Thread 2816870

How the fuck do all of you travel or live in SEA, Japan, China, etc? Did you learn the language before going? I would feel so rude speaking English to someone there and expecting them to know it. Is it not actually considered rude? I don't understand.

>>2816870 (OP)
i am learning portuguese for sex with white brasilian women

Anyone worth speaking to in this world speaks English.

>>2816882
Ok
>>2816885
So you just go up to people and speak English? Are they not taken aback?

>>2816882
>women
yea. sure...

>>2816870 (OP)
I'm comfortable with silence when nobody speaks my language. Somewhat autistic but not retarded, so I am capable of intuitive communication. I don't understand the words they are saying, but I understand their meaning, that kind of thing. Many Southeast Asians are intuitive communicators as well. Provincial Laos was super comfy, and nobody at all spoke English there. Neither did I apart from "hello" and "thank you".

One recommendation: learn numbers. They're pretty easy to learn for most languages, particularly because most Thirdies like to round prices to the nearest five or ten. You don't have to speak them, you only have to understand them.

>>2816885
Good thing assholes like you rarely stray off the tourist reservation. Anywhere your kind go, you make people hate foreigners and see them as nothing more than walking moneybags.

>>2816870 (OP)
when i worked in japan i had a translator. it was cool. i felt like i was a high level diplomat or something

>>2816885
/thread
It's also amusing how upset they get when you refuse to learn the language despite being there for years
Not my problem

>>2816924
what was your actual job?

>>2816926
IT. working as a consultant at a big tech company

>>2816924
>>2816930
Go fuck yourself dude

>>2816941
touched a nerve, have i?

>>2816943
I’m tired of hearing about people being able to live outside of America while I have to “wait” for a year or more to justify to myself taking a long vacation while still keeping up financially with retirement accounts and stuff. I’m so fucking tired of it. Go FUCK yourself dorkus

>>2816948
>Go FUCK yourself dorkus
oh you're that guy
>I’m tired of hearing about people being able to live outside of America
well, i'm not american, so yeah generally i live outside america (although i have worked in america too)
don't know what to tell you anon, maybe you could try getting a better job but that would probably require you to be a bit less relentlessly unpleasant and put a bit of effort into improving yourself and we both know that's not really likely to happen

>>2816882
>You

>>2816885
Based. Let's enjoy our lingua franca privilege with no shame like our boomer grandparents did. You know what language a German and Chinese tourists will speak to each other if they meet in Brazil? Hint: not Portuguese.

>>2816925
Eternal tourist lmfao. Retard.
>>2817145
Mutt

>>2816885
That's not exactly true. Not because I think there are languages with more merit, that's not the case at all.
It's just that there are lots of shitty people who speak English. If I could have it my way, I would only speak to up to 10 people. Very few people, even the English-speaking ones, are worth talking to.

>>2816870 (OP)
>I would feel so rude speaking English to someone there and expecting them to know it. Is it not actually considered rude?
Welcome to 4chan. The people here specialize in rude. Sometimes they don't know they're being rude, but most of the time they don't even care. It's not really fair to compare yourself to these sociopaths and miscreants.

>>2816870 (OP)
It's a bit of both.

Like, yeah, I do try and study the language a bit before going to most of the countries I've been. At the very least "hello, goodbye, please, thank you" and some numbers will make you seem more polite.

Realistically there's no way to learn the language to fluency without being immersed in it for years. So you kinda just have to go there, tolerate the awkwardness, and find people to practice with. You can also sign up for a language class, which also gives you a visa and some other students to hang out with, although it's kind of a waste of money.

On the other hand, most locals aren't really expecting a foreign tourist to speak their language, and it's kind of weird if you do. Especially the women who might want to marry a foreigner, they'll probably be learning English. So you might as well cut to the chase and just speak English with them. That also makes it waaaay easier to be charming, instead of struggling to remember the right verb conjugation for casual vs polite in Japanese slang or whatever.

It's not the 1800s anymore. Everyone around the world has heard English before. And most of the people you'd want to hang out with have made some attempt to learn it.

>>2816930
>t.

>>2816870 (OP)
Translation apps and having some social skills. Not a lot, just some.

>>2817713
This. If you expand the "hello, goodbye, thank you, please" list with "1, 2, correct/yes/right/affirm, no, this, that, how much (does it cost)?" and for Japan you learn the expected degree of bowing... They will treat you like the best foreigner to ever exist in their country.

>>2816950
Take it from another American ... You're right on the money about that clown.

>>2817713
Gentlemen, ignore everything this poster said. They're retarded.

>go do normal hobby things or make small talk at the gym
>meet someone who speaks english or use translator app

Well that was so hard...

>>2816870 (OP)
The moment the idea of visiting a certain country comes to your mind you should start studying its language. It's basic respect to at least try to communicate with the locals in their language.

>>2816870 (OP)
You learn to use your hands. It's universal. You won't be able to do small talk but you can get by if you can help them visualize what you want.

>>2817771
>Just learn the Indian language, bro!

>>2817897
Good thing there is no reason to ever go to India

>>2817897
Sure? I would absolutely learn some Kannada by the time I decide to finally go to Bengaluru.

>>2816870 (OP)
Ever played charades?

>>2816870 (OP)
Study at least 6 months before going. Knowing the language opens doors you didn't even know existed

>>2816924
I am working in Japan right now and they provide a simultaneous interpreter for Zoom meetings. It's pretty nice and I appreciate the effort but it's still awkward as shit and I'd rather they fucking learnt English like normal people.

>>2817897
luckily everybody in india speaks broken english, even the old fuckers

>>2816870 (OP)
I've been learning Japanese ever since I decided to travel to Japan two years ago, though I don't think my intention was explicitly to use the Japanese for my trip. I use it for Vtubers and translating porn as well.

>>2817145
knew the world was conquered when i saw koreans and chinese having to speak broken engrish to eachother

>>2818137
I will never forgive the British Empire for teaching English to the jeets.

>>2816948
Skill issue. Spend less energy on being bitter and maybe you'll figure something useful out.

>>2817713
I did like my Japanese class, I needed someone to put a gun to my head and force me to TALK. It was also very cool to chat with board game store owners last year, even if they did get tired of my broken Japanese and switched to English pretty fast.

>>2818149
>I use it for Vtubers and translating porn as well.

>>2816870 (OP)
Now imagine you're from the Anglosphere's biggest political and economic rival, and are wondering pretty much the same thing.

>How the fuck do all of you travel or live in the US, the UK, Australia, etc? Did you learn the language before going? I would feel so rude speaking Chinese to someone there and expecting them to know it. Is it not actually considered rude? I don't understand.
>Anyone worth speaking to in this world speaks Chinese.
>So you just go up to people and speak Chinese? Are they not taken aback?
>Good thing assholes like you rarely stray off the tourist reservation. Anywhere your kind go, you make people hate laowai and see them as nothing more than walking moneybags.
>when i worked in canada i had a translator. it was cool. i felt like i was a high level diplomat or something
>It's not the 1800s anymore. Everyone around the world has heard Chinese before. And most of the people you'd want to hang out with have made some attempt to learn it.

As for this...

>You know what language a German and Chinese tourists will speak to each other if they meet in Brazil? Hint: not Portuguese.

German and Japanese would be more likely to speak English I think, since they're on the same page politically / economically. The Chinese however might be a bit more abstruse, especially if they still have Chinese citizenship.

>>2818844
Mandarin has many speakers in China but is not widely spoken globally. English is the most commonly taught foreign language in China, being an official language in Hong Kong, an academic and business language, and a requirement for university admissions. English is the most common foreign language for Germans, as well. A German and Chinese tourist would be more likely to converse in English than in any other language.

>>2818844
absolutely zero Chinese people try to speak Chinese to people abroad, they just go to places run by other Chinese ppl

I live in Anglo Canada and I have had fresh off the boat people try to speak Ukrainian to me (they probably assume I am a slav because I'm white). It didn't really feel rude. We just had no idea how to communicate and that was it.

>>2818870
Mandarin IS widely spoken globally. In almost every country. There are thriving and patriotic Chinese communities in the US, Canada, Australia, Cambodia, Malaysia, the UK, France, and Botswana.

Furthermore, Chinese is a requirement to attend university. And what's more, they're slowly dialing back English requirements across the nation's education system.

>>2818873
Not a bad thing.

>>2818889
>>2818844
There is a nonzero chance your sister has my wasian child, chink

>>2816870 (OP)
I lived and worked in Thailand for a few years, and eventually spoke Thai close enough to fluently (along with being immersed, I had formal lessons from moonlighting university graduate students and professors throughout my time there); I later went to graduate school and my research was related to Thailand, so I became a proficient reader as well. This has been enough for me to go pretty native in Thailand and Laos (my Lao is a lot more basic than my Thai, but the two languages are in large part mutually intelligible, and nearly all Laotians consume Thai media, so while the reverse is not true, almost everyone in Laos understands Thai effortlessly, and most people in urban areas can speak it). I also studied Khmer for a little while, which was interesting and made a little easier by the fact that even though Thai and Khmer are completely unrelated languages genetically, they share a ton of cognate vocabulary, either borrowed from one another or from Pāli and Sanskrit.

Elsewhere in Asia I pick up some basic politeness and utility words if I can, but mostly just point and grunt, and maybe use a translation app if I hit a brick wall. The only place that it’s really been difficult has been in China, where a surprising (even overwhelming) majority of people on the street have zero English, even in major cities. A long time ago, I took a short Cantonese course for shits and giggles (and to eavesdrop on the bus, as I was living in San Francisco at the time, where Cantonese is the dominant Chinese on the streets), so I can catch a small number of cognate words in Mandarin and make pushy street vendors laugh by yelling “Got one already!” in Cantonese, but outside of HK and Guangdong I am pretty much deaf and mute. It’s okay.

>>2818889
If you're getting paid for this tell your boss you're too retarded to justify your wages.

>>2818902
I don't even live in China, btw

And my parents aren't even Chinese either lol

>>2818889
>Mandarin IS widely spoken globally
I think this has to depend on how broadly you define widely. In the great majority of global Chinatowns with any history at all, Mandarin isn’t the dominant language—people speak local/regional home dialects, which are mostly Southern, and local languages. This is less true in more modern Chinese settlements internationally, where people are more likely to consider themselves expats/temporary economic migrants and are content to remain comparatively isolated/insular, knowing they’re not interested in staying forever.

But older generations of Chinese immigrants who were in it for the long haul (or perhaps forever) have felt stronger impulses to integrate and may or may not speak Mandarin at all (although many have pushed their children to learn it alongside whatever mother tongue they actually speak at home).

The only major long-term Chinese diaspora/overseas Chinese population center in Asia where fluency in Mandarin is really widespread to the point of being nearly universal is probably Singapore, and even that is a relatively modern/post-SG independence phenomenon—the grannies almost all still speak only Hokkien or Hakka.

But that aside, Mandarin is extraordinarily useful in China, even if it’s nearly useless in most of SEA.

>>2818937
>Singapore
that's because they learn it there (for the chinese). i don't think it's their native dialect. much of SEA chinatowns are teochew speaking

>>2818937
>fluency in Mandarin is really widespread to the point of being nearly universal is probably Singapore
most younger (Chinese) Singaporeans can manage in Mandarin but they're not really fluent. it's not used as their first language for the majority

>>2818376
I mean, what else can you expect? It's not like I'm going to live in Japan, and it's not like Japanese is particularly looked for when hiring people. Anything you'd want to consume that is popular has been translated. All that is left is massive amounts of untranslatable media due to the sheer volume (Vtubers), and porn (niche fetishes or artists). I probably won't even get to use Japanese all that much during my trip there, since most places speak English.

>>2818937
>The only major long-term Chinese diaspora/overseas Chinese population center in Asia where fluency in Mandarin is really widespread to the point of being nearly universal is probably Singapore
it's more likely to be malaysia
some of the type-Cs here only speak mandarin or english, they don't like to speak malay as they regard it as beneath them. they go to chinese schools and english speaking universities.
malaysia is super racist. officially employers are not allowed to hire people based on race, but they are allowed to specify language skills as requirements. it is common for chinese run businesses to specify "mandarin speaker" as a requirement to filter out the the majority of malays and indians who don't speak it
in practice, in everyday use most people speak a weird pidgin that combines elements of the three languages, sometimes in the same sentence

>>2819209
I never saw any off the races (Malays, chinks, tamils) interacting with each other in Malaysia. They all hate each other quite openly. It's amazing that Malaysia even sticks together somehow.

>>2818965
the Singapore english accent is very intersting htough. it's actually pleasant unlike in india or philiippines so don't know how they managed it

>>2819212
That's basically the story of why they gave up Singapore.

>>2819209
incidentally the issue of chinese not speaking malay has been in the news a fair bit recently
a lot of chinese-run shops and restaurants that mainly only have chinese customers tend to have signs only in chinese and english but not bm. this pisses off the malays, who complain about it, see pic related. not because they really want to go to those restaurants etc but just because malays like to whine about pretty much anything that their leaders tell them to

>>2819209
>>2819212
Ironically most of the "bigotry" accusations I've heard about in Malaysia have gone the other way around. "Oh no the poor Chinese are getting oppressed by the Malays!"

>>2819235
IMO the way Malaysia does it is far superior than Judeo-Western forced "diversity". In Malaysia you actually get to see different ethnicities living in harmony and preserving their cultural heritage (in some cases even better than the Mainland itself), unlike how in the US everyone's forced to conform to post-war post-modern globohomo which just leads to even higher levels of resentment, infighting, and bitterness.

>>2819215
Depends on your standards. I'm Chinese so I obviously have my conflicts of interests, but I'm sure your average white channer's going to have as low of an opinion of Chinese-influenced Englishes as Hindi, Tamil, or Arabic-influenced ones.

>>2819235
In Pahang and Kelantan, both Bahasa Malaysia and Jawa script (the Arabic-looking shit) are mandatory on all public business signage. Malaysians are CONSTANTLY nitpicking over little details like this. As a white guy, I always felt more welcomed by the Malays than by the Chinese. The Tamils are also quite friendly.

>>2817927
If you're one of the fags on here complaining that America is dead and soulless because of its open spaces, you absolutely should go to India. Maybe you'll develop a more nuanced perspective of human life, and realize that having space in public isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Hey guys,

Need genuine bit of advise here relating to finding work in either E.Asia or SEA as I'd really love to live there for a couple of years.

I'm going to be in my upper 20s in two weeks and been working as a Mortgage Risk analyst in banking within the UK since I graduated uni. I'm quite drained of my current lifestyle of corporate wage slaving and need a bit of a shake up.

I've managed to set aside a nice amount of dosh in various investments but I really want to be able find a way I can live and ideally work in E or SEA without dipping into my investments too much.

Is there any realistic route I can take outside of teaching English?

>>2819249
>you absolutely should go to India.

>>2819250
you can join the foreign service

>>2819235
they are annoyed they cannot read the signs. it's a good move to put pinyin on them

>>2819260

What do you mean? Like working at an embassy?

>>2819256
It's not bait, he's saying "go to hell."

>>2819247
>Ironically most of the "bigotry" accusations I've heard about in Malaysia have gone the other way around. "Oh no the poor Chinese are getting oppressed by the Malays!"
that's because they are. even malaysia's constitution is in favour of "malay superiority". but malays are so lazy and useless that the chinese run the majority of businesses in the country and are much richer. the malays always see themselves as being under threat, or that the chinese are trying to undermine them, or some other vague threat. this is not helped by the inflammatory comments frequently made by the islamist political parties.
>>2819247
>In Malaysia you actually get to see different ethnicities living in harmony
malaysia's "harmony" is a mask that occasionally slips

>>2819250
get a job within the uk with a company that has interests in whatever country you want to go to
make your interests known to your manager and look out for vacancies or secondments on the internal job board
apply for everything that comes up
if you are university educated and working in finance you should be able to do this without too much trouble. many uk/euro finance companies have branches in asia.
but if you are only in your late 20s you have only been working for a handful of years so if you are already feeling "drained" then really you sound pretty pathetic and i'm not sure you would be able to cope with it

>>2819285

Cheers anon

I've made the mistake of buying into the "go above and beyond" rhetoric to try and impress various managers whilst seeing newer hires getting paid more than myself twiddling their thumbs still years later.

I've been working at various banks for 5 years and managed to work up to a senior analyst level so I've stuck it out to an extent

Do you honestly feel passionate about your career in finance?

>>2819294
>Do you honestly feel passionate about your career in finance?
didn't say i work in finance. i work in IT. but i have a reasonable idea of what uk/euro companies operate in this region. all the big insurance companies, for example.
>I've been working at various banks for 5 years
so you've had "various" jobs in five years? it sounds like you are just someone who can't really see things through but just expects things to fall at their feet and when they don't, blames other people. in other words, typical zoomer
so yeah you could do what the other grubby peasants on here do and do an online tefl or whatever it's called now and work for a pittance and live in some cockroach infested shithole somewhere
but really you have a chance to live a better life than that. the world is your oyster anon, don't piss it all away by being a self absorbed grudgeful miserable sod

incidentally it's a modern myth that you have to feel "passionate" about your job. that's the sort of shit that people post on linkedin. most people aren't. they do it because it pays the bills and enables them to do the things that they actually really care about. i actually enjoy what i do, but i can imagine that being a mortgage adviser is not particularly enthralling. if "passion" for your job is important to you, and you don't currently have it, then a career change is probably what you need. try reading "the element" by ken robinson then coming up with some new priorities. your desire to escape everything and go and work somewhere else in the world is probably a symptom.

>>2819283
Are Chinese Malaysians more like Italians who moved to the US, or Britons who moved to India?

>>2819361
They're like the Chinese people who moved to the US.

>>2819363
I doubt they assimilate to that extent. The Chinese love pork.

>>2816870 (OP)
I don't know if this is a common take or not but there is a twilight phase of being past the beginner stage and into the intermediate level of the language where you can communicate on a bare level and hold simple conversations. I find people (especially from asian countries) treat you with a lot more respect than the total beginners who they cant talk to and for whatever reason the foreigners who speak near fluency or a high level. I can't explain why but it's like they enjoy that you are a learner and can have a conversation but aren't put off by you being fluent. this might be different with real relationships but for everyday life I find this true

So my 2 cents is that putting in the work to get to that point, which should really only be a couple months, can provide a huge reward. and it isn't hard, at least for the languages that aren't tonal