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Q: What are Chinese trying to get out of the "Harooooooo!" calls?
I was thinking about this one for a while. We have all had that annoying call from Chinese that usually goes something like this...
Chinese guy with other Chinese guys: "Harrooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
With no response from a foreigner, they will start to claim the foreigner doesn't understand and starts giggling with their buddies.
Chinese guy walking in opposite direction alone (waits until he passes you): "Harrrrroooooooooooo?"
Foreigner turns head to see who said that and sees guy giggling and quickly walking away.
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I noticed that many female Chinese don't do this quite as much and when they do, they use a different tone. Not usually a high pitched Mickey Mouse sort of mocking tone.
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So my question is why do you think the male Chinese do this? They don't greet each other like this so what makes them think we appreciate this sort of greeting? Are they mocking us simply for being foreign and our presence makes them feel insecure?
Are they just so excited to see a foreigner that they can't control themselves and act like eight year old children high on sniffing glue?
9 years 23 hours ago in Relationships - China
To prove the hundreds of thousands spent on English lessons were worth it?
To prove the hundreds of thousands spent on English lessons were worth it?
all I have ever witnessed is teen boys acting goofy with other teen boys. testosterone?
I remember when I was a young teen we would wander the streets of Aberdeen drinking cans of Tenant's and looking to act tuff with groups of other boys. seem kinda odd and senseless now? affirmative. guess we would need a psychologist on this one... Dr. Monkey?
*my two cents is it's something about fitting in w/ your group and trying to impress the lasses to get a bit of cuddle time~
** other posters should relate one of thier own teen follies... just to amuse the group 
DrMonkey:
I'm no psy, I'm a comp. sci. guy ^^ But yeah, teenage is a time where one is testing himself and try to find his/her way. That includes pissing contest and angst over the image we project, which boils down to "gotta look tough to get fertile females" for males and "gotta look a good sexual mate to get male increasing survival likelyhood of our offspring"
diverdude1:
well, grew up there is a bit of a stretch, but yeah, spent a few of my teen years. Our family experienced some wonderful time there in the 70's while my dad figured out how to help get that nice North Sea oil.
I don't remember all the names of the areas, just know it was out towards Cults.
It's pretty cool that at least two of us on here spent time in the Granite City.
I don't think it goes beyond what would be teenager's antics in many other place. Education, social maturity, representation of self in that big world ("me Chinese, me special, foreigners not-like-us !"). When it comes from grown-up adults several times a days over a couple years, it does get old.
My own teenage antics (per diverdude request) : built a large catapult with a bike tire and the frame of a bus seat in a junkyard. We used wild apples as projectile. Man, that was some powerful catapult. We could hit houses the other side of the block. Also sailed across flooded basements of homes under construction, in an empty oil drum. Ok, the list is long.
laowaigentleman:
I did the same, although it was with a modified drainpipe with a chamber for aerosol grafted onto the side with a flint that could be struck with the end of a broom handle. We started with eggs, moved onto potatoes and ended up with glue for a glue gun lobbed a few hundred thousand metres from the back of a ute while driving through a paddock at about a hundred kph.
No why... no seriously I don't think there's much thought behind it and I doubt many Chinese could articulate why they do it. In a minority of cases it's likely an innocent attempt at friendly communication. In other cases, I'd say it's an immature attempt by a guy to somehow show off to his friends (show off what I'm not sure exactly). I don't think it's usually outright hostile and it would be worthless to try to explain to some of these bozos that singling out a stranger in public for his appearance could make that person feel uncomfortable and alienated. I guess to a lot of these hallowers foreigners are just objects of amusement that help give the Chinese a 10 second break from their otherwise meaningless and soul destroying lives.
Yeah, I can understand how teenagers want to have a little fun but actually it is usually middle aged men doing it.
And many times, there are no women around them to impress. I think it is a sort of a back-handed attempt at being friendly.
It's like... I will say "hello" is such a form that if it is dismissed that I can laugh it off as a joke and not lose face for reaching out. Personally, I would just prefer a nice normal tone "hello"... but I guess many Chinese fear losing face too much to simply just do that.
DrMonkey:
I mean, INTERACTING with OTHER people who are not even Chinese !!! Dude, that's huge ! It's crazy, crazier that poking them with a stick !!!
coineineagh:
This was also my suspicion. And my opinion on it is, that I don't have the patience to accommodate that level of social awkwardness. I shouldn't be expected to have so much patience for cultural difference either.
ScotsAlan:
Kids I always say hello to. Midddle age men I ignore. I ignore more often than say hello.
ScotsAlan:
Kids I always say hello to. Midddle age men I ignore. I ignore more often than say hello.
No idea why, but if I am with someone else I usually answer with a "ni kan! nongfu!" (look! farmers!), if I am alone I give them cold hard stares "you think you are tough?", works even better with mirrored sunglasses. It doesn't seem to happen as much when I am dressed professionally.
fada:
they really dont like it when you call them nong min, its what the chinese themselves would use to belittle someone from the country who has just done something even the rest of them would consider retarded. I have used it and it is the equivalent of a nuclear bomb if a foreigner says it, game over, you win. Haha
expatlife26:
Yeah I agree about the clothes making a difference. Wearing a suit on a workday nobody bothers me. Dressed casually on a sunday with a couple days stubble all of a sudden all the retards have something dumb to say.
Maybe China should concentrate on Mandarin first, then English second. Mandarin seems to be a language no one is interested in learning. Parents teach home town dialect, no matter where they are from and where they live. If the kids go to school with no Mandarin skills, what chance do the teachers have?
ScotsAlan:
My point being.. if Chinese cant integrate into their own society.... why should we be expected to.... What language should we learn to integrate?
Eorthisio:
Wow, couldn't agree more, I find it pitiful when I can speak better Putonghua than them.
Like I say "Ni qu Chancheng ma?" (Are you going to Chancheng?) they get the overall meaning but not "Chancheng", then after writting it down they try to tell me that it's pronounced "Chongcheng", no no it is "Chancheng" I am 100% sure about it, everywhere in the bus, in the MTR, in the ads, on TV, ... it's pronounced "Chancheng" and most people also say "Chancheng".
Only some dumbasses who can't speak proper Mandarin but a mix of it with the local dialect say "Chongcheng", yet they have this smile like "lol the foreigner can't say it properly" fucking idiots, YOU are wrong, not me.
gouxiong:
I so far did not meet a single young Chinese who could not speak very good Mandarin.
Even in Hong Kong now you may not get along with English but Mandarin always works - with exception of really old people.
You may refer to the fact that Chinese frequently describe their Mandarin as poor, or non standard. But what they almost always mean is not the lack of Mandarin knowledge (they can usually express themselves pretty well and they can also understand everything) - they refer to certain non standard pronunciation (including some different tones).
hi2u:
I really can't stand the hunan farmers who can't even pronounce their own province correctly. They still call it fulan
gouxiong:
Eorthisio,
Vow!
Are you sure that after several years of learning the language you speak better Mandarin than Chinese?
Then really congratulation!!!!
But you certainly forgive me if I doubt that, right?
Nevertheless why you are so annoyed (using capital letters ...) if some people do not agree with you. If you are really so perfect so what does it matter? And if not so better you learn it faster rather than later ...
Shining_brow:
4... 10....! FARQ!!!
GX - I don't get your defense on this. Clearly, If I'm speaking Putonghua, and a local doesn't understand me, there's a communication issue. Which is really frustrating when you're in a taxi wanting to go somewhere, and the ignoramous only knows 1 pronunciation of a famous landmark (and it's NOT the standard language pronunciation), then there's a serious issue! To make matters worse, those people consider the foreigner the ignorant one... for being able to communicate in a language that is supposed to be spoken by more people than any other language in the world... instead of only a local dialect which is only going to be understood by those in the general vicinity!
And, yes, I would suggest that Eorthisio's Chinese (Putonghua) is better than many locals!!! I(which isn't too different to say that a Spanish person's French is better than an Italian's! It's a different frikken language!)
gouxiong:
Shining_brow,
If anyone really speaks the language well so one mispronounced word cannot be an issue. You can usually describe quite well where you want to go and as long as you are really fluent and your pronunciation is correct so there shall not be any big problem with it.
All these people you are talking about are used to very standard Mandarin from TV so they certainly have no trouble to understand the standard pronunciation even though they may have the accent.
But more frequently I met people who just believe their pronunciation has no problem.
I do not rule out that some foreigners after many years of studying reach really good Mandarin level - however it's not common case for majority of foreigners in here.
I do not know neither you nor Eorthisio so I cannot judge your Chinese level. My Chinese is far away from local people level but I can get along quite well. So far I never had a problem to explain to taxi driver where I need to go.
On top of that I do not understand the frustration when some people do not understand you - may be approaching it with a bit more modesty can make no harm.
Some people in here have pre-set mindset that foreigners cannot speak Chinese.
I had quite funny experience when I came to the restaurant and I asked if they can still give me food as it was already quite late. The girl was telling me that she does not speak English and we were basically communicating together for several minutes in Mandarin without her realizing that we both use the same language.
When her colleague who was supposed to speak English came so we all had a good laugh over the situation - why should I get angry about this?
But totally up to you ...If anyone wants to make his/her life miserable so there is nobody else who can stop this person.
ScotsAlan:
My wife speaks 3 Chinese languges, and we still come across black car drivers who do not understand any of them.
gouxiong:
OK, than either our experience or the definition of "speaking the language" differs. What I am trying to say that you may frequently hear Chinese to blame each other (and the being blamed even admitting it) they cannot speak Mandarin. Funny enough these dialogues are usually carried out in Mandarin, because what they mean is not really lack of ability to speak or understand Mandarin but to use it properly. Black car drivers are then usually not that poor as the car is usually theirs - that means that they probably also watch Mandarin speaking TV etc. But certainly there are people in China who really cannot speak Mandarin at all. But there are not that many. Certainly anyone who speaks decent Mandarin will not have a trouble to get around more or less anywhere in China quite smoothly...
ScotsAlan:
From a couple of years ago. It's official, 30% of China can't speak Mandarin.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-09/05/content_16947820.htm
gouxiong:
ScotsAlan,
As mentioned - I so far never had any trouble to get along with Mandarin even in Hong Kong.
My job takes me to virtually all parts of China and if we talk about simple tasks like talking to taxi drivers, receptionist etc. so I really did not experience any trouble.
However the people have different level of their Mandarin.
Certainly in China there are people who really cannot speak the language but as Mandarin is the language used in schools and majority of TV programs so I always find an argument of some people that they do not study Mandarin because they anyway cannot use it in many parts of China as pure lame excuse (but pls do not get me wrong - I see no problem with anyone decision not to learn the language, I just assume they should have better reason than the Mandarin is not widely spoken in China).
ScotsAlan:
I was just providing a link with facts. The official newspaper of the Government says 30% can't speak Mandarin.
gouxiong:
Yes, I agree.
They also mentioned:
------QUOTE----
The Education Ministry spokeswoman said the push would be focusing on the countryside and areas with ethnic minorities.
------UNQUOTE----
I just try to say that for common Westerner meeting a Chinese person who cannot speak Mandarin at all is a bit rare. However of course possible.
Yeah some things in china get easier to deal with over time... this is the kind of thing that gets more and more annoying. I remember my first month in China I would shout back hello without a care. Soon I may punch someone out over this
Yes, I see it as a form of mocking... but what could they possibly be mocking us for... Other than that we come from a civilized country and now live in such a crummy stink hole? If that is the case, then touche. (it usually those small stinky towns which give the most obnoxious treatment to foreigners)
When you are walking alone in the evening, and i am talking about along an ordinary street, and someone from a group of middle-aged men gives you the 'creepy helloooooo' - yes it is very unpleasant.
This sort of call is not confined to a particular gender or age group in China.
they have all done it.
Is this the famous Chinese 'hospitality' we are always reminded of?
Invariably, the Chinese person you're with will defend them, won't they? "Oh they're just curious", "They're not used to seeing foreigners". Well from time to time I see people I'm not used to seeing also... Could be an albino or a 7 foot tall man. But i still act in a sensitive manner, I don't start shouting things at him. "Oh its okay, he's not used to seeing tall people"
DrMonkey:
You don't get it ! What the Chinese people can be excused for, it can't be excused from other. "You don't understand China" (TM). Exploitative, borderline bullying, you tell me ? "You don't like Chinese people" (TM). I think you can go on like this for a while.
you got it wrong, mate. Chinese usually can not pronounce "R" 
Shining_brow:
One of my students can't do the 'L' medial or final.. because it doesn't appear in Chinese. He can do "L' as an initial, naturally ('liu').
You'll also find the same with the 'R' - 'rou' 'rang', 'riben'. Just not in medial or final positions.
Well, another part of it is that when a farmer seems to know a little English they are so excited to use it to show it off to their compatriots. It always seems to be more about trying to impress their buddies than being kind and friendly. Chinese are sneaky little devils.
"Helloooooooooo lao wai!" *tee hee look at me, I am worldly and can speak to foreigners* +FACE
"Ni hao, bu wen ming de da lu ren!" (Hello, uncivilized mainlander). -FACE
BHGAL:
what is a little frustrating to me... they say "hello" , I say "hello"
then it is "how are you?" and they answer the question with a question 'how are you"
I gotta quit asking.
