It’s The Language, Stupid
This post at Coming Anarchy, discussing whether linguistic fluency is required to be a regional expert, reminds me of a story I recently heard from John, an American friend of mine who first visited mainland China in 1986.
John learned Chinese in Taiwan years before, so he found his experience there (confined to Beijing and Xi'an) interesting and not unpleasant. At the time, few signs were translated into English (or even in pinyin) and few Chinese were conversant in the language. Most Chinese were even less used to foreigners than they are today, so as a result several of the non-Chinese speaking foreigners John encountered described their experience as a nightmare. He gave one example that strikes me as a perfect illustration of how not understanding Chinese makes life difficult here.
In the Xi'an train station, passengers formed two lines depending on their destination. These lines were clearly labeled in Chinese but not at all translated into English. A foreign man spent forty-five minutes waiting in a line that turned out to be wrong; when he got to the ticket booth, he was informed that he had to go into the other line. He, understandably, blew up in frustration. Yet his problem would have easily been averted if he only understood written Chinese.
These days, life in China is much easier for those unable to speak the language. I would wager, though, that every newbie in China has had moments similar to the poor gentleman in John's story. I've certainly had my fair share of headaches, intemperate outbursts, and extremely frustrating experiences in my three years in China. With very few exceptions, all were caused by my inability to speak and understand Chinese.
Chinese is worth studying for a lot of reasons, but not having to deal with hassles is one of the best.
October 20th, 2007 - 02:36
Isn’t that common sense? A Chinese or any non-English speaking person who comes to visit America or the UK etc. and he or she will be guaranteed to have a tough time if he or she doesn’t speak or read English at all. Some English-speaking people assume that everybody speaks English just because English is the dominant world language today. When you go to China, expect people to speak Chinese. When you go to Germany, expect people to speak German. Duh!