Comments for The Lingua Franca

Comment on Culture Shock: “Look at the foreigner!” by truettblack

truettblack — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:04:29 +0000

Well yes, Ed, it is my choice to respond in this way, and certainly, I am a product of my cultural background. I grew up in a city where about 5% of the population is of East Asian descent, and would never think to shout out an identifying comment such as “Look at the Japanese person!” while going about my daily business.

The fact is, that older man and his daughter are like so many people in Taiwan: uneducated in the ways of the world. As such, I should let their behavior go, and I do in fact usually let it go. The problem arises when I have to ignore this sort of behavior so many times in a day that I begin to feel exhausted with it.

I suppose my post here is a way for me to work through a fact that I’m going to have to deal with as long as I live in Taiwan. That is, the fact that I will always be a bit of an outsider in Asia. Ironically, I get a great deal of capital, both economic and social, out of the fact that I am an outsider, so it is a complex and sometimes confusing issue, this foreignness.

I appreciate your comment and I think I understand it for what you intend.

I look forward to spending a great deal of time in Western Europe in my retirement years. I’ll remember what you wrote about the French. I don’t mind intellectual aggression, if it is intelligent.

Comment on Culture Shock: “Look at the foreigner!” by Ed en Vadrouille

Ed en Vadrouille — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:59:33 +0000

It is funny to see how this sort of issues comes up often on blogs or posts written by american people.

I am french, i understand my bit of chinese, i lived for a little while in Tainan County (where it is much worse) and neither i nor my french friends have any issues whatsoever with this kind of comportment.

Granted, I’m not married to a local woman (but spent 6 years with the previous one) nor have spend as much time here as i can guess you have, but i still think this shows a cultural bias. As far as we see it, this comportment is just a gentle and usual way to fill in the conversation and express emotions. Quite franckly i think you should get back to a more basic, candid, and innocent vision of this as a way of living all together peacefully.
I am guessing you may know how acerb and intellectually agressive the french people and our culture can be during conversations and daily life, yet we fortunately seem to be dealing quite well with the “Hello-Kitty Way of life” to be found here.

Comment on One Night in Taipei: Business Entertainment, Chinese Style, Part Deux by Ed en Vadrouille

Ed en Vadrouille — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:29:28 +0000

Now i understand better what my ex-gf was talking about when she mentionned that her father would go out with his friends/business contacts and sing at night while a girl would “prepare the peanuts” for him…
Quite interesting a post, good job!

Comment on One Night in Taipei: Business Entertainment, Chinese Style, Part Deux by Hanie

Hanie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:35:03 +0000

The “activities” sound similar, right down to the karaoke and lounges, even in Malaysia…

Comment on One Night in Taipei: Business Entertainment, Chinese Style by truettblack

truettblack — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:39:55 +0000

Wenhailin,

In the second part of my narrative, our intrepid businessmen repair to one of the many entertainment venues located around the city, where things get really wild. Karaoke is definately involved, but walking out alone at 10:30 to go home to the wife is not normally part of the program.

I’m on an overseas trip at the moment, but I’ll probably post part deux when I return next week.

Thanks for reading.