Don't make me go "Green Pea" all over you.

[gao_bo_han]

Yau,

What makes you think that we don't study Chinese expressions? I am sure most serious learners on this board make it an integral part of their learning Chinese, myself included. And as I said, I know people completely fluent in Mandarin, and yes, they know hundreds of idioms, and are often proud of using them. But they experience the same frustrations that many of us do here.

It seems that I got a lot of responses, and many of you know exactly what I'm talking about, and many others are intent on denying that it happens at all, or trying to shift the blaim on the learner. I find that very interesting. As I said before, I acknowledge that those with higher levels of proficiency face this problem less often, but examples such as Green Pea prove that a person can live in China, dedicate himself to the study of its language, and still be constantly bullied into not using Chinese, with Chinese, in China.

I think Roddy is right though, this topic has perhaps been exhausted. Thank you all for your replies, and I hope to stir up some more controversy soon.

Cheers,

Bo Han

[Guest kungfu]

I believe language is the artifact that delivers "power". I've noticed that non-native speakers are often at the big disadvantage and inconvenience, and therefore I ALWAYS insist to speak my mother tongue, chinese, to anybody who claim that they can speak chinese.

If you think i intend to shift the blame on learners, see my

experience : Don't trust what learners talk about their chinese proficiency, try it, and I felt disappointed.

[roddy]

many others are intent on denying that it happens at all, or trying to shift the blaim on the learner

I'm not going to deny it happens at all. I haven't seen it happen in 4 years on the mainland, and I do find it suprising that it would happen so much to make a serious difference to anyones language learning, but hey, if you say that's what happens I'll believe you.

I think Roddy is right though, this topic has perhaps been exhausted.

I feel it has, but I'll let it run in case anyone has any more to add. If it doesn't get any more replies for a few days I may close it and wait for someone to raise the issue again.

Roddy

Edit:

5 days with no replies - I'll quietly close this now See here for the aftermath, and stay tuned for more exciting Chinese-forums.com adventures, folks . . .