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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Do Chinese people correct your English?
time and again Chinese people correct my English.
They tell me that my use of words is wrong - of course they know better than a native English speaker.
here is an example.
yet again i was correcting a Chinese guy (mid 20's i think) about his use of the word 'female' when referring to women and girls.
a group i was in were talking about the Chinese people's poor sex education, in light of the book published recently for children to educate them on sex and how to recognise sexual abuse.
young guy: '....Chinese females seem to be more shy about learning it'
me: 'females? do you mean female dogs or cats? or do you mean women and girls? you show no respect to women by calling them 'females' - are the just baby making machines to you and not people?'
I then mentioned that chinese guys were as ;shy' when talking about sex.
young guy: 'you don't understand english. Female is polite and widely used ........to describe the gentle gender. In some parts of China, older females are considered better for marriage....... many friends told their intimate experiences with older females.'
me: 'so in the country, marrying farm animals is considered good? and you have friends who have been imitate with animals? Calling a woman or girl a 'female' is incredibly disrespectful, as you are saying all she is good for is making babies and not a person '
young guy: (angry comments in Chinese and storms off)
this is not the first time my English has been corrected by a Chinese person
7 years 4 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
What ain't no country I ever heard of !
I rarely get corrected because my english be gooder than a average peoples.
diverdude1:
do u know the reference? ever seen the flick? Samuel is soooooo good in that scene! the kid with the Hawaiian burger is pretty darn good too.
oops,, I just read a few of your other comments. I see that u are a native speaker. so, yeah, I imagine u do know the reference.Blondie_:
as an aid to English language learning, it would be priceless.
reminds me of a film a few years ago, white guy couldn't understand black guy.
old woman arrives and says to white guy 'it's ok, i understand 'jive'' and proceeded to 'translate'.
What ain't no country I ever heard of !
I rarely get corrected because my english be gooder than a average peoples.
diverdude1:
do u know the reference? ever seen the flick? Samuel is soooooo good in that scene! the kid with the Hawaiian burger is pretty darn good too.
oops,, I just read a few of your other comments. I see that u are a native speaker. so, yeah, I imagine u do know the reference.Blondie_:
as an aid to English language learning, it would be priceless.
reminds me of a film a few years ago, white guy couldn't understand black guy.
old woman arrives and says to white guy 'it's ok, i understand 'jive'' and proceeded to 'translate'.
It hasn't happened to me but i do enjoy it when some clown in their late twenties who has studied english since kindergarten says:
Ai ya, wei shenme you do speaking the zhongwens in nage zhege nage nage zhege isn't goodly Beijing dialect. Yes, no? Dui, no dui?......when i have just ordered a Wopper meal with onion rings in Mandarin successfully with a little humorous banter with the counter dude on the side.
His statement is funny too:
young guy: '....Chinese females seem to be more shy about learning it'
Some Chinese guys are so naive it's almost cute. Many times when seeing two girls holding hands at the mall, one looking suspiciously boyish, I had a Chinese guy to tell me "Oh, they are just friends, Chinese girls are not lesbian like Foreign girls" riiiight!
This is one example among others, I'm not sure whether they are just spitting propaganda slogans "we Chinese are better than depraved Foreigners" or truly naive, I suspect the later.
Blondie_:
its when i see two chinese guys holding hands, and then the vehement denial there is homosexuality in China.
they almost explode at the suggestion, despite the fact that homosexuality in china is historically documented.
RandomGuy:
I'm not a history buff but I remember reading something about it, was it the Tang where the nobles had orgies in their castles that included both straight and gay sex and where everyone did both?
I agree poor sex education is an issue in China, I don't know if they way you're addressing it is very helpful in this case.
Blondie_:
this was a conversation one evening, not in a classroom situation - about the book that was published recently and then withdrawn because people couldn't handle the honesty it contained.
but i do try to correct blatant ignorance and disrespect when faced with it, especially when i expect to be talking to adults - an oxymoron in China at times.
lol.....female is gender related description, but, it becomes difficult when you have to choose between the use of : girl, woman and lady.
in this case, i really dont think the poor guy means any disrespect against any woman in general.
by the way, we can use the word "guy" to describe any male human being at any age group. but what will be the right general term for female human beings? i understand that the oxford antonyms for guy is girl. but if you think about... boy -girl, gentlemen - lady, man- woman. there isnt a true antonyms for the word guy?
kindly assist if you know the answer.
Tell him to go home...his village is missing their idiot.
icnif77:
I disagree .... except ''their face-saving is a 'killer'!"
'In his shoes' I would add: 'I am not sure if this is right term ...' and Chinese stand hard behind their statement in foreign language, because of 'my-face', i.e. no 'critical thinking' in 'listen-to-commands society'.
This is the only reason he should go back to his village, but then all Chinese should follow him too!