I just read an article "Learning Mandarin will put children off" from Times. In the very beginning, I am really nervous about what the author is going to discuss. Because as a Mandarin teacher, if there is any evidence which shows that people on the earth should not learn Mandarin, then we possibly have to go to the Moon or Mars whatever to teach aliens. :-(
Fortunately, that’s not the picture I would image after reading the whole thing. :-) The author pins out a very good point of view that a better way about learning Mandarin should to make it voluntary rather than compulsory. For example, having it as a student club in campus and interesting the demand of learning Mandarin language by sharing and discussing the Chinese culture, food, beverages, games, dramas, knots, songs, poems, paint, calligraphies, architectures, astrology, and history.
And that’s what I am doing in this blog. I am trying to introduce the readers everything related to Mandarin course and/or Mandarin classes as broad as possible and I have done something so far, for instance, the famous Chinese table game, cultural difference, Chinese festivals, and so on. Wish you would enjoy the stuff here and please remember to leave your comments for bettering this site. Thank you.
Showing posts with label cultural differences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cultural differences. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
The cultural differences which would impact the learning of Mandarin Course and Mandarin Classes (Part 1)
As I discussed about the different number unit between English and Chinese, I would like to talk more about the cultural difference between China and other countries today.
First of all, let me share with you a real case happened on one of my female friends. She is a Taiwanese and she studied abroad in Canada several years ago, where she met a charming Canadian guy then they fell in love. That was a wonder period when they stuck together in Canada; however, she missed her family so much that she came back to Taiwan right after she had graduated from University. Her thoughtful boyfriend could understand her feeling and decided to accompany her to Taiwan. Nevertheless, they broke up finally, why? How could such a sweet couple away from each other? The problem was misunderstandings leaded by cultural difference.
Once her boyfriend arrived Taiwan, just like most American or European, he attempted to visit her family includes her siblings and of course her parents. But in Chinese culture, unless we live alone, we would rarely invite our friends to our home when we live with other family members especially some elders in order not to disturb them. He could not understand this, so he conjectured that she might has not loved him anymore. They argued seriously for that. Eventually, she compromised with him and brought him home. Unfortunately, this is just a beginning of another misunderstanding.
On that BIG day, he waked up early and went to a famous flower market to pick up a bunch of beautiful flowers as a great gift he thought. But her mother was not so happy when she received it, you know why? Because in most of cases, we only take flowers to see a patient in the hospital or a dead man in the graveyard if the relation between the sender and receiver is not lover. Therefore, her mother was definitely unhappy because she was healthy and alive. She saw the “gift” as a “curse” which might cause her ill or even dead.
There are many other true stories about the difference between Chinese culture and others, some of them are comedy while some are tragedy. Please allow me to share with you later.
First of all, let me share with you a real case happened on one of my female friends. She is a Taiwanese and she studied abroad in Canada several years ago, where she met a charming Canadian guy then they fell in love. That was a wonder period when they stuck together in Canada; however, she missed her family so much that she came back to Taiwan right after she had graduated from University. Her thoughtful boyfriend could understand her feeling and decided to accompany her to Taiwan. Nevertheless, they broke up finally, why? How could such a sweet couple away from each other? The problem was misunderstandings leaded by cultural difference.
Once her boyfriend arrived Taiwan, just like most American or European, he attempted to visit her family includes her siblings and of course her parents. But in Chinese culture, unless we live alone, we would rarely invite our friends to our home when we live with other family members especially some elders in order not to disturb them. He could not understand this, so he conjectured that she might has not loved him anymore. They argued seriously for that. Eventually, she compromised with him and brought him home. Unfortunately, this is just a beginning of another misunderstanding.
On that BIG day, he waked up early and went to a famous flower market to pick up a bunch of beautiful flowers as a great gift he thought. But her mother was not so happy when she received it, you know why? Because in most of cases, we only take flowers to see a patient in the hospital or a dead man in the graveyard if the relation between the sender and receiver is not lover. Therefore, her mother was definitely unhappy because she was healthy and alive. She saw the “gift” as a “curse” which might cause her ill or even dead.
There are many other true stories about the difference between Chinese culture and others, some of them are comedy while some are tragedy. Please allow me to share with you later.
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