Comments | helenmelon: is making lists really going to help when i can't even speak the language?

helenmelon

is making lists really going to help when i can't even speak the language?

May 14, 2004 02:41

two of the little girls who used to be favorites of mine when i used to babysit are having their graduation receptions this weekend. i made a card for one of the girls on photoshop today, with pictures of her and me at camp (i was a volunteer, it was her first time away from home) in '96. it's a super cool card:) i love photoshop.

( about thinking about american culture vs. chinese culture )

america, culture, feedback, meta, china

Comments 10

zaklog May 14 2004, 07:15:06 UTC

So now I'm curious. What are some of the Chinese stereotypes of Americans?

helenmelon May 14 2004, 21:21:31 UTC

oh, these aren't strictly chinese stereotypes of americans. this book is for americans going wherever overseas to live/work. the lists are general ones, collected from people from all over. here's the list:

optimistic, outgoing, friendly, informal, loud, rude, boastful, immature, naive, hardworking, aggressive, judgemental, moralistic, superficial, extravegant, wasteful, confidant they have all the answers, politically naive and/or uninformed, ignorant of other countries, disrespectful of authority, wealthy, materialistic, generous, impatient, always in a hurry (also that all u.s. women are promiscuous)

and it's funny to read the list, because the thing we might pick out as positive might not necessarily be positive to people from a totally different culture. what we see as positive and what we see as negative is as much of an indicator of our own-- value system, i guess.

I hate to be a cliche, but . . . zaklog May 15 2004, 06:22:36 UTC

Well, what I think applies to me has been bolded. I'm curious if other people could do this too. See how accurate the stereotype is.

optimistic, outgoing, friendly, informal, loud, rude, boastful, immature, naive, hardworking, aggressive, judgemental, moralistic, superficial, extravegant, wasteful, confidant they have all the answers, politically naive and/or uninformed, ignorant of other countries, disrespectful of authority, wealthy, materialistic, generous, impatient, always in a hurry (also that all u.s. women are promiscuous)

Yeah, I think those are the ones that match me.

Re: I hate to be a cliche, but . . . helenmelon May 15 2004, 23:12:17 UTC

well, i think it's interesting and useful to decide which items on the list apply to you, but the point is that they're the perceptions of americans that non-americans often have. so you may not actually be aggressive by american standards, say, but by japanese standards, you would.

Thread 7

(The comment has been removed)

helenmelon May 14 2004, 21:40:06 UTC

i think the people who didn't want to make me feel bad just didn't vote:) silly people. but yeah, my friends list is cool like that--enjoying learning stuff and talking about intellectual whatever sometimes ( ... )

shalilajupiter May 14 2004, 21:36:34 UTC

I'm commenting on your comments.

That book sounds interesting, just from a social perspective. I have no idea why that stuff is so fascinating.

And I'm jealous of your trip too. Teach me lots of good things about China.

helenmelon May 14 2004, 22:00:27 UTC

i sure will do my best to share cool stuff about china:) i bet the most interesting/cool stuff will come when i'm actually there. i was reading someone's blog (beautiful_snow) who was living in my city earlier this year, and i find it hard to believe that... well, you know. it's just weird. it's weird to see something like this coming... i don't think all the reading in the world could really prepare me. i'm finding it hard really to put what i mean in words...