Lecturing others amounts to schadenfreude. Wait. What? An interesting phenomenon seems to be in the air. With the current financial crisis in America and unrest in Britain, it appears that multiple western media outlets cannot resist the temptation to interpret China's and other countries' responses in terms of "schadenfreude". Although not as amusing as … [Read more...] about All your Schadenfreude are belong to us?
language
Cross Cultural Dating
Now that many non-Chinese have moved to China and many native Chinese live throughout the world, cross cultural dating has become far more common. For someone leaving mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore and moving to a western country, what are some of the cultural pitfalls and traps you need to avoid and adjustments you need to make? For someone moving to any of … [Read more...] about Cross Cultural Dating
People of the world unite?!
Here is a light topic. Since last year's parody song "Say a word in heart", singing songs in a foreign language -- if you can call it that -- has been raised to a totally new level. You've probably even heard the stomach-churning subsequent parodies of "Shanghai beach", "Spicy girl", and even the Peking Opera standard "Su san qi jie", but alas this genre has mercifully run its … [Read more...] about People of the world unite?!
(Letter from Joel) How should foreigners feel about being called “鬼子,” “鬼佬,” “老外,” etc.?
I'm on an extended visit back to my hometown, Vancouver, a Canadian city full of Chinese. Chinese is the second-most commonly used language after English. My wife and I were running around a Chinese mall for fun to practice Mandarin and buy some Chinese DVDs when we overheard Chinese people talking about us in Mandarin saying, "Those foreigners are speaking Chinese!" I … [Read more...] about (Letter from Joel) How should foreigners feel about being called “鬼子,” “鬼佬,” “老外,” etc.?
What I talk about when I talk about copycatting
Recently a friend asked for help with the etymology of the word 危险。 She's writing her thesis on the edge that artists have when they skillfully play with "danger." Her whole thesis revolves around the concept of Danger in art and all her professors keep telling her that 危险 has a different connotation in Chinese than danger does in English. So she needs someone to help her … [Read more...] about What I talk about when I talk about copycatting