Dealing with pesky English while learning Chinese

[abcdefg]

If you can handle it deep immersion is definitely the way to go if you move to the studied language area.

I've chosen the deep immersion path and have no regrets. About the only English I currently use is on the internet, such as reading and contributing to this forum. Plus exchanging e-mail with my friends and relatives back in America.

This year, one of my language goals has been to try and wean myself away from English-language websites when planning my travels within China. I now do most of my trip research and planning using native materials. Manage hotel and transport booking on Chinese websites and such.

Prior to taking that plunge, one of the most embarrassing things was to try and tell my local friends about a recent trip using Chinese to do it. Frequently found that if I said "I climbed Twin Dragon Tower on Golden Mountain near Bright Cloud River" they had no idea what I meant, because they didn't know the "Foreign Tourist names" for those places.

This even was true of hotel names and addresses; the English name of so many hotels here bears little if any relation to the real Chinese name. So I could say "I stayed in Flower Hotel on East People's Street" and they gave me a blank stare, because they didn't recognize it as 白牡丹酒店 on 人民东路。

[Meng Lelan]

I've chosen the deep immersion path and have no regrets. About the only English I currently use is on the internet, such as reading and contributing to this forum. Plus exchanging e-mail with my friends and relatives back in America.

I can say that approach has worked very well for you.

[Lanchong]

I think no-one has adviced to avoid English a full 100%. Sure a balance is needed as you don't want to cut out all your family & friends but that doesn't mean you have to build new relations in English.

That would be a shame. You'll miss out on the chance to meet some interesting people (Chinese and others) who would have been able to teach you some interesting things about China. And some interesting people (Chinese and others) who would have been able to teach you some interesting things about life.

Many young Chinese people I know watch a lot of American TV and movies - sometimes more American TV than Chinese TV. If you're avoiding English then you might not have seen many of those shows or movies and so will be left out of the conversation. English is such an important language that not reading English-language Chinese information and not watching English-language entertainment is going to isolate you from some Chinese people. And generally make you less knowledgeable about China than you could have been.

[Lu]

Many young Chinese people I know watch a lot of American TV and movies - sometimes more American TV than Chinese TV. If you're avoiding English then you might not have seen many of those shows or movies and so will be left out of the conversation. English is such an important language that not reading English-language Chinese information and not watching English-language entertainment is going to isolate you from some Chinese people. And generally make you less knowledgeable about China than you could have been.

I think quite a lot of the young Chinese who watch a lot of American movies and series are often also the people who prefer to speak English with you, not Chinese, and who like to discuss said series and movies instead of, say, local tea house culture, or a Chinese movie that made a big impact. Not to say there aren't great people among them (one of my best friends etc), but often it will be more help for your Chinese to instead make friends who enjoy Chinese movies/books/series/etc.

[Silent]

You'll miss out on the chance to meet some interesting people (Chinese and others)

It goes two ways! Every choice you make cuts off some potential contacts and introduces new potential contacts. Which contacts are better/more interesting is mostly impossible to say beforehand. So I'ld say if you're in China to learn Chinese make the choices that benefit your Chinese unless there are serious reasons to do otherwise. Basicly, don't cut precious existing contacts, but build new ones as much as possible in the target language.