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Do you find foreigners often run away When they see youcoming?Does your favorite English teacher often tell you thatshe can't talk with you this evening because she has a sickparakeet(a small bird,often used as a pet),When in fact,youknow she has no bird at all.If you can identify with this,maybe the problem is not with the foreigner or the Englishteacher but is with your approach.Many Chinese students ofEnglish are so eager to practice their English with aforeigner that they sometimes violate some basic rules ofetiquette when trying to maintain a conversation.I would liketo introduce you to some
Chinese
students
who
havedemonstrated how not to speak to a foreigner.
First,I would like you to meet Silly Sally.Silly Sallywill speak English as much as possible,and when she runs outof English,will speak Chinese to her non- Chinese speakingforeign friend.Then she will ask"Ting do ma?"The foreigner,ofcourse,says"Ting bu dong",but Silly Sally continues to speakChinese anyway,then ask her foreign friend"Ting do ma? "Thisis quite comical the first or second time,but by the fifth orsixth time,her foreign friend is wishing that she woulddisappear unexplainably from the face of the earth.
If you don't know much English,it is better to excuseyourself when you run out of English than to continue talkingand become tiresome.You should tell your foreign friend thatyou only have a few minutes to talk with him/her and thengraciously excuse yourself after a few minutes.In this wayyou will leave the foreigner with a very favorable impressionof you.He or she will probably welcome the chance to talk toyou again.
Next,I would like you to meet Sammy Substitution.You canspot this person easily because at a party he will cornersome unknowing victim and practice his substitution drills onher."Do you like dogs?Do you like small dogs?Do you like bigdogs?I like dogs.I like big dogs.I don't like small dogs."Thepoor foreigner soon tells Sammy that she is feeling poorlyand must go home.When she slips out the door she breathes asigh of relief and finds another place to spend her evening.
The solution to this is similar to the first problem.Makesure you don't talk too long but also make sure you haveenough vocabulary to engage a conversation with a person inEnglish.
Next on our roster is lvan ldiom.lvan tries to use asmany idioms and as much slang in a sentence as possible."I amgoing have a party tonight and paint the town red.We'll havea blast from the past and a hum dinger of a time,the motherof all parties."(All these idioms mean that we are going tohave a good time.) Unfortunately,lvan can'get any foreignfriends to come to his party!His invitation warns his foreignfriends of the kind of evening to come,so they run as faraway as possible.lvan's cousin is Pat Parenthesis.Pat alwaysuses as many parenthetical(extra,unnecessary) expressions ashe can."What I mean to say,in a very realistic way from thebottom of my heart is that the cake is very good".
These students are demonstrating many problems here.I know that the English language is made of thousands of idioms,but the student must be careful when learning and using them.I saw a book in a foreing language bookstore titled "1,000Popular American Idioms".The book looked very good in mostrespects.It had good explanations and a good format.The onlyproblem with the book was that its first publication was in1992,eight years ago! Idioms often change after even a fewyears,so the student should try to get as up to date a book aspossible.Even with an up
to
date
book, idioms( andparenthetical expressions)should be used as the cook uses salt,to season the conversation,not to be the main course.No onewould come to your dinner party if you told them you wereserving boiled salt!
There is a bigger problem here,though,than the excessiveuse of idioms and parenthetical expressions.Many popularmagazines,books and even schools try to sell you productsthat promise miraculous results for your English.They oftenconcentrate on teaching idioms or slang as part of theirstrategy.I have met students like this.They can use manyidioms,but they still cannot.
Communicate in English!Yet,I have many friends in Americafrom Taiwan,Hong Kong and China that know very few
idioms.They came to America when they were 17 or 18,attendeduniversity or even graduate school and now
hold
veryrespectable jobs with Hewlett Packard, Ernst & Young,IBM,Stanford and other similar companies.That they speak Englishvery well is proven by the positions that they hold and thecompanies they work for.These companies only hire the bestemployees.How can this happen if they don't know idioms? Thereare no shortcuts to learning any language. You cannotsubstitute basic grammar, vocabulary and sentence patternsfor some popular words and phrases that will probably beoutdated in a few years.If English is important to you in thefuture as well as now,take the time to learn it properly andthoroughly.It is an investment in not only your future, butthe future of your child or even grandchild as well.
My next friend is Holly Halfway.She always stops in themiddle of her sentences and asks her foreign friend, "Do youunderstand?" After a few instances of this, the foreignerwill become very irritated and will probably start looking upat the ceiling or out the window, giving Holly some strongindications that she is doing everything wrong.But HollyHalfway is so intent on her mission that she pays noattention to her guest but continues with her inquisition.
This is annoying for two reasons.The first reason is thatin order to understand a person's idea you must often hearthe whole sentence.This is true in English, Chinese or anyother language.If you stop in the middle of a sentencebecause you don't know the meaning of a single word, yourforeign friend may not be able to help you until s/he knowsthe big picture.It is better to say the whole sentence andthen,if the foreign friend doesn't seem to understand,thenask for help.The second reason why this is annoying is thatit is a very repetitious pattern.Again, you can avoid thisproblem by following my suggestions for Silly Sally.
The last student I would like you to meet is FactiousFrank.Actually,I hope you never have to meet him because heis quite rude.Let me give you an example of a conversationwith Frank.Frank:"I read an article in a book that said that `Americawas a playground for children and a graveyard for old people'.Do you believe this?" Foreigner:"I am afraid that I can'tagree with that."
Frank:"Well I do!"
Foreigner:"Have you been to America?"
Frank:"No."
Foreigner:"Had the writer of this article ever been toAmerica?"
Frank:"Probably not."
Foreigner:"Well,why do you believe this?"
Frank:"Because it is true!"
Frank knows nothing about the epidemic of child abuse inAmerica,nor about the great improvements in health care thatmakes living longer a much more.
Pleasant experience.His blatant ignorance and rudenessnot only leave a poor impression on the foreigner about him,but unfortunately about other Chinese people as well.We alltake great pride in our homelands, whether we are Chinese,American,British or any other nationality.This foreignerwas left with the impression that Chinese people are not onlyvery ignorant,but are not willing to approach a problemintelligently.
Maybe the best think you can do is to put yourself in theforeigner's shoes.How would you want someone to speak to youif they were learning Chinese? How considerate would you wantthem to be of your ideas and feelings? Most of the peoplementioned above have good intentions.Their problem is notthat they are bad,but rather that they are using bad mannersin trying to obtain their results.
There is a verse in the Bible that is deeply rooted inall western thought that would be good for you to pay heed to."Do unto others as you would have others do unto you"( Treatothers as you want them to treat you).Be considerate,and youwill seldom have this kind of trouble speaking with aforeigner,and maybe on the road to a good and lastingfriendship.