Post by Prometheus on May 10, 2021 6:59:57 GMT
There are 2 main types of arrogant foreigners in China... 3 if you count a melding of the two:
1. Foreigners who are arrogant towards the Chinese:
The "Why don't you just do it our way?" type of which there are many (myself included more often than I care to admit) and the outright racist ones who just think the Chinese are beneath them. That second subgroup will, of course use the same language as the first, but without ever wanting to learn and understand the cultural differences.
The first subgroup is generally just suffering from culture shock based on realizing the things I have laid out in my other articles. They are simply struggling to come to grips with their new environment and are resisting seeing things from a new and different perspective.
1. Foreigners who are arrogant towards other foreigners
This main group also has two subgroups. The first are the foreigners (usually Europeans) who look down on other foreigners (usually Americans) as people who just aren't as sophisticated and worldly, especially when the American is engaging in behavior associated with the first group, above. Europeans also do those things but when they do it, it's somehow different from how Americans do it. ![[rolleye1]](//storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/MTjbungPBOzv0BKQvdPJ.gif)
![[giveup]](//storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/FSYefibmKqtatIXMgHZg.gif)
![[rolleye1]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/MTjbungPBOzv0BKQvdPJ.gif)
![[giveup]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/FSYefibmKqtatIXMgHZg.gif)
The other subgroup are the "Fluent Chinese Speakers."
These guys... it's usually guys... walk around with a swagger usually reserved for the quarterback of the championship football team. They are surrounded by Chinese people - usually adoring young women - and they never miss a chance to offer to help you with some translation. They tack "I speak fluent Chinese" onto their names as if it's a title of nobility or something.
Don't get me wrong. Learning to speak Chinese fluently is a major accomplishment and worthy of receiving props, but these guys lord it over you and cause you to lose face. You see, they only offer to help you translate something when they are in front of Chinese people: "Excuse while I translate for my friend. HE doesn't speak Chinese." And they always do it with that enormous, shit-eating grin while the Chinese people look at you with a look that we might reserve for looking at a mentally handicapped child in a wheelchair.
I do my best to actively avoid these fucktards whenever possible, but when I can't - depending on their level of douchebaggery - I just might point out where they actually stand in Chinese society. The conversation usually goes something like this:
"Hi. I'm Bob. I speak Chinese fluently."
"Hello, BobIspeakChinesefluently. How's it going?"
"Do you also speak Chinese fluently?"
"No. I just thought it was your name, because I - can't for the life of me - think of any reason why that information would be of value to me."
"So you're one of those people who don't...."
"Hang tight there, BobIspeakChinesefluently. 'those people'?"
"What I meant...."
"Let me as you a question BobIspeakChinesefluently. Do you have Chinese friends?"
<employs pompous, shit-eating grin> "I have many Chinese friends. Do y...."
"Do they introduce you to other Chinese people as 'my friend, Bob' or as 'my friend, Bob, who speaks Chinese fluently'?"
<grin starts to slip> "Well... ahhh...."
"So it's, 'my friend, Bob, who speaks Chinese fluently.' I figured as much. After they hear that you speak Chinese fluently do they just greet you normally or will one or more of them start rattling off rapid-fire high-level Chinese, possibly even using local language?"
<Embarrassed chuckle> "Well. Of course some people want to test me, but...."
"So that's a 'yes'. You have friends back home? Of course you do. Any of them ever get a new dog? Any of them introduce you to their new dog and talk about how smart it is? Did you immediately start rattling off, 'Sit! Shake hands! Play dead! Roll over!' just to embarrass your buddy and take a cheap shot pointing out the dog's stupidity?"
<confused frown with tinges of anger> "But... that's... You...."
"That's right, BobIspeakChinesefluently. Your 'friends' are just showing you off like a dog doing tricks. Oh look! Your master is waving to you from the table over there. Go fetch!"
![[cheers]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/engyBVslEdpmpmdnBwZQ.gif)