chinese
Watching Natalie on the communitychannel on Youtube is making me blog a lot for some funny reason. She's what you term a video blogger. So instead of typing up posts like these, they make videos and post them on youtube. I must admit though some of her videos are really quite funny and according to ChowChow, she is one of the most subscribed videobloggers on youtube. Go ahead, you know you want to have a sneak peak at what I'm talking about. Go youtube "community channel" and the first one that comes up should be an Asian chick with long hair on the screen shot. Alternatively, youtube "orgasm blush".
Anyway, that was not the reason I am blogging at this moment. Partially, I'm trying to escape from having to write up my essay. But that's not the point.
The point is.... why is it that when Chinese people see me, they automatically assume that I'm Chinese? Do I have "I speak Mandarin" tattoed across my forehead? Not the last time I checked, no. Yet funny enough, this morning when I went downstairs to answer the doorbell, this couple assumed I am Chinese and proceeded to speak to me in Mandarin saying that they were here to view the furniture. To which I gave them a very puzzled look (plus the fact I had just gotten out of bed). Then they explained that they were looking for 132A, which is the house behind mine.
And all but 5 minutes ago when I went downstairs to answer the doorbell yet again, these three people (one female and two male) automatically assumed I am Chinese and proceeded to speak in Mandarin asking if my place is 132A.
Seriously! Other than the fact that I am Asian, is there anything about me that screams the fact that I speak Mandarin? No! I mean, I could be like Korean or Japanese or Vietnamese or something you know? Other than the fact that I am not but that is really beside the point.
OK, not too sure what was the purpose of this rant for but just felt like I needed to say something about that.
Ciao
p/s Maybe I should go cook some french toast now for nobody who is hungry which means either I will end up eating everything by myself, force feed it to someone in the house or let it sit on the counter for a day or two before throwing it into the dustbin. Not too sure what is up with my cleaning/cooking streak for the last few days. Should really get that checked out.
Anyway, that was not the reason I am blogging at this moment. Partially, I'm trying to escape from having to write up my essay. But that's not the point.
The point is.... why is it that when Chinese people see me, they automatically assume that I'm Chinese? Do I have "I speak Mandarin" tattoed across my forehead? Not the last time I checked, no. Yet funny enough, this morning when I went downstairs to answer the doorbell, this couple assumed I am Chinese and proceeded to speak to me in Mandarin saying that they were here to view the furniture. To which I gave them a very puzzled look (plus the fact I had just gotten out of bed). Then they explained that they were looking for 132A, which is the house behind mine.
And all but 5 minutes ago when I went downstairs to answer the doorbell yet again, these three people (one female and two male) automatically assumed I am Chinese and proceeded to speak in Mandarin asking if my place is 132A.
Seriously! Other than the fact that I am Asian, is there anything about me that screams the fact that I speak Mandarin? No! I mean, I could be like Korean or Japanese or Vietnamese or something you know? Other than the fact that I am not but that is really beside the point.
OK, not too sure what was the purpose of this rant for but just felt like I needed to say something about that.
Ciao
p/s Maybe I should go cook some french toast now for nobody who is hungry which means either I will end up eating everything by myself, force feed it to someone in the house or let it sit on the counter for a day or two before throwing it into the dustbin. Not too sure what is up with my cleaning/cooking streak for the last few days. Should really get that checked out.
posted by castalnetta at
Sunday, July 13, 2008
15 Comments:
Asians can tell apart who kind of looks like where they're from.
You look chinese, since you kind of are, and hence people assume you ARE chinese, which you pretty much are.
Therefore they speak to you in chinese.
Me, on the other hand, get confused with Taiwanese which makes no sense at all, since I can't speak manadrin at ALL and you should feel lucky to actually be recognised as the race you are, unlike me :p, seriously, not cool
When I've gotten a tan: people speak to me in Malay.
When I'm not tan and in my normal fair skin: people speak/struggle-to-speak to me in English.
Chinese? Hardly ever and very rarely. Cantonese/Hokkien? Completely out of the question.
Go figure.
None of you guys have it as bad as I do. Some turds think I'm Thai or something. And when I tell them I'm korean they all exclaim an 'oh' out of surprise...
I really don't get why... I mean most Thai people don't even reach 170cm in height.. T-T
Have it as bad as you do andy?? At least u don't get mistaken for being a Poly... people get a shock and i swear theyre about to lock their jaw when i order off the menu in chinese..
lol hands down to the raging bull...
ahahahahaha
all hands down to allan!!! totally!!!!
meh
I speak such good english that most asian people think i can't speak chinese! I'm so pro!
people in malaysia think i'm singaporean.
kiwis think i'm from the states. its great.
hello weiyi, you don't look very chinese to begin with.
yaofang, I'm sorry to say this, but you look cheena. (and so do I, so this is more like a rant for me)
not Korean, because your eyes arent slanty and single eyelid-ed.
nor Jap, cos' you're not as tiny arse as them.
definitely not Viet, cos' you don't seem the kind to start quacking about like a duck.
or the bell-ringers could just be HOPING you were chinese, so they just try their luck anyway.
bigger possibility that they don't know english very well, or at all.
haha yeah.. we came to that conclusion.. so the solution we ALSO came up with was that the next time that happens, i say either "i don't speak chinese" or "konichiwa!"
LOL!
or, 'apa lu cakap??'
Simple explanation. These people would have called first, spoken to the Mandarin-speaking seller before arriving, thought they were speaking to the same person when they arrived, before being redirected to the right place. An easy mistake, surely, when the person coming to the door looks more Chinese than Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese (..unsurprisingly, for a person who is of Chinese ethnicity..).
amen to that, fang.
Surely not "overly presumptuous" if they had just been speaking to the seller on the phone in Mandarin, then mistakenly thought they were at the Mandarin-speaking seller's address, and a person of Chinese ethnicity came to the door. A reasonable assumption, I would have thought, in the circumstances.
Happened to spot this blog, and just find the question a bit illogical, considering the context. Perhaps you just do not like people mistakenly thinking you are from (Mandarin-speaking) China.
Yeh.. I tell kiwi people im half asian... HALF and they go "Can you teach me?" O_o;;
The asians know I cant speak chinese though. Actually I went to Singapore and almost everyone there spoke English!
I think those people just thought you were the person on the phone. My taekwondo instructor is chinese and cant speak it lol. I think there's a few people out there like that
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