Sinking Battleship #2 (The Counter Attack)

(Please read the prior entry first.)
Two and a half weeks after the beginning of our language pledge, I have found the 好处 benefit of our language barrier, namely judgments are postponed. It is human nature to be critical of others and to share our criticisms verbally. We connect with others over our ideas, including our opinions about other people. We justify our opinions in order to augment the appearance of our moral character. Our language barrier has rendered our conversations simple and succinct, and yet in their simplicity there is innocence. We speak at the level of 6 year old children, and like 6 year olds, we cannot verbalize our distastes beyond the simple “This food tastes bad,” or “She is annoying,” comments. Therefore, we cannot explain the nature of our irritation, or justify its presence. Not out of fear of being offensive, but rather out of fear of 丢面子 losing face (This is a characteristic Chinese word that perfectly clarifies my idea. It can be understood as loosing respect in the eyes of others.) do we hold back our negative commentary. Such is the American way! (We fear more hurting our own feelings than those of others, but more on this when I compare Chinese and American cultures next week on “At-Home-Abroad”. Stay tuned.) Words associated with partying, drugs, sex, alcohol, and “rock and roll”, words that typically permeate a college campus, remain unknown to us. We do not broach these subjects, and thus, our conversations, lacking slander, are pure and kind. Like Haulden Caufield, we hold a snowball in our hand and dare not disturb its tranquility with a simple action.

One of the most interesting aspects about culture is the similarity in thought. Today in class, I was telling my teacher and classmates a story about a student I caught cheating. My teacher, who is accustomed to comprehending our broken, accent-heavy, and grammatically terrible Chinese, still did not quite understand me. However, the other students in the room, all Americans, could follow my thought process relatively easily. When I said “office,” they immediately jumped to the conclusion that I really meant “The Board of Academic Integrity”. Note that Chinese Universities also have a similar board, although it is integrated with their registrar; this board is not unique to America. In my opinion, this was not an example of Americans understanding American culture but rather a similarity in our thought processes. The Americans all arrived at the same conclusion.