This evening, a friend and I took a trip to Walmart (we primarily went to buy some green tea Oreos and other Asian-ified snacks for our friends back in the States). While we were at Walmart, we noticed that they were also selling roast duck, bing, and other some other snacks.
Since it was around dinner time, we decided to buy some baozi. We asked one of the workers what types of baozi were available, and they told us to look at the sign. Not having a iPod touch or a translator on hand, we managed to figure out about half of the entries. However, wanting to know everything that was available, my friend asked the worker again to tell us what was available. Since the store clerk seemed a bit irritable and unwilling to answer our question, my friend then explained that we were exchange students, that we were still learning Chinese, and that no, we did not recognize some of the characters. The store clerk then proceeded to laugh at us.
Eventually, one of the other workers took pity on us and told us what was on the menu. But even after we got our baozi, we could hear the workers snickering and discussing our inability to speak Chinese.
To clarify the situation, both my friend and I are huayi's. My friend, a 4th year student at PiB, speaks conversational Chinese extremely well and doesn't have an American accent. While we buying baozi, I let her do all of the talking. But despite my friend being able to speak so well, the store clerk still gave us a lot of trouble for being "illiterate". It was really frustrating to realize that although this summer I have learned quite a bit in terms of being able to discuss politics, economics, environmental concerns, and traditional gender roles in China, I'm still quite unfamiliar with how to converse with others regarding day-to-day tasks. Additionally, while I have no doubt that non-Chinese students constantly run into other problems, as a huayi I sometimes find it difficult to reconcile with the fact that while I am ethnically Chinese (and some might expect me to act accordingly so), I am still very much a English-speaking foreign student that will run into problems while studying in China.
Fortunately, I will mention that despite the debacle, the baozi still tasted quite alright.
-艾琳
You're not alone. Many other Light Fellows (including non-huayi students) have voiced frustration with their classroom-bred ability to discuss politics, economics, etc, without being able to recognize half the dishes on a menu or not knowing the words for everyday items like nail clipper or insole. This is the type of language learning that happens outside the classroom, and it comes with time.
ReplyDeleteBtw, did you find the 绿茶奥利奥？