, smiling, eating, and toasting.

 

I felt a little bad that I was not able to involve myself in the conversation because the people I took to dinner alot became good friends of mine.

I never complained because I'm just like a Spanish speaking person living in Texas.

 

If I had to do it all over again, I would definately had taken a year of Mandarin classes before going. I don't look back because I know that as time passes I will become better at speaking Mandarin.

After that accomplishment I intend to conquer the next challenge. That is to be able to read Mandarin.

[SheLikesME?]

English is the offical language of the millions of people that live in Texas. I've heard many of my fellow Texas citizens comment about people who move from other places (umm Mexico haha) who don't speak English. Their comment is usually, "why the hell don't they learn English if they want to live in Texas." So I never complained about going to another country without knowing their language.

 

I felt a little bad that I was not able to involve myself in the conversation because the people I took to dinner alot became good friends of mine.

I never complained because I'm just like a Spanish speaking person living in Texas.

Right On!

[david_dawei]

In the democratic debates, it was stated that english is not the official language but the national langage... politicians will alway find something to divide hairs over...

[Randy W]

In the democratic debates, it was stated that english is not the official language but the national langage... politicians will alway find something to divide hairs over...

 

In Houston, Spanish is the second official language, and Vietnamese the third.

[SirLancelot]

She is a Guangxi girl, so she speaks Cantonese, buts speaks Mandarin as well.

 

Hi Charles. You probably know this already but just a clarification, not all GuangXi people speak Cantonese, really only the southern part, which includes Nanning, speak Cantonese. In the more northern parts of GuangXi, such as Guilin and Yangshou, they speak their own dialect which is nothing like Cantonese and much more like Mandarin. So you can't continue to say because your gal is from Guangxi, she speaks Cantonese. Many, many GuangXi girls do not speak Cantonese.

 

Hope your Chinese improves, as your wife's English continues improving.

[TootTaLu]

When I was in China, most people didn't speak english. I often felt as a broken wheel. No one did anything to make me feel this way, except they spoke thier native tongue.

 

I felt bad that I didn't take the time and effort to learn the language more. Does anyone else feel this way sometimes?

Ive been coming to China for 6 years,and even though I really dont speak Chinese,I think I can communicate and understand with no real problems,but thats just for travel and shopping.

 

To be honest with you,its much more npleasent when you dont understand whats being said.I was much more happy when I understood nothing they were saying.

The worst part is when out on the street or traveling,the SAME QUESTIONS are asked over and over again,and that gets real tiring.

I dont "know" what they are saying,but really I know what the questions are by picking up on one or two words in the sentence.

"Where are you from"?

"How long have you been in China"?

"How long did it take you to grow your hair that long"?

"You MUST drink some of this BaiJiu"!

Sure you need to communicate with people,and understanding their language makes it possible fror you to understand more deeply about their lives,but being ignorant saves you a lot of time trying to answer the same questions every day.

 

My fiance speaks English,but the rest of her family dont.

They are comfortable with my being there and I have made good friends with them,especially my fiance's brothers.

They are a farming family in YunNan Province,near the border with Burma,so they dont really speak any English in that place,but the family is educated well and my fiance's 80 year old father was a teacher,and her brother is a teacher.

 

When my fiance's family ask me important questions like "When will she get the visa?",or"When are you going to America?",or "Why dont you buy a house and get a job here in China?",my fiance won't translate my answers to them in detail.

 

When I go to my fiance's family house I feel like a monkey.

[Guest YOu&Me]

Here is a joke about speaking english:

×òÌìÀ´Á˸öÀÏÍ⣬½øµ½°ì¹«ÊÒ£¬Ç°Ì¨Ð¡½ã×ó¿´ÓÒ¿´£¬´ó¼Ò¶¼ÔÚ´òÓÎÏ·£¬Ö»ÓÐ×Ô¼º±È½ÏÇåÏУ¬¾ÍÃæ´ø΢ЦµÄ£º

R=reception

F=foreigner

ǰ̨С½ã®£º¡°hello?¡±

ÀÏÍâ(F)£º¡°hi.¡±

ǰ̨С½ã®£º¡°you have what thing?¡±

ÀÏÍâ(F)£º¡°can you speak English? ¡±

ǰ̨С½ã®£º¡°if I not speak English, I am speaking what?¡±¡¡

ÀÏÍâ(F)£º¡°can anybody else speak English? ¡±

ǰ̨С½ã®£º¡°you yourself look. all people are playing, no people have time, you can wait, you wait, you not wait, you go.¡±

ÀÏÍâ(F)£º¡°good heavens. anybody here can speak English?¡±

ǰ̨С½ã®£º¡° shout what shout, quiet a little, you on earth have what thing.¡±

ÀÏÍâ(F)£º¡°I want to speak to your head.¡±

ǰ̨С½ã®£º¡°head not zai.you tomorrow come.

[SheLikesME?]

When I go to my fiance's family house I feel like a monkey.

Ah, explains why your avatar looks so familier now. Thanks.

[rlheim]

 

 

If your so can learn english, certainly you can learn mandarin ?

 

 

Not at the same time

 

 

 

This is true, just keeping on top of Yanlans learning is a lot!! I don't want to try to learn Mandarin just yet, doing the decipher of her broken and backwards English is enough work!!

There is no english in my household. My stepdaughter seems to be scared to speak english and my wife's english is sometimes unbearable. So I live in a world of mandarin. God help this poor country boy!

 

Ty

 

It is like that here too. The only english that goes on is the english translations I request. Yanlan tries very hard God bless her, and she IS getting better, but most of the time I am not knowing anything.

[izus]

When I go to my fiance's family house I feel like a monkey.

Ah, explains why your avatar looks so familier now. Thanks.

i always thought that was someone who liked locomotive breath

[izus]

ChunYan is teaching me mandarin, i also sit through her class' once a week.

 

she has a class she teaches mandarin on the weekends.

 

i find the cd's are good for common objects, but i gotta learn the grammer from her.

[SmilingAsia]

When I go to my fiance's family house I feel like a monkey.

Ya, you are the monkey, and ËýÊÇË£ºïµÄta shi shua hou de (she is the monkey player in the circus )

[NewDay2006]

When I go to my fiance's family house I feel like a monkey.

Ya, you are the monkey, and ËýÊÇË£ºïµÄta shi shua hou de (she is the monkey player in the circus )

 

That's my girl Eunice.