Does nobody care anymore?

[LinZhenPu]

Back when I started learning Chinese just a few years ago, being able to speak a full sentence was enough to bewilder most Chinese people and make non-Chinese speakers around me look at me conversing with utter awe.

Now, nobody seems to barely even notice. Even when I'm practicing singing a decently complicated song (黄明志 - 飘向北方) far more challenging than my first (albeit successful) awe-inspiring attempts at conversation, nobody takes so much as a second glance. Maybe they don't even realise I'm singing in Chinese? Maybe over the past few years people have gotten used to the fact that people are learning Chinese? It's quite demotivating for me, speaking Chinese has lost the magic it used to have since it doesn't have the same effect on people anymore and so I haven't had any motivation to improve in the last year and a half.

[DavyJonesLocker]

Sounds you're learning Chinese for the wrong reason ?

 

[somethingfunny]

I know exactly how you feel, but I have to agree with DJL here - if you're just learning Chinese to impress people then maybe it's time to move onto something else, have you considered learning some magic tricks?

 

I still find people to be fairly impressed - maybe you've just been hanging out in the same places and talking to the same people for too long.

[LinZhenPu]

1 hour ago, somethingfunny said:

I still find people to be fairly impressed - maybe you've just been hanging out in the same places and talking to the same people for too long.

That would imply that I have friends. lol Nah - Just out in public with strangers. Maybe that's the problem.

1 hour ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

Sounds your learning Chinese for the wrong reason ?

Do you know what. I started learning Chinese for the sake of being able to speak Chinese. I've pretty much achieved that goal and now I don't have a real reason or need to improve. Maybe that's my problem - because I don't have a good reason to improve, I just can't be bothered.

[amytheorangutan]

Imagine most people who have to learn English ?. I think you probably just need to find personal reasons other than outside approval. Maybe set goals like reading literature, history texts or more difficult to understand movies/TV series/comedies depending on your interest? If you are in advanced level or above maybe focus more on cultural immersion rather than just language. You might find something that you are truly interested in or find a niche interest that will help you to improve and also gain more vocabularies. My Chinese level is still pre-intermediate but I did those things when I was learning English and it worked.

[DavyJonesLocker]

1 hour ago, LinZhenPu said:

Do you know what. I started learning Chinese for the sake of being able to speak Chinese. I've pretty much achieved that goal and now I don't have a real reason or need to improve. Maybe that's my problem - because I don't have a good reason to improve, I just can't be bothered.

 

Indeed, but then what about deeper more specialist  topics? That's my biggest frustration, everyday topics are fine (but often dull), however when the conversation turns to something of interest like cosmology, history, differences in philosophy between east and west, I fail to express myself properly. I know what you mean though, I am no longer  interested in making conversation with strangers simply to  practice Chinese and talk about mundane topics That novelty has long worn off.

 

Are you not too interested in reading, writing? etc. I have no interest in writing but my ultimate goal is to read a decent  novel written in Chinese (whether that be an actual Chinese novel or a translated works) . At my rate of progress that's enough to keep me going for the next 20 years! 

[vellocet]

So...someone actually likes being stared at like you just grew a second head when you speak Chinese?  

 

Wow, it always irritated the crap out of me.  Yaknow, I am a living breathing human, I can learn a second language if I apply myself.  Weird to think that there are actually people around who bathe in that kind of unwanted attention.  

 

It think it might be that when your level gets high enough, you sound normal and people don't take note of it.  Or you live in Beijing where Chinese-speaking foreigners are no longer a novelty.  I'd advise moving to a much smaller city, you'll be back to amazing the natives in no time.  

[LinZhenPu]

1 hour ago, vellocet said:

So...someone actually likes being stared at like you just grew a second head when you speak Chinese?  

 

Wow, it always irritated the crap out of me.  Yaknow, I am a living breathing human, I can learn a second language if I apply myself.  Weird to think that there are actually people around who bathe in that kind of unwanted attention.  

Hahaha. I remember the first two random people I went up and tried out my new Mandarin chops on. The conversation went exactly like this:

林：你是中国人吗？

妹/爷：是的！*stares* 你是中国人吗？

They might've thought I was an ethnic Russian Chinese from the Northeast or an abandoned orphan or something.

1 hour ago, vellocet said:

It think it might be that when your level gets high enough, you sound normal and people don't take note of it.

That's the other thing I thought of. I think that's a part of it. Even if you don't practice much, you'll still sound more normal over time because your brain is always assimilating and reassimilating over time.

[陳德聰]

It sounds like your pronunciation has improved substantially since last year then. Why not post another sample to see if that might be the reason?

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/19910-post-a-sample-of-your-pronunciation-here/?page=21

[歐博思]

6 hours ago, DavyJonesLocker said:

"...what about deeper more specialist  topics? That's my biggest frustration, everyday topics are fine (but often dull), however when the conversation turns to something of interest like cosmology, history, differences in philosophy between east and west, I fail to express myself properly."

 

I reckon that's about where I'm at too, more or less. Recently started taking an advanced topic, like say, deep space travel, writing out my thoughts for 2 minutes in English, and then giving it a once over in Chinese, translating what I couldn't express properly. Seems to help.

 

[abcdefg]

47 minutes ago, 歐博思 said:

Recently started taking an advanced topic, like say, deep space travel, writing out my thoughts for 2 minutes in English, and then giving it a once over in Chinese, translating what I couldn't express properly.

 

Skip the "first do it in English step." Think it in Chinese and say it in Chinese. 

[歐博思]

Let me emphasize advanced topic. If I absolutely don't know how to say cryonics, time dilation, or anti-matter in Chinese, I won't be able to think it/say it no matter how hard I try. I've dreamed about more common, everyday topics in Chinese. But I think that part of my Chinese personality is near 100% congruent with my English personality, so might as well dream it in Chinese and kill two 鸟 with one 石头.

[feihong]

On 10/19/2018 at 11:09 AM, LinZhenPu said:

They might've thought I was an ethnic Russian Chinese from the Northeast or an abandoned orphan or something.

I feel like the answer to your question is here. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
 

Here in the US, Americans will still act incredibly surprised and congratulatory when they meet an American that speaks Mandarin. Even though more and more kids are taking it in school.

 

Edit: I totally misread your post, never mind. Although I don't understand why their first reaction would be to assume you're also Chinese.

[abcdefg]

On 10/20/2018 at 9:16 AM, 歐博思 said:

Let me emphasize advanced topic. If I absolutely don't know how to say cryonics, time dilation, or anti-matter in Chinese, I won't be able to think it/say it no matter how hard I try.

 

I think you and your friends are smarter than me and mine. We never feel the need or the desire to discus astrophysics or rocket science. 

 

On 10/19/2018 at 7:42 PM, LinZhenPu said:

Back when I started learning Chinese just a few years ago, being able to speak a full sentence was enough to bewilder most Chinese people and make non-Chinese speakers around me look at me conversing with utter awe.

 

I sure don't inspire awe day to day; I regularly catch grief for not understanding and speaking the local dialect 方言。

[Apollys]

I still get awe-stricken reactions when I say 你好, and I find it terribly annoying.  These type of reactions actually stop me from speaking Chinese in front of other people in many contexts, I would be happy to be in your shoes.  But that aside, the first response is dead on point.  If you're doing something just to impress other people, find something else to do.

[Shelley]

On 10/19/2018 at 5:09 PM, LinZhenPu said:

They might've thought I was an ethnic Russian Chinese from the Northeast or an abandoned orphan or something.

I am sorry if I this comes across as dumb or just plain rude, but is this because you look Chinese? If you look Chinese and speak Chinese I am not surprised no one is impressed. 

If you have become accustomed to having your ego buoyed every time you speak Chinese its a bit of a come down when you find no one notices any more.

You need to find something to replace the wow of strangers being impressed, maybe take up reading Chinese tang dynasty poetry in the original Chinese to groups of people on Sundays in the park??  

[LinZhenPu]

Hahaha, no I'm a strawberry-blonde haired european appearance tall dude.

Undertaking a unit in Chinese at university in Melbourne was a good outlet but I find it clashes too much with other things and I end up mismanaging my time and falling behind.

The poetry idea is actually quite entertaining to think about.

[Lu]

I still get plenty of awestruck reactions (and they annoy me - the other day I was explaining something to a small group of Taiwanese tourists and they were listening to and commenting on my oh so amazing Chinese instead of to the content of what I was saying, which was much more interesting). But I also surprisingly often get no reaction at all. I am quite happy with that, but it is surprising to me. Seems it's been something of the last few years. Interesting that you're noticing as well. (And I am also very obviously white. I am the person on the right in my profile pic.)

 

The nicest one I got last August in China. I was in a coffee shop looking at the cakes. The guy behind the counter had greeted me and I said something like 蛋糕那么漂亮，我就不好意思吃. I could see on his face how he first processed that the foreigner had just said something in fluent Chinese, then decided not to comment on the Chinese, and then thought of an answer ('You could try one!') That was a fun thing to see. Perhaps in the past few years, more Chinese people have gone through this processing proces a few times and are thus able to skip right to answering the foreiger's remark?

[LinZhenPu]

Best answer yet

I imagine a similar process occurred when Western countries first started getting Chinese immigrants.

[wan_neng]

If you go deep enough into the country, and then out to the villages, a lot of the people will never mention the fact that you're a foreigner. I like to think it's because country people are more polite.

An old lady in China did once ask me (a fair haired caucasian) if I was Japanese.