This is a popular article circulated in the expats community for some time. Share with everyone.

You know you have been in China for too long when…

1. You no longer wait in line, but go immediately to the head of the queue.
2. You stop at the top or bottom of an escalator to plan your day.
3. It becomes exciting to see if you can get on the lift before anyone can get off.
4. It is no longer surprising that the only decision made at a meeting is the time and venue for the next meeting.
5. You rank the decision making abilities of your staff by how long it takes them to reply “Up To You”.
6. You no longer wonder how someone who earns US$ 400.00 per month can drive a Mercedes.
7. You accept the fact that you have to queue to get a number for the next queue.
8. You accept without question the mechanic’s analysis that the car is “Broken” and that it will cost you a lot of money to get it “Fixed”.
9. You find that it saves time to stand and retrieve your hand luggage while the plane is on final approach.
10. You can shake your hands almost perfectly dry before wiping them on your trousers, or you have your suits made with terrycloth pockets.
11. A T-Bone steak with rice sounds just fine.
12. You believe everything you read in the local newspaper.
13. You regard traffic signals, stop signs, and copy watch peddlers with equal disdain.
14. You have developed an uncontrollable urge to follow people carrying small flags.
15. When listening to the pilot prove he cannot speak English, you no longer wonder if he can understand the air traffic controller.
16. You regard it as part of the adventure when the waiter correctly repeats your order and the cook makes something completely different.
17. You are not surprised when three men with a ladder show up to change a light bulb.
18. You blow your nose or spit on the restaurant floor (of course after making a loud hocking noise)
19. You look over people’s shoulder to see what they are reading
20. You throw your trash out the window of your house, your car or bus you are on
21. You would rather SMS someone than actually meet to talk ‘face to face’
22. You wear nylons when it is 30 degrees outside
23. You honk your horn at people because they are in your way as you drive down the sidewalk
24. You regularly fumble for five minutes to find 10 jiao despite 10 people waiting in line behind you
25. One of your fingernails is an inch long
26. You ride around on your bicycle ringing a bell for some unknown reason
27. In a meeting you say everything will be ‘wonderful’ and give no details.
28. You forget that the other person needs to finish speaking before you can start
29. You burp in any situation and don’t care.
30. You see one foreign person eating Pineapple (or whatever) and say “Yes, all foreign people like Pineapple”
31. You start to watch CCTV9 and feel warm and comforted by the ream
32. You take a nap while you are dining in a restaurant with your girlfriend/boyfriend
33. Just everything produced in your home town is “very famous in China”
34. You don’t do any favors without wondering what your personal benefit could be
35. You never ask “Why?” anymore.
36. You understand all the above listed references.

My Comments?

Unfortunately, most of the items listed above are true – it is the behavior of my fellow people. What would I say?

There are some bad behaviors, and there are also many things that are just different. One of the best thing people get during travel is sensation. People are much more sensitive in a new world, and notice every difference from its own country. It is the same for people going to other countries. For example, Claire posted about the France version along with the Chinese one here. Don’t too worry about this part.

I do worry and feel ashamed of the bad habits people have, with the “jumping into the line”, and “spit in restaurants” on the top of the list. I am confident and optimistic about the future at the same time. We are in the transition period of urbanization. There are more people moving into cities in the last 20 years than people living in cities. Litter? Bad habit, but did you ever see a dust bin in the cotton field? It takes time for people to get used to the city life.

I thought of another word: Jay walking. Why people use “Jay Walking” to talk about people who didn’t obey traffic rules? From a reference book, I learned the word was invented in old cities (like New Yorks) in 1930s. Jay means “village people”. See, it has nothing to do with country. It is more relative to the time in progress. I would say, of cause, China is not so advanced in development… So take the time.

Having said that, I do agree it should be brought to everyone’s attention to improve all these bad areas.

What do you think about these 36 items in the list?

Or let me try to use a better title: As a foreigner, are you able to understand the English translation of Chinese dishes in China?

To Read English Menu in U.S. is Hard, but Chinese Menus are Harder

The biggest headache for me is to order dishes in U.S. I think I understand English, and can speak some English, until I am presented an English menu. I believe the most effective way to determine whether someone has lived in a foreign country or not is a menu test. The names of vegetables or sauces are the most basic terms in daily life, but can be very hard terms for a language learner (when they learn it out of the daily life context). That is how I feel in U.S. and Australia.

For visitors or expats in China, the situation is completely the same, and even worse. The translation of Chinese dishes does not help too much because by nature, it is not easy to translate the Chinese dishes to English just by direct or word-to-word translation, not to mention the Chinese dish names are not descriptive itself.

The Key Difference in Chinese and English Dish Names

There are key differences between the dish names of Chinese and English. The English names basically list what’s in the dish (the ingredients) and how it was cooked. The challenge of understanding English menus is to understand the name of the limited amount of vegetables, fruits and sauces names.

The Chinese dish names, in contrast, are completely irrelevant from the ingredients. Cooks tend to think of a very short and beautiful name for the dishes. Typical Chinese dish names are only four characters long, and when you read it, it sounds like a short poem. To name or to guess what the name stands for is an interesting game for cooks and diners.

Examples

Here are my favorite examples of Chinese dish names. Guess what it is from the names.

• Lion Head. Is it the head of lions? No. It is big meat ball cooked in Hangzhou. One of my favorite. Why they name it this way? I have no idea. It is just named hundreds of years ago and people are still using this name.
• Ants Climbing Trees. This is also a popular dish in China. We order this almost every time we go out. It is also translated as “Sautéed Vermicelli with Spicy Minced Pork”. Did you see the connections? I didn’t.

Xiaojie Wang sent me some other direct translations that is so funny. Here you are:

• Slobbering chicken. Chinese: 口水鸡 More official translation: Steamed Chicken with Chili Sauce
• Tiger Dish. Chinese: 老虎菜 English: No idea at all. What is that?
• beancurd made by a pockmarked woman. Chinese: 麻婆豆腐 English: Mapo Tofu (Stir-Fried Tofu in Hot Sauce)
• Rolling Donkey. Chinese: 驴打滚. English: Glutinous Rice Rolls with Sweet Bean Flour
• There are very ridiculous: Chicken without Sexual Life. Chinese: 童子鸡 English: Spring Chicken

These are the traditional dishes with relative common names. In some restaurants, they really tried hard to find new names for old dishes, or their new inventions. That can be even more wired for foreigners.

You see. From the name, you really have no idea about what it is, and some direct or bad translation makes it even hard to understand.

Bad Translations

Even with good and direct translation, it is so hard to guess. Believe me. It is not only for foreigners. I also have hard to understand what it is about. It is not rare that I ask the waiter what a dish really is.

Now many restaurants provide English menus, and the translation is really bad. They did the translation just by characters (not by meanings), and it turned out to be seriously wrong.

For example, “Griddle Cook” is common way to cook a dish, and it can be mistakenly translated to “fuck” if they don’t know English well. Look at this menu, and you will be really surprised by what the dish names are.

See? Don’t be surprised to see a translation like this. They really didn’t mean rude – they just want to communicate about what they are going serve you – in a wrong way.

Survey: What is Your Experience?

Reporter Miss. Wang Xiaojie asked me to do a simple survey on my blog for my foreigner readers: What is your experience with Chinese menus? Can you read it? If you can, how did you figure out what it means? If you cannot, what do you think that can help you?

Please post comment directly understand this post. Thanks.

P.S. Xiaojie will collect the response from this post and feature the interesting replies in the next week’s International Herald Leader.

P.S. 2 Why there are so many f*** word in the menu?

There are just 2000-3000 frequently used Chinese words, and there are so many meanings in the world, so every single character means a lot of different things. For example, the Chinese character 干 in the menu means a lot of different things. To name a few:

the trunk of a tree

the main part

capable; competent

[Informal] to do; to work

to fight on

[Literary] to offend

to interfere in

to be involved in

dry; dried

to drain till empty

You can see, there are some. It can also be translated to the f*** word. The menu maker may randomly pick a translation and print it there.

P.S. 3 The blog of International Herald Leader points to this entry on my blog for discussion around the Chinese dish names. Welcome, readers from International Herald Leader.