What are your most ganga 尴尬【awkward】 Chinese moments?

In fact, I encountered "性价比" in previous Cpod lessons and should have known its meaning. But, obviously, I forgot.

Ah, I've fallen victim to that. Trying to order in chinese and getting the wrong dish. Being english, I'm then too polite to say anything about it, and had to sit there with my prawn based dish (I'm vegetarian!).

Hey Light ! ..great to see you back on the boards mate.

Yeah,I only know 奶昔...milkshake taught me by a Chinese guy in a cafe here which isn't quite the same.Speaking of which reminds me of another potentially awkward situation...not getting what you ordered in a restaurant.A common example is when you request 没有辣 and they still bring you a dish riddled with chilli. I suppose they view it as relative or something.There can be several factors involved when you don't get what you ordered.If you did it in Chinese ,how sure are you that you not only said it right but that they confirmed they'd understood [obviously if the confirmation is in English then you're on more solid ground if you're the type inclined to make an issue of it,but if it could come down to my Chinese then to me that's the price I'm prepared to pay for ordering in Chinese and I'd view it like a lucky dip and a funny game...and wear it].Of course like any restaurant there can be simple mixups like they've brought it to the wrong table particularly in a larger establishment which is a simple case to deal with.But I think food allergies are a different kettle of fish ..you can't exactly have your kid eating something dangerous...so I suppose making sure your order is clear in English in the first place is necessary.

Don't be shy

I second that! But then, I do love a bit of filth. :)

ouyangjun, go there! I feel like some whimsy today. Let us be the judge of inappropriate.

...brought to mind a simonpettersonesque tooth sparkle ray and accompanying eye twinkle being emitted.

"emitted a friendly look",lol :)

Actually, I got to thinking that sometimes the situation can go in reverse. Last summer in Spain, I was a bit lost, and I saw an Asian guy whom emitted a friendly look. I went up and tried to talk to him in very, VERY broke Spanish (with probably some French words thrown in). He was very patient, but looked like he was having a hard time trying to understand me. Finally, I said: 你是中国人么？, to which he said, "对" and was obviously relieved. Communication was much better after that.

Xiaophil, I do the same really, try for a bit to understand and if it turns out I didn't get what they were saying ask for clarification.

As for saying "hi, 你好"... I don't do that with random people on the street. Just in circumstances where I think chances are good they were not born in America. I agree, it would be pretty annoying to have people saying 你好 at you all the time.

My wife was born in Indonesia, but both her parents were born in China.

Like a lot of Chinese Indonesians she speaks very disparagingly of PRC immigrants in Australia, how they live and the values they espouse

Gidday Light!

Re: 'to the point where it seems like they are anti-Chinese'

There are plenty of people in China who are anti-Chinese. That is, anti-Chinese from another province, anti-Chinese of another class, anti-Chinese who drives black cars, etc. :-)

Good point, but I can't say for sure. What I can tell you is that it was sold to me in Sydney by a Chinese business and I was alarmed to see a message pop up today which says (after loading an update) 'This software is not genuine'. (Now I am 21 hours away it is a bit far to take back.) I have several questions about this situation, eg. if it is not genuine, why did it automatically load an update?

Can this be an obscure Chinese joke? Nah, Chinese don't do irony.

perhaps in China they have their own version of political correctness

Hmn, not in China, I'd bet.

The experience in Australia is similar I think. Although, before the 'student' influx we received many Chinese around 1989+ (most if not all granted permanent residency). Then their families under the family migration program. I was amused to find that at one stage the English barrier (IELTS score) was generally higher in the Netherlands than in England - so yes, they were desperate for students. And for revenue from English language education once the students arrived and discovered that they needed a higher score. (This anomoly with The Netherlands might have now been brought into line but I am not really up to date on that.)

On a not-unrelated subject, has anyone noticed that one of the standard shipped Microsoft photos in Windows 7 is the Tank Man? XP was much more politically correct.

It's fair enough. My family is originally from Germany (a looooooong time ago), and I have no particular interest in contemporary German culture. Although I'm sure it's lovely.

I actually see/hear more non-Chinese-speaking Chinese than I see/hear Chinese who can speak Chinese in Sydney. The closer you get to the city, the more who can speak Chinese but I am always surprised at the very Australian accents that come from the Chinese I encounter everyday. I've even overheard conversations about how they have no interest in learning the language nor have any interest in China itself.

Fair enough I suppose.. they are Australians, not Chinese.. but it always strikes me as odd that they have no interest at all... to the point where it seems like they are anti-Chinese.

Hmn. In England most British Born Chinese tend to speak Cantonese, being usually hong kong or southern immigrants.

But there's been a huge influx of chinese students due to a push from UK Universities for foreign students (since they pay 8x more, rather than any noble internalisation-based reasons), and this has led in my limited experience to a rather dramatic redressing of the balance in commonly spoken chinese.

ABC is a common term in Sydney for Australian born Chinese Barbs; I heard this first and then only later learnt that it also referred to American born Chinese. My classes in Sydney were usually about 80% ABC and maybe 90% Asian (including non-ABC Chinese, eg. French Chinese, mainlanders?!, HK, Indonesian, Malasian, Korean, 等等).

Just a comment on assuming Chinese-looking people speak (Mandarin) Chinese, quite a few Chinese in Australia cannot speak Chinese (but they are learning fast - hence the composition of Chinese classes!)

BTW - the disappearance of the word 'Mandarin' is raising some issues, isn't it (see my sentence above.) If I had used the now accepted term 'Chinese' it may have been less clear. I have watched the disappearance in Australia - in five or six years courses have gone from:

Mandarin

to

Standard Chinese

to

Chinese.

Now if you say 'Chinese' people immediately ask 'what kind of Chinese?'

I hear BBC and CBC quite often (British.. and Chinese...). But then I've also seen CBC for Canadian born, so I guess it depends what country you're in! I expect in australia, ABC would mean australian born.

But to second what people said above, I think it's always best to avoid assumptions of nationality. Especially in today's multicultural society :)

thanks for pointing that out xiaophil. Sorry orangina, I forgot to reply to the last part.To tell you the truth I have seen the term ABC since I joined CPod and learnt that it referred to American Born Chinese and while I could see that the A could also be used to refer to Australian I'm not sure I've heard anyone use that acronym here before,but sydcarten obviously has.Perhaps it's been more commonly used in Sydney than Brisbane..I really don't know.Maybe some other Aussies can shed some light.

I agree, I don't think it's appropriate in Australia to speak Mandarin as a first option.

When we meet people here you can't always be sure what ethnic background they have until they tell you.

Even when they have Chinese ethnicity it isn't always their first language, and they may not speak any at all.

Some years ago I had a girlfriend from Shanghai who spoke virtually no english at all. She couldn't even count to ten.

It was because of her I first became interested in learning Mandarin. She used to talk a lot, and somehow, over a period of time, the words just started organising themselves in my head and slowly started to make sense. It was a weird experience.

I remember one day I took her to Cabramatta, a suburb of Sydney that has a large Vietnamese and Chinese presence. The shopping centre is a mecca for foodies looking for 'the Asian experience'.

When my gf and I entered a shop together she would start talking to them in Mandarin. Sometimes they responded to her, but at least 8 out of 10 times they would look at me and say, "Can you tell her I don't speak Chinese!"

they call themselves ABC's here in Oz too

Baba, I think you missed Orangina's question. Is there a special word or acronym for Chinese Australians?

Orangina, If I meet someone in America, I always assume they are Americans and simply say, "hi." I think many Chinese Americans would feel annoyed, possibly angry, if people were always saying 你好 to them, especially the ones born there. (I don't know if you were referring to speaking to people in China or America.)

I agree that one should fess up if one doesn't understand. But you know, there is gray territory. Sometimes I am 70% I understand them. Then what? I usually go with the conversation a little longer and see if I indeed understood. If I didn't, I say something like, 对不起，我以为我刚才明白你的意思，不过我没懂，你能不能再说吗？

orangina,

Once again I completely agree with you.I was talking about a friend of course ;).Seriously though,I can't help but fess up if ever I'm in that situation as I like to have everything clear and no misunderstandings.Yeah,I think it's important to be able to laugh at yourself. At least then you aren't held back from giving it a shot.I've never let looking like a fool worry me [heck,otherwise I wouldn't post here so much,hehe].

Humility is the name of the game in language learning. I've found if I don't understand, or realize I misunderstood, it is best just to fess up. The trick after that is to keep the conversation going, and in Mandarin. If they speak English they will often switch at this point and if they don't, they will often just give up. But even that is better than letting someone think you understand their meaning. A good 不好意思 never hurt anyone.

As for not knowing if someone is ABC or not, I often start "Hi, 你好!" That way it is easier to let them pick a language to respond in. (So, ABC means American Born Chinese... is it the same for Australian or is it OBC... Oz Born Chinese?)

Hah! Love these :) (Because I'm incredibly childish)

Okay, I have a story in the same vein. It also isn't about me. I met this guy who went up to a girl and wanted to ask, "你有笔吗？" but got the tone on 笔 wrong. He said first tone. Don't do that guys. I don't want to spell out exactly what bi first tone means, but let's just say it might refer to an anatomical region on a female. (Now I feel a bit 尴尬.) After hearing this story, I'm always very cautious about tones when I ask for pens.

haha!