Yet Another English v. Mandarin Language War in Richmond...

[threezero]

Learning to speak another lanuage will always have its perks in life. I immigrant here when I was 7. I can speak perfect English and my native tongue is Cantonese. I pick up Mandarin in my teens when I notice the change in Chinese demographic here locally. Instead of making Fun of mainlander like my other honger, cbc friends. I got to know their culture, learn to speak fluent Mandarin and even dated mainlander.
This has help me a lot now in adult life. I am able to do business with mainlander and I'm getting opportunities throw at me sometimes just because I'm completely canadianized but am able to navigate mainlander lanuage and culture while a lot of my other westernized Chinese counterparts can ONLY speak Cantonese or broken Mandarin but can't grasp the culture that is vital to deal making and business politics.

I still think everybody in Canada should make the effort to learn the local culture and lanuage, but patronizing other culture and making a conscience effort to resist another culture is in general bad for business and bad for community well being. That goes both ways.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

And yet here we are talking about FI.
Make up your damn mind.

No, my daughter has the English language mastered, believe me.

Read the post again. There are three levels of French Immersion.

Early is the watered down anything goes, version. The Late FI is where they only take students who can handle the workload and have a good track record. My daughter was at least 3 years ahead in math and was constantly correcting her teachers in Language Arts classes. IQ in the top 2-6% (not to brag or anything - okay I am. She gets it from her mother, BTW, not me). And finally, Programme Cadre, where the parents of the child speak French at home.

Saw the in your post, lol.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by threezero

I still think everybody in Canada should make the effort to learn the local culture and lanuage, but patronizing other culture and making a conscience effort to resist another culture is in general bad for business and bad for community well being. That goes both ways.

I'm not sure any of us made fun of another culture, except the French, LOL, but resisting another culture?

You'll have to explain that one a bit more.

[MG1]

As for ESL students. They usually have a better grasp of the English language than the locals, Gulolol.

Like I've always said, we need to develop EFL classes. English as a first language, but still can't get it right.

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by MG1

As for ESL students. They usually have a better grasp of the English language than the locals, Gulolol.

Like I've always said, we need to develop EFL classes. English as a first language, but still can't get it right.

Tell me about it. I have a co-worker who constantly says "faxde" "checkde"
She is CBC too. Our education is horrible.

"I faxde it this morning"

"I checkde it twice..."

[CivicBlues]

I was listening to the radio and one of the announcers pronounced Trafalgar Street as "Traffle Gar"

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by MG1

As for ESL students. They usually have a better grasp of the English language than the locals, Gulolol.

Like I've always said, we need to develop EFL classes. English as a first language, but still can't get it right.

my previous supervisor commented to me that he wants to improve his english and i told him you learned english properly and are better at it than people born here. ours is trash ... but he said his sounds weird/different than us and he wants to sound like me ... i said you'll need to watch more english tv and talk to me more to learn more "normal/local" aka crappy english

[MG1]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

I was listening to the radio and one of the announcers pronounced Trafalgar Street as "Traffle Gar"

hahahahaha...........

Traffic Radio has the worst announcers.

Colony Farm.

Kelowny Farm.

Just like Kelowna, but with a "Y" at the end.

Many more examples, but I would wet myself from laughing so hard. You report traffic, at least learn how to pronounce the streets and locations correctly.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by threezero

Learning to speak another lanuage will always have its perks in life. I immigrant here when I was 7. I can speak perfect English

Hmm, mkay... you did say "speak" perfect English, not write.

I do not dispute any of what you've said in your post. I picked up Mandarin back in university when there was a cute Taiwanese girl in my class. And I have enough interactions with Mandarin speakers to understand their culture and practices -- this applies to both Mainlanders and Taiwanese.

For me, it comes to a point where I generally do not agree with many of the Mainlanders beliefs and practices. No, I do not find drinking 40% Chinese white / yellow liquor fun, nor is it necessary for the majority of people in a group to smoke and toss butt ends everywhere. I also don't think it is acceptable for a kid to pee or poop anywhere, any time "just because he is a kid". And no, I definitely do not think it is acceptable to roll over student protesters in a tank, and no amount of economic prosperity can be justified with the bloody murder of human lives.

On doing businesses with Mainlanders, this is yet another major source of grief. The concept of contract law and legally binding agreements don't really exist for a lot of them. Apparently, bargaining to the point where there is hardly any profit left is the norm, and even then, payment for products and services received at the previously agreed upon price (yeah, the one with minimal profit margins) does not need to be timely. And then when you pursue them for payment, apparently they think it is OK to pay only a portion of the accrued fee on the condition that you will provide further products and services -- of course, with an invoice that is due in yet another 90 days later. To add insult to injury, they make it sound like they are doing you a huge favour by giving you business. It just gets to a point where it is so ridiculous you don't even bother with them unless there is payment upfront. And then they get pissed off.

Naturally, I am not saying every Mainlander is like that. I have made some good Mainland Chinese friends and done business transactions with upright Mainland Chinese small businesses as well. But in my experience, that type of unacceptable behaviour occurs at a disproportionate ratio with Mainland Chinese compared to people from other ethnic backgrounds.

and my native tongue is Cantonese. I pick up Mandarin in my teens when I notice the change in Chinese demographic here locally. Instead of making Fun of mainlander like my other honger, cbc friends. I got to know their culture, learn to speak fluent Mandarin and even dated mainlander.
This has help me a lot now in adult life. I am able to do business with mainlander and I'm getting opportunities throw at me sometimes just because I'm completely canadianized but am able to navigate mainlander lanuage and culture while a lot of my other westernized Chinese counterparts can ONLY speak Cantonese or broken Mandarin but can't grasp the culture that is vital to deal making and business politics.

I still think everybody in Canada should make the effort to learn the local culture and lanuage, but patronizing other culture and making a conscience effort to resist another culture is in general bad for business and bad for community well being. That goes both ways.