Chinese attitudes towards foreigners speaking Mandarin.

[歐博思]

Three things:

 

1) I challenge anyone in Hangzhou to visit the 印象城 mall between 西溪 and 天目山 roads, and order something from the Dairy Queen there. If you can order anything without having English spoken at you, you win. 

 

2) Owing to #1 and other similar experiences, I now take a hardline approach to service people's English. I now tell people I'm from Poland/Czechoslovakia/Romania/country with a non widely spoken language.

 

3) Getting a little irritated thinking about #1 -- forgot number 3.

[AngelinaLu]

I am a native Chinese woman, and I personally feel great when I hear and see a foreigner learning Mandarin because that means that that person is trying to embrace an important part of my culture while learning new things. Perhaps you have only come across other Chinese folks who are not used to seeing foreigners speak anything other than English that's why when you went to that restaurant, the waiter reacted that way, but just give it a time and they will get used to it eventually.