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Q: Talking loudly. Is it just a...
Guangdong thing, or China wide ? I know we have covered this before, but if anyone can give some really keen insight regarding the whys & where-fores of this behaviour. (particularly love to hear from a Han person, 100 points to the Best Answer)
i asked a local friend why everyone seemed to use what my late grandmother called their "out-door" voices.
My friend told me that this is because many people, especially in the non-tier 1 cities are from farming backgrounds, and that is the volume they are used to using.
anyone got any other explainiation?
In my experience it tends to be an Asian wide problem.
However I do agree it is particularly bad and widespread throughout China. A mate of mine claims that hearing in Asians is, evolutionary speaking, different to Europeans due to noise exposure over the generations. Thus what appears loud and unbearable to non-Asians is at a reasonable volume to those born in China. Kind of makes sense.
My theory is simply that due to excessive decibel levels when children a lot of Asian peoples hearing is damaged in development. Either that or maybe it's just that Europeans are wimps.
I once sat on a three hour bus journey close to tears as frantic happy hardcore was blasted out relentlessly at a volume that would have been extreme in Guantanamo Bay. Other foreigners were in similar visible pain as the locals, at first smiling and happy, drifted off into an easy slumber.
Tears were almost shed before I took the wise decision and bailed out the bus...
I have a theory, although it may be dubious. To my ears, the Chinese language seems to quite indistinct. It's reliance on tones and less on word variation causes confusion even among the Chinese. Sometimes listening to them speak it seems they are having a conversation like so (translated to english)
Woman: That's a big fish!
Man: What? you want a pig dish?
Woman: I said that's a big fish!
Man: What? a big fist?
Woman: Aiyo! A BIG FISH!
Man: Oh! Yes!
I think speaking louder helps clarify things with the tones and all. And I've noticed this everywhere in China I go. In fact, they often sound like they are angry and arguing when in fact, my friends tell me they are speaking normally.
sam239:
Sure, I don't think this is the case, the tones to them are easy to pick out, as impossible as this seems to us. One way I imagine is thinking about the difference in meaning when you say "Why" with a falling tone, or with a flat tone. "Why" with a falling tone is clearly a question, like "Whyyyyyyyyyy?", the tone alone indicates it's a question, but "Why" with a flat tone is simply part of a declaration. I think it's very clear to us when we hear that falling tone that it indicates a question, likewise with them the tones are clear.
I read the question and other answers to my Chinese roommate, he says it's nationwide (he's from Zhejiang province) and: "None of these responses is correct. It's because Chinese people don't respect other people's privacy and don't respect their own privacy. That's the reason. Privacy in China is something that is very cheap."
Also: "They haven't been educated and don't realize this is rude. They are also kind of selfish inside."
And note that's my Chinese roommate, not me, saying this. I think it's more basic, they're just used to talking when lots of people are around. Maybe they're also not used to gracetul behavior as well.
xinyuren:
Ah! It's good to hear a Chinese point of view (who's not a wumao type). Usually our perceptions are based on a more sophisticated taste. Chinese people are just simple, unsophisticated people and their actions and reactions are not so complicated. Thank your roommate for me.
sam239:
Also I don't know if he's really that right. In fact I often catch my roommate talking really loudly, in public, and sometimes wonder if he's not "gaining face" or making himself look sophisticated in front of the other Chinese. I find rural Chinese actually tend to be more civilized than domesticated city Chinese, for one they have not been touched by the Party's "reforms" to the same degree urban ones have. Less educated but more civilized, perhaps.
diverdude1:
wow, I also have thought the same thing ! like it is some kinda weird 'face' thing.... like if I speak at such a high-volume and with such strident manner it may re-inforce my masculinity ? Well, that is all I can think of,,,,, that, and that they are just conditioned to the behavior.
* it is 23:32 and I can hear 'neighbors' that I would estimate are 200+ metres distant.
Guys... Let's just admit it - once and for all,China is 'bedlam'... I walk around this place constantly ' wondering... wtf'.. the people are friendly..but other than that !? -99% of them are just weird. It is seriously like walking through a lunatic asylum.
And I am not exagerating... it is a fact.
sam239:
The neighbors below my apartment play, at high volume, a recording of a piano playing major fifth scales (or something like that, a scale that jumps a few notes at each step) all day long, every day, I hear it every time I walk past their room. It even has some mistakes in the recording, like purposefully part of the recording. The people must be insane.
It is the same with the line cutting...the offensive driving and the constant bargaining....or for that matter the crazy haircuts...if you were Chinese and lived in a country of 1.3 billion compatriots I would guess that you would also do anything that would help you stand out from the "harmonious" crowd....just my theory.
