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Q: why nationality matters to applying a job in china?
11 years 8 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
if you are asking about teachers job, then parents think only white skin can teach english well...LOLZ
Because if they had someone like you teaching their kid native speakers of English might not understand them later on when they are older. It's better to learn from someone from the developed country such as America since that's where they are planning to head out in the near future in droves!!
Traveler:
I think you have an extremely valid point, but I am still petty enough to down vote you because I don't like you 
ok, so you want nationality not to matter? then that would mean all teachers would get the same accommodations and salary as local teachers. would you accept 2000 -3000 to work 40 hours a week (no paid holidays). would you like to live with 3 other teachers in a 1 bedroom rundown apartment with a squat toilet?
stop being a baby and put in the work to find a job suitable for you.
nationality does not equate to race, so i do not know why anyone would try to make this about skin color.
"Why does nationality matter when applying for a job in China?" would be a better way of phrasing this question. If you are yourself a teacher from a non-Anglophonic country, I believe we can infer your intention with this post... and it's foil.
I think nationality does play a legitimate role in most circumstances.
Throughout the world, English has now developed as an international language, including as a lingua franca. Many different "World Englishes" have developed, all as different as the native languages of the people that speak the varying Englishes.
As example, there is Spanglish, Konglish, Singlish and Chinglish, all having the core elements of English, as well as grammatical elements and variations of the native tongue of the country it developed in.
It is generally accepted amongst linguists that a speaker of one of the world Englishes is best suited to teach that variety of English to others that will use it in it's "native" environment. As example, a speaker of Indian English would hardly be the correct person to teach Bahaman English to Bahamans, because the two Englishes have little in common. Of course, the two English have certain core characteristics, and for this reason, speakers of standard English could easily teach to speakers of either of the varieties of English.
Standard English speakers come from the Inner Circle of the Three Circles model of World Englishes (look it up on the internet). The Inner Circle countries are those where English is the traditional base - UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Outer circle countries are generally those where English is an official language, and each of these countries have their own distinct variety of English (eg Singapore, India, Nigeria). The Expanding Circle are countries where English is an important language, and these include China. However, China may very well be moving into the Outer Circle.
The various types of English can be easily understood by speakers of other varieties of English, even though they are vastly different. In this respect, English has become a lingua franca right around the world. Bahamans and Chinese in China use their own varieties of English to communicate with each other, but this does not mean that a Bahaman could teach either Chinglish or Standard English to a Chinese person. Likewise, a Chinese person could not teach English to a Bahaman person.
For these reasons, linguists throughout the world have traditionally supported the idea that teachers of a certain variety of English should be either speakers of that particular variety (such as Chinglish), or standard speakers from the Inner Circle. A few theorists have put forward ideas that standard English should be replaced by an as yet undefined International "lingua franca" English, but no empirical data has yet been put forward to support these new theories.
Hulk:
I see you got downvoted by a non-native speaker for a well-thought-out post that actually makes sense. Here's an upvote to balance the hurt feelings.
You're righter than rice. Or was that whiter? Well, whatever.
GuilinRaf:
Not sure I can fully agree with all your points this t ime. When I was in college, my English Lit prof was from India, and he did a very good job. My university was smack in the middle of the American Mid-West.
As to China becoming "outer circle" I am not so sure. We have English teachers here who barely speak English. If the teachers are not that fluent in the language, how can the rest of the population follow?
All other points were spot-on.
Traveler:
GR: Being from the outer circle, and considering the subject matter, those with a core level (inner circle) would have no difficulties understanding. Others in the outer circle (especially non-Indians), or the expanding circle, would have difficulties.
The problem with Chinglish is that attempts are being made to introduce one form to all Chinese people, when there are many Chinese languages. Even among native Mandarin speakers, most have difficulties understanding Mandarin speakers from different regions.
Perhaps China is so big, we need to develop multiple Chinglishes? In that case, you would be right. It isn't ready to move into the outer circle. Interesting thought. I'll do some research into that.
Shining_brow:
To emphasise Traveler's point, any non-standard speaker would more easily understand any of the 'standard' varieties of English (US, UK, Aus, etc), however, a non-standard speaker would have trouble understanding a different non-standard variety.
eg, Chinglish is fine... while in China (or parts of China). But pretty useless outside of China. So, which do you want people to learn? One that us useable everywhere, or one that can only be used in a certain part of the world, and to a certain group of people?
Of course, this isn't just about English - it's about any language! Do you want to learn 'Chinese', or Shanghaiese??
Case in point (sort of...). A few years ago, a Chinese plane with an American early warning system was piloted by 2 Chinese pilots , who had obviously learnt 'English'. The recovered black box had the last seconds of the cockpit conversation before the plane flew into a mountain, and you could hear one ask the other "What does "pull up" mean?" (as against, ascend, or similar words...
snowid:
hahaha! trying to look oh so clever, using pseudo-science from the internet... your arguments are as pathetic as they are irrelevant. it takes a teacher to understand what teaching is all about. the rest of you post such rants like this one.
The original post made no mention of applying for a TEACHING job, although I concede there's a high probability that's the intention in this case. But, since this is China, nationality plays another role in the hiring process: ease and/or likelihood of being granted a proper visa for that job. It's well known that China limits the number of visas for persons originating from certain countries. For example, Nigeria, and more recently The Philippines. So, if a person from one of the more "restricted" countries is applying for a job, then unfortunately that will make them a less likely candidate for the job which they are applying for.
Nationality... hmmm - let's see... you want to do trade and business with New Zealand.. so of course you hire yourself some Brazilians... makes perfect sense!!!
i'm from mauritius .. have A- level cambridge certificate in english language ..but still cannot find a part time teaching job ..maybe bcoz i'm black...hahahha
mikael84:
Or because you don't use proper spelling. "bcuz" makes me cringe when I see it from educated people.
sameel001:
it's just easy writing .. i can't write in full composition style as comments ..ROFL
Nationality matters everywhere.
Nationality can be a good indicator for efficiency, how much supervision needed and so on.
Having interviewed and hired a different number of nationalities I can easily see a pattern. Most Scandinavians are on time and self-driven, most Pakistanis come late and need supervision. This is of course not true for all, but it definitely is for most people I have worked with.
So if you have 2 equally qualified candidates from 2 different countries, then I think it makes sense to look at the work cultures of those countries.
