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> Is there xenophobia? Are Americans looked down upon or treated differently? xenophobia, no. treated differently, definitely. often they won't know where you
by wepple 10y ago
> Is there xenophobia? Are Americans looked down upon or treated differently?
xenophobia, no. treated differently, definitely. often they won't know where you fit into the social hierarchy, because, you don't. You don't have any family or social history so they may treat you like gods or may somewhat exclude you.
Language is a huge barrier. If you're in Shenzhen, there will be near-zero english. You'll have to learn mandarin, which will take many years.
> Culturally, what are some things to avoid, things to expect, etc?
If you've never been to China, you likely have never eaten Chinese food before. You may or may not like it a lot. You can find western food so it's not a huge problem in most places.
given the language barrier and the difficulty communicating with the outside world (you'll find ways to work around it, but it's still tough) it can be quite isolating. You'll want to connect with other expats and try to build up relationships with locals where/if possible.
China is less like the US than anywhere else I've been (including places like Nigeria, Bolivia, Fiji, Qatar, etc). You can't be prepared for it, so just be prepared to feel uncomfortable for a while.
I'd highly recommend visiting prior to considering a move.
- klibertp 10y ago> You'll have to learn mandarin, which will take many years. Why would it? Is it really that complex a language? How different is learning Mandarin than learning German, French, Russian, English or Greek? I understand that the writing system is probably much more complex and requires much more memorization than the other languages mentioned, but other than that, what about grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation?
- wepple 10y agoFor me the trickiest thing to wrap my head around is that Mandarin is heavily tonal, and I've never had to deal with that in my life, making it a difficult thing to introduce my brain to. Some words mean 5 different things depending on how you vary the tone throughout the word; I'm no stranger to simple variation as I had to deal with emphasis and inflection while learning Spanish, but Mandarin is a whole other kettle of fish. I'm more than happy to accept that maybe I didn't put enough effort in or am generally poor at languages (only speak two), however I struggled to learn a handful of words per month.