You know you've gone native when...

Personal experience then?

PS: I was just thinking about this post the other day. Thanks for finding it!

At least you could haggle over the price. That is unless you have to go really bad.

sino-dunny can?

人工施肥

租厕所?

I think its because the Chinese just don't say things like "hows it going" or "whats up". They just don't seem to have many introductory ice breaking type salutations. If you know of any, I would love to hear them.

When speaking English, I find a lot of Chinese young and old say, "Have you eaten?" It really does seem like no English textbooks in China teach phrases like "how's it going?" or "what's up?"

For the most part I agree with thomaswangli here. Most of the younger Chinese will start a conversation with "Hi (嗨)" and end it with "bye bye (拜拜)".

In regards to the salary thing. In Shanghai I rarely ever am asked about how much I make. But when I go to more rural areas of China that foreigners don't frequent, I am asked this question much more. Even in Dongguan I am asked this fairly often. This could be because of the people I choose to hang out with - one's who don't speak much if any English, therefore their education level is not as high. One's who have a high level of education and exposure to foreigners don't aske this in my experience.

The 你吃了吗 or variations of that I find used quite often. Most everyday at work my Chinese colleagues ask me, "你吃了没?", which is more or less a variation of 你吃了吗.

I'd never heard of 'WC' until I came to China, but I'm probably just reflecting my (very young) age.

Oh, and I can never seem to pronounce 厕所 correctly, particularly the ‘厕’ bit...

Hi phil,

It is definitely a UK thing - this water closet., but very old - At least that is strongly implied here:

http://www.theplumber.com/closet.html

and defined in wiktionary thusly:

"Noun water closet (plural water closets) (abbreviation WC)

(chiefly UK) a flush toilet, or the room, in a public place, containing one"  

according to Answers.com: (note it is called a British term)

Water-closet (WC), the name

The term "water-closet" was an early term for a room with a toilet. Originally, the term "wash-down closet" was used.[1] Originally, the term "bath-room" referred only to the room where the bathtub was located, which was usually a separate room, but this connotation has changed in common North American usage. In the UK, the terms "bathroom" and "toilet" are used to indicate discrete functions, even though bathrooms in modern homes have been designed according to the American norm since around the mid-sixties. The term "water closet" was probably adapted because in the late 1800s, with the advent of indoor plumbing, a toilet displaced an early clothes closet, closets being shaped to easily accommodate the spatial needs of a commode.[citation needed] The term "water closet" is still used today in some places, but it often refers to a room that has both a toilet and other plumbing fixtures such as a sink or a bathtub. Plumbing manufacturers often use the term "water-closet" to differentiate toilets from urinals. American plumbing codes still refer to a toilet as a "Water Closet" or a "WC". Many South American countries refer to a toilet as a "Water" which is now a term commonly found in Spanish dictionaries, and which derives from the British term "water closet". In French the expression "aller aux waters" ("to go to the waters") has now become obsolete, but it also derives from "water closet". "WC" is still used in the French language, although not as common as the term "toilet", and pronounced as "VC", a shortened version of "double V C". In Germany the expression "Klo" (first syllable of "closet") is still used, though the term is colloquial and not welcome in polite conversation.

In Germany and the Netherlands (due to the bowl design (above)) the toilet is still kept in a separate room known as the "WC" even in newly built residences. In the Dutch-speaking part (Flanders) as well as the French-speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia), "WC" is a frequently used synonym for "toilet

I can remember a pit toilet in the middle of Paris in the 1980s (interestingly it was also a squat design), so perhaps the idea of a water closet holds special fascination for the French? It made me wonder where their drinking water came from. I used to try to drink only wine and soft drinks. And hot chocolate.

Yes, I enjoy irony. :)

Thinking about China, they don't seem to see the humour in funny names to identify the male and female toilet respectively, we in the West can't get enough of those jokes.

One thing is for certain, W.C. has English language origins as it is short for 'water closet'. What remains to be seen is if this term ever had any traction in the U.S. As I mentioned above, I was taught in French class that their term for toilet/restroom is W.C. What I didn't say is that that was the first time I heard this term, that is, from my Parisian teacher who made it a point to emphasize that it actually is an English word. I just mention this because I know you like irony :-). For the record, I agree with RJ's list with one exception. I have only heard Canadians say washroom, but then again, I'm just speaking for Michigan. I will add two other words for men's room and ladies' room that I have seen in the U.S., but only in the most respectable establishments--'his pees' and 'her pees'. Okay, I'm truly sorry. I couldn't help myself.

New world? Sounds really foreign to me. We go to the:

John

can

men's room

ladie's room

restroom

washroom

bathroom

powder room (for women)

or:

lavatory (thanks to elementary school teachers in my day)

We may even "see a man about a horse" but never ever have I used the words "water closet" or "WC". Nor do I plan to. Sorry. Not on my planet. :-)

So Australia is part of the new world? :-) Hmmm. I have to think about that one.

Hi RJ

I love these conversations. :) You sure we live on the same planet?? Hey, we are both creatures of the New World. The WC sounds New World to me.

Its definitely not an American thing. I have never heard or seen WC used here by any generation. I always thought it was a British thing.

btw- we dont say pit toilet or dunny can either, and never have as far as I can remember.

Hi xiaophil

Perhaps this is another one of those generational things. WC was definitely common in the past - it's just that young people don't use the term.

It signalled the big shift from pit toilets and dunny cans to the things flushed by water. People my age remember it well. :)

WC may be a continental Europe thing (I was taught WC in French class), but from what I can tell, it is not a British thing. I have asked Brits and people from many English speaking countries if they say WC, and they always say no. Sometimes they say that they thought it was an American thing. I think Chinese will normally use a Chinese word such as 厕所, 卫生间 or, as you said, 洗手间 if they are speaking Chinese.

I thought WC was a European thing? Usual disclaimer about one experience for all of China, but i've more often heard Xīshǒujiān than anything else.

chinese food is not 'gui' so cute

I'm afraid I'm a vegetarian... but I believe you if you say it tastes good!

When 白酒 becomes your drink of choice?

Xiaophil - have you tried 土豆鸡丁？I take it you have, but what's really exceptional is 孜然土豆鸡丁 - if you're lucky enough to find it.

Regarding rice, you know you are going native when you think it is perfectly normal to get your rice near the end of a long meal.

And by the way, I love potatoes. I can eat them almost every day if they are in different forms. I have been mocked by Chinese for this. When I tell them that they eat rice at almost every meal, and almost certainly every day, they say, "That's different." In this case, I haven't gone native yet. Potatoes are good; rice is just there.

I think truly going native might involve not ordering plain rice at all, especially when you've invited friends out to a restaurant....that and purposefully ordering at least 1.5 times what the entire group could ever possibly eat.

Or - when you expect to have to order rice at least 3 times before it actually comes.

Why not? It's good for blood circulation... or so I hear, hmmm.

啊啊笑死我了，我记得那一句话. This is another reason why I have never gotten into taking cabs in general. It is very surprising what kind of F1/Nascar-esque moves they will try. Bweedin's observation is absolutely right. I might add, just run away from all buses no matter what. They are capable of doing anything except stopping for people in their way.

I discovered （我發現了）You either walk, or you stand still when crossing the street in China-that's what the driver is expecting. If you run, the driver can't calculate trying to go around you and you might get hit!

My technique wasn't to follow a local, rather walk side by side. That way they would get hit first and worst, if something happened, plus I figured that if they had survived to adulthood, the likely-hood of this crossing being their last was small. Several trips to China later, I will venture across streets without waiting for a local doppelganger, but the traffic still makes me think about a line from one of the lessons, "我没事。我带着纸尿布。“

haha, when I first came to China, my rule was follow a Chinese person closely whenever crossing a road. I was a bit nervous that I would be clobbered by someone's car. Now I never think about it.

True, true - and I do agree that it's not usually at the forefront of my mind in Shanghai.

Regarding the Expo, the lines are awwwful during the day, so we only went into the pavilions that we could get into directly (for example, the UK one lets British passport holders in with no queuing), or those we could sneak into through the back (Italian one was easy! hehehe).

I want to go back, though, so I'm planning on going at night during the week when, apparently, the queues are fine.... I recommend you go. It is pretty cool, even just to walk along the elevated walkway to look down on everything.

Yes, we may always be laowai to the Chinese, but at least it may cease to be in the forefront of our minds... I haven't gone to the Expo yet. Somehow I hate paying money to stand in long lines. I guess I'll go eventually and start my take a picture with a foreigner business.

Anyway, when can I get my autograph?

你应该开始练习你的磕头

When I visit Chinesepod, I'm bringing my autograph book. I hope she's not too famous to sign it!

;-)

Oii, xiao_liang!!!

I would try to defend myself but I think somehow that's not going to help here, however off-the-mark such an inference is ;-p

Hehe! I had to look it up *^_^* But I might remember it now!

I'm sure any 出名 Sarah earned is very well deserved. She probably performed 出乎预料! (I'm on a roll!)

touche xiao_liang. Very impressed.....I remember you posting that chengyu and now you've cracked it out at such an apt time. Must feel great,hey. Those chengyu's are going to start reaping rewards ,hehe. Well done mate ;)

certainly makes you like wise and learned to come straight out with it. I must pay more heed to your daily chengyu posts. Bring 'em on.

ps not that either of us want to cause suxiaoya any discomfiture or cause for pause...not a whit of it ,no no no .

人怕出名，猪怕壮!

are you sure it was your camera suxiaoya and not your new superstar status from the China Rush? ...I think the words out already.

Haha, it's so true! Having said that, I went on a run just about 10km south-west of the Bund on the weekend, and my friends and I were very quickly the subject of a lot of curiosity in the little streets. This was not the old town that foreigners often go to, but farther out west. I whipped out my point-and-shoot to capture the scene, and the locals thought it was quite the spectacle!

You kids! Back in the day I remember attracting crowds of several hundred onlookers at The Bund simply by breaking out an SLR camera. Now, most Chinese have a better camera than I do!

Have you been to the Expo yet? Plenty of staring going on there!! It's filled with people who have come from outside Shanghai to visit, who are not used to the relatively cosmopolitan set-up here. Suddenly one feels a lot more aware of being a foreigner. I think my friends and I were stopped about five times to have photos with Chinese visitors lol - that never usually happens in Shanghai!

Ultimately, however used to being in China we may become, we will always be laowai to the Chinese.

westerners, potty train your kids in China! you'll be glad you did, especially after your experience training them in the west....

Oh, I'm not implying there is anything wrong with it. I was just curious.

@xiaophil, years ago I was in Cambodia and Laos, and it was common for kids not to wear diapers at all. While this would obviously not work during a Manchurian winter, considering how the U.S.'s landfills are plugged with disposable diapers...

I guess that beats my seeing a 10 year old doing in public!

That's a good one.

(btw I've seen several men on the street recently in 杭州 that were apparently still in training.)

as long as they learn from their mistakes, it's not a failure! Plus, this seems to be a problem less and less as kids get older anyway.

Sometimes you can't stop them trying to potty train in public. Or in their pants, which you might consider a failure to train... :-)

Y'know, i've suspected for awhile that the frequent posters on this site do not have many pre-school age children among them. Potty training in public is something you'd never do in the US. But it's just so CONVENIENT to do as the Romans do in China, and all the hassles that you can eliminate.....

Thanks for reviving this post, but I must ask, did this really happen to you?

Nope, I wear long underwear all Winter in the 'Spring' city! Needless to say I didn't do this in Sydney.

I've seen what are called waffles wrapped in plastic, sitting unrefrigerated on a normal grocery shelf that will never be toasted and soaked with syrup.

I also finally got used to the fact that peanut butter and jelly will never be found next to each other at the store. What do Chinese use peanut butter for anyway?

And you don't even say I want to "eat yogurt" anymore. It is "drink yogurt" out here in Chinese and English, at least for me.

We had one of those shops near our gate before the march of progress knocked it over to build a nice new community. I'm hoping that another shop will materialise soon.

“You start to feel odd eating finger food with, well, your fingers.” 哈哈哈，没错。 I do not use my bare fingers anymore either. If I use my fingers now I always use the plastic packaging to hold the food.... 例如包子。

生活在中国的素食者们，请注意！尽量不要生吃蔬菜，熟吃蔬菜比较安全。

我现在认识至少两个素食者。

有一天我在一所英文培训学校参加了新雇员培训，那时还有两个别人参加。到中午的时候，我们的教员说了那里周围有好多饭店。我说了“不好意思，我吃素，这里周围有合适素食者的饭店？”然后另外一个“新雇员”同时说了“其实，我也吃素”，然后最后的新雇员同时说了“你们不会相信我，但是我也吃素”。其中三个新雇员之内，百分之百是素食者！

我看你住在上海，如果你想跟我一起出去吃饭，就给我PM吧！

哇塞！我也是素食者！你在中国认识另外的素食者吗？在中国我认识很少。。。

上海的华东理工大学的食堂，我在那儿作外教。说实话我有点吃腻了，不过我是素食者，所以没办法。

xiaophil, 你去哪里吃菜包吗？我去巴比馒头。。。很好吃。

我每天吃菜包差不多，哈哈。

That one could be native....or you could have been a waitress or a bank examiner in a former life...

It's going to take awhile for me to do that one!

哈哈, good one.

i think a lot of those models are half asian half caucasian....i had a lot of trouble distinguishing as well....

This is funny... I bought some men's underwear in China to bring back home: the medium (which frankly was tiny) sexy tight underwear had very hot young asian guys on it, and the extralarge (would have been a medium in Canada) had a very fat aging white guy on the package. LOL!

In other words, I agree with this observation of yours (re the demand for Eurasian models having to do with preference for lighter skin--no, not really). My late maternal grandmother, in her 70s and 80s, bore a striking--to me anyway--resemblance to Italian actor Giuliano Gemma, and then later to Brazilian soccer star Zico (who is caucasian, for those of you who don't know). Not to say that Zico, or the Giuliano Gemma I'm thinking of were old, I'm thinking of them respectively in their 50s I think. And my grandmother was nothing but Japanese.

Old men and old women's looks converge too.

I agree - it seems that older Chinese people and older European peoples' looks converge. There are probably several contributing factors, not least hair colour; we all eventually go white or lose our hair. Another thing is that, as you age, the underlying skeletal structure determines your appearance more than when you are younger. In very old people the roundness of youth disappears and we seem to be looking at skulls! (I can say this because I am getting old myself.) Just a thought.

I think Barbs may be right - there is a strong preference in advertisements for female models who appear to be Eurasian. What is more I think that the male models are not Eurasian, they are either Chinese or European. What does that say? I would like to say that (in the case of females) it is because these models have a lighter shade of skin but I don't want to start another argument, sorry discussion, with Changye. :-)

Our son was once invited to participate in an advertisement because of his Anglo Saxon looks. They said that they wanted to convey the idea that their product has credibility with Westerners.

。。或者可能是少数民族的人：

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/6191#comment-140987

【再谢谢Tal ：） 】

I'll tell the truth, I have no idea, but I think they are Chinese!

Are you sure they're not just Eurasian?

Whoa, thrice actually! *edited*

Whoa, it posted twice! *edited*

This has happened to me a couple times, but what does happen a lot is that I sometimes can't distinguish if female models in Chinese adverts are Chinese or foreigners. I think they do this on purpose, actually. This way they can appeal to Chinese pride and a sense of internationalism all in one package.

呵呵，对了，而且在英文没有一样的说法

"hey man" "what's up"... dang, how old ARE those textbooks?

Truth to tell mate, I've come to think it all really comes down to communication skills. Some have them (or have the ability to develop them), some don't.

Haha! I hear the opposite! "Phil, we can understand you, but not xxx (from Britain)." I guess (know) some Brits and some Americans are clear and vice-versa.

I think the proper word is parasol...but that evokes images of Victorian women and frilly, lacy things...

oh god, of course!!!! My German co-worker and I dubbed them "sunbrellas"

I've been in charge of carrying the "sunbrella", myself.

it's funny, though, I was sick of the pink and flower umbrellas in China, so I got a "regular" black umbrella and people went out of their way to tell me my umbrella was ugly.

You are of course right, but then again, I bet most of us here didn't use sun umbrellas before coming to China, so that in itself is a sign someone has gone native. Someone must've mentioned sun umbrellas here already, right? hmmmm

The taller person should always be in charge of the umbrella, sun or otherwise, IMHO. It only makes sense...

I totally carry my wife's bag. I also am in charge of the sun umbrella. I felt a little weird at first, but then I realized that I probably got brownie points with Chinese people, and Hell, it doesn't really mean anything one way or another to me anyway.

haha my friend is from a 農村 but lives in Wenzhou and he feels no shame in it. In fact, he took a picture with me, not even caring that he had a purse over his shoulder. He also urged me to carry my German female co-worker's purse, and got mad when I refused.

In Wenzhou, a lot of other men do the same. Wenzhou is considered a small city in China. There's no Starbucks.

Anyway, I stand by my disgust with this book! :)

I think it's mostly in SH...I mean, I'm sure it happens in other places too but I've noticed it a lot more since I moved here. It's part of the "Shanghai girl" mystique.

Maybe in big cities...?

ok all joking aside, the cover of that book turns me off, because I know that in China men carry their wives' or girlfriends' purses very prominently on their shoulders with no shame!

呵呵，可能把! 跟《Damn it！》一样！

白痴还好，不算脏的！

哈哈, in fact just yesterday I was shocked by this story on the Chinasmack website.

anyway .thank you ! i think you also know some dirty words of chinese right?

When I was a child the word "fucking" was considered to be extremely offensive, 'too rude to be said'. Nowadays though one hears it a lot on TV and in movies. It's become devalued, a great pity.

As for "fart" it's certainly not 'too rude to be said', in fact it's quite a silly or childish word.

Hi

Interesting !

My classmates always say " God！" But they don't believe God actually and I also believe that they've never gone to church.

Some of my classmates like to say ”shit" " damn it " "fucking" all the time.

can I something others? Is the word " fart" too rude to be said?

Chinese children all use textbooks that are British English. (They are usually quite dated too.) Later on, if they really want to improve their English, many of them will generally start watching American TV rather than British. Friends and, oddly enough, Growing Pains have been very popular for improving English. I know a person who asked her university students would they rather have an American or British accent. The students were split about 50/50. Anyway, regardless of what style of English they would prefer to speak, when it comes to word choice, most of them generally fall back onto their roots, i.e. British English. I will say that in most cases I think they sound more American, but I think that is just because a Chinese accent typically sounds more American than British.

"in a more British way as I know the English foundation of almost all Chinese people is rooted in British English"

..really? I would have thought this to be the case historically and perhaps still to some extent down HK way,but I was under the impression that since WW2 the stronger influence was American.I'd be interested to hear more about this current British English influence [notwithstanding the not insignificant influence of the lovely suxiaoya and ousijia].I know you used the word rooted which could of course refer to that historical element but I still wouldn't have thought it the predominant current influence.

Ahh I hate that in the girls' toilets! The first time I experienced this, I waited for ages, (being too polite to tell the Chinese girls that I had been there before them!) before I finally clicked onto the system!

it's not just water, but 開水。Even to my foreign teacher friends I always called it 開水, because saying drinking hot water just sounds weird.

In England it would be "have a cuppa" (tea)! :D In China it must be hot water, non? Our Chinese tutor thinks it horrid we drink cold milk and cold water, esp in winter.

yeah，it's true . but "drinking water" often bases on you got light diseases.when they have turned into serious diseases. you have to see the doctors.

hansisi, thanks! Actually, I had a feeling something was wrong, and I should have known that. My head isn't on straight today.

My Western-trained doctor in Sydney has the same advice for all ailments. Drink more water. And swim more. (Actually it wouldn't be a good idea to do those at the same time.)

Hi tal

The problem is the quality of water is "disastrous" in the PRC.

We always say“注意保暖”

Don't forget 注意保护暖和.

A good place if you want to look more closely is the skeptic's dictionary section on alternative medicine:

http://www.skepdic.com/tialtmed.html

Now that is interesting. I'm sadly unable to cite sources.

Xiaophil, can you point me to any of that research? I find that it's usually cited by believers, but on closer examination it falls into one of three categories:

1: Made in China (ALL acupuncture trials in China have had positive results, for some reason)

2: Badly executed (Often comparing for example acupuncture with no treatment at all as a control, instead of sham acupuncture, thereby not considering the placebo effect)

3: Just plain not there

I'm skeptical to the point that I totally disregard it.

I concur. But you're not supposed to be sceptical! That's not 'respecting' the culture, right?

I could go on for ages about how 'everyone knows' is good enough justification for believing something in China. I can't blame them, though. In a country where no one can be sure someone is a true expert, how can one make sound judgments?

I will tell you, though, one consequence of living in China is that I am now skeptical of traditional Chinese medicine. I'm not skeptical to the point that I totally disregard it. I know there has been research that shows it is effective in many situations. Still, when I hear some Chinese ideas on health, it really makes me pause.

I have been chided by (Chinese) colleagues for trying to read on the school bus. That's what they told me: bad for your eyes. I sussed it was another of those *beliefs*. Speaking of which...

That is right. My wife says that all Chinese believe that reading in moving vehicles is bad for eyes. So perhaps the two habits cancel each other out.

Correct me if I'm wrong mate, but I think generally Chinese people never read on the subway.

哈哈！我也是。Saves wearing out the normal clothes anyway, right?

Oh no don't say that dude - I think I've done that most of this winter already. :p

Yo matt, 好久不见！Good call!

I wanted to join the pajama party and say popping out to the 7-11 is nothing! You haven't really gone native until you basically stay in them all day unless you have to go to work, (and change into them immediately when you get home!)

If I do this when I go home...I don't think I'll survive!

When riding a bike, I no longer look backwards as I pass a stationary car or slower bike rider.

Sadly I have :S

I'm afraid that I've not gotten to the level yet.

you may add 就是 from time to time ;-)

嗯

对对对对对对，这是真的。

hehe,yeah,I know what you mean.

In reference to the article:

"This is to avoid causing offence or embarrassment to others."

..I don't think I'll ever understand why it would cause offence or embarrassment to others unless it was all very revealing or something.Same with the discouragement of PJ's in Shanghai with the Expo coming...I prefer to leave things in their natural state rather than further the homogenisation of the world.

I can't say I know when I've gone native, but I can certainly say that you know you've spent too much time on ChinesePod when you see this and feel the urge to link to it. Sorry guys that can't read BBC news.

I don't buy it as a General Theory - it doesn't explain much observed behaviour (that is not to say that some people like to show off their PJs.) I see old guys wandering the street around 5pm in their cheap flannel night attire; it's unlikely that they are out to impress. I reckon that it is just the odd foreigner that is impressed.

Chanelle was just telling me about that recently, that's what she was told as well. Because the fact that people should have attire specially for sleeping in was a luxury at first, so yeah a status symbol.

Sorry Bodawei, in afterthought it seemed I'd talked about that lady in PJs impatiently barging into the Bank of China enough times already and deleted it! OK but that was in SH, a branch in a very central area right on a main boulevard. She was about late 20s-early 30s, PJs (the striped kind that in Japan we would only ever see our 50-something to 70-something fathers wearing), slip-ons, clutching a man's handbag, with business to do at the bank. It was my first time and I allowed myself to stare, just a bit.

I hear that wearing pyjamas was a kind of "status symbol" in the past, and people wanted to show off their pyjamas on the street. Do you buy this theory?

I'm encouraged to hear that young people are wearing pyjamas outside; I thought that the tradition was dying out. I'm doubly pleased that it is SH waving the flag.

That could be... but it is something they do when it is "cold" (currently 11°.) Those padded pyjamas do look quite warm! I hear they wear their summer jammies out when it is hot, but have not yet been here to witness it myself.

Hi orangina

That might be a habit mainly seen in warm regions, hehe.

呵呵，非常喜欢

Oh no. I have seen quite a bit of it in Guangzhou. Mine were rather tame gray exercise pants, but I see plenty of people in their pink padded outfits with cute bears and hearts all over them.

Hi orangina

That's only in Shanghai, isn't it?

May have the personality of a person (though really I doubt it... she looks beyond stunned)... RealDoll at least looks more like a person.

It's too bad that they provided it with the "personality of a person", because I was really looking for something with the robotality of a robot. What a tribute to the dead of 9/11 though.

Actually not :-), from a technical point of view that is one interesting doll!

this one would ;-)

No worries, this

Dutch wife, does not take offense that easily :-)

Are you sure you aren't talking about a blanket? ;-)

I would say that those two phenomenons should be separate. Barging to the front of the queue and littering are 两件事。 As for the old ladies - they have the killa-elbows, watch out for em!

You could just be from Montreal.

We do this all the time in Sydney. The rule (like in New York and Italy from my experience) is that you cross when there is a space between cars. In this respect I feel at home in China.

no, not true, you could also be a dutch biker or from Berlin.

So true!

lol,and then when you spot a westerner you excitedly yell "laowai,laowai" and stare [or so I've heard].

..and you think the Chinese kitchen is the best in the world and you suffer from increasing dissatisfaction with food in your home country ... I am hungry..and I want to go and have lunch in China NOW!

Ha - I know I've gone native when I don't feel the need to join the queue, but push right through!

I can somewhat relate... sort of. Before coming to China I thought a restaurant with few people was cozy, thus desirable. Now I feel that a restaurant with few people has been scorned by the locals due to poor sanitation and so should be avoided at all cost.

hey ! " big boy " ! I feel sorry ,too...

I don't know what to say !

We , girls , don't behave like that . At least I don't..

hey ! " big boy " !

I don't know what to say !

We , girls , don't behave like that . At least I don't..

changye, sorry, you've gone down a notch in my estimation. But only a notch.

hi changye,

and who said spring was the most colorful time of year. some very good displays of color found stuck to the pavements and streets and hanging from gutters and steps in my area. but hey, i'm with you. better out than in.

Hahaha, no problem. It all washes away.

It's not a joke, I'm afraid.

changye, I somehow doubt you have taken this step ;)

In chinese ，we usually use a phrase “同化” to describe this phenomena

Yes, 麻烦 is often one of the first words to get integrated. It is definitely not as stiff sounding as 'troublesome' and it doesn't have any mild swearing like 'pain in the ass'. I guess we are left with 'It's a pain', but 麻烦 seems more fun somehow.

I think the first word to get adopted is 路, though. This is so common, it isn't even a first sign of going native.

you know you've gone native when the 不好意思's keep rolling off the tongue

对对对，不好意思，开玩笑！

No 口罩 for me. That was one of my colleagues. He has been in China for ten years. He wears it to keep his face warm when there is a brisk wind and to avoid the flu.

"you say 'yes' multiple times when you want to agree with what another person has said(对，对，对,对）"

- Also, when you find yourself just saying "mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm" for affirmative replies, not even bothering with "对，对，对,对"

You also often say "bye" on the phone with a "cute" "bai-bai" sound, mixed in with more "mmm, mmm, mmm".

Haha, I forgot to finish my sentence above, and this computer can't type Chinese.

幸亏我duiwaiguoren说“How's it going?”(I guess pinyin will have to do.)

嗯，特别是这两三个礼拜我觉得。 Baba 的进步的确令人赞叹！

你猜错！哈哈

好像只有一个剩下的选择。对的，我偶尔对中国人说“你吃了没有？”这个情况不但是说中文的时候，而且也是说英文的时候。幸亏我说“How's it going?”

baba，我注意到你中文说得越来越好，你总是坚持写汉字，我觉得棒极了！

"Perhaps you can guess which one."

我猜是“对，对，对，对”

非常好的帖子小PHil，好玩儿。 ：）