為什麼亞洲人都會聚在一起呢？ (B&F)

布拉格舊城廣場 提恩大教堂

一個在布拉格一起交換的巴西朋友 B 看到我的文章，分享了他的一個觀察：為什麼亞洲人都會聚在一起呢？

但其實就我觀察，不只是台灣學生喜歡自己組成一團，其實所有國際學生都是這樣的，不管是在台灣還是在布拉格。

講英文的人就是會聚在一起、講西班牙語的自己一團、德語的又是另一團、講中文的分成台灣跟大陸兩團。

只是亞洲學生比較少跟其他國際學生有單獨的互動。其他國際學生雖然也會常跟自己國家的混在一起，但都還是跟其他國際學生交流密切、打成一片。

所以我們討論了一些東西，在徵得他的同意後，我把對話貼上來做個紀錄。


B: Taiwanese in general are very friendly, but you in special are very funny. Unfortunately, I didn't spend much time with Taiwanese people in Prague, just some. I'm not sure, but I felt Asians in general felt they had a much bigger gap in cultural terms. Specially the Koreans. It was obvious that they were all the time feeling strange towards other's cultures. I felt Taiwanese to be closer but still they hung around with each other a lot. or maybe it was me. But after Prague I'm really willing to visit Taiwan.
F: Hey B, what do you mean by “ I felt Asians in general felt they had a much bigger gap in cultural terms.”
B: I mean that I felt that my culture is much closer to European culture than yours, so I think I could feel more understood talking to them than the Asians in general. Now I see that it looks bad, sorry for not arranging the words better
F: HAHA no, not at all.
B: I felt lots of distance sometimes because of culture differences between me and Europeans in general and I think Asians in general felt a little more
F: Never mind. It's not negative, it's just a fact. Now I got your point. I feel the same too.
B: but every nation gathered together. just the braver ones could be far from home a little bit more hahahaha
F: just like you said, it's the culture, and also the history, Latino and European have more interactions in the past. And the way you have fun is similar-(no alcohol, no fun) Also, Asian student in general don't know much about the world apart from their own area. That's why we don't have the same context of conversation.
B: Yes, in school we study almost only European history.
F: And in school we don’t focus on the history of Christianity and Muslim. These are very far away from us.
B: Yes. In school, we almost learn nothing of Asia, Africa or Oceania.
F: And there’s another crucial reason-language.
B: I think you also realized that there are some expressions that simply doesn't make sense away from your mother language.
F: That's right. Though you speak Portuguese, it is still similar with English, comparing with Chinese.
B: Of course, that's why I think it is even worse case than mine. My language is derived from Latin, it is fairly similar to English. and I had so many problems to explain some words that doesn't exist in English
F: so…. The culture, the way of having fun (it's part of the culture, but it plays a much more important role in college students, that's why I make it an individual one), the history and the global view, and the language.
B: Expressions that just does not make sense. In chinese must be at least 10x worse haha
F: True, the language is always a big problem. If you can't express yourself well in (any foreign language both parties using), you will never become REAL friends.
B: I think it is these 4 reasons. One thing for Brazilians that we got ashamed sometimes is that we don't always wait until everybody got their dish. Hahahaha Everyone looked at us like we were savages! it was so funny in the first times
F: hahah well, Patrick always wait!! But this minor culture different doesn't matter, I think language plays the most important role.
oh, another TED talk I love is this one: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html
This is by far my favorite one.
B: in Europe and at least Korea, they wait so everyone can eat together, but in Brazil we don't accept that someone that is hungry to continue to be hungry just because my plate is a little taking longer. I don't want my friend to eat cold food because of me
F: hahaha both are very considerate.
B: I don't know…..I think minor culture differences matter the most.
F: like the waiting for the plate?
I said so because for me there's only MAJOR cultural differences.
CULTURE SHOCK!!
B: Yes, exactly, and other little things like this.
F: there's no such a thing call MINOR difference between me and European.
hahaha... just kidding
B: I actually think minor differences matter more than major differences
hahaha HAHAHAHAH good point!
F: Can you give me more examples?
B: Sure. If you have a completely different culture from another person, and you are trying to be friends with them, you usually understand that almost everything is different and you try to consider.
F: I assume that because you've already overcome the language part, that's why you could experience the minor ones. But for Asian, they are still struggling with the language barrier, it's still hard for us to aware those minor differences.
B: Like when I got somewhere out of time: people just said "ok, you are Brazilian and Brazilians don't care about it, I understand" "Brazilians are different"
F: haha that's stereotype. they labeled you.
B: But when I started eating first at the table, everyone was more like "I can't believe he is so impolite."
F: hahahah barbarian Brazilian!!!!!!!!!!
B: Hahahaha B the Barbarian! The major differences becomes stereotypes
F: yeah
B: and you just accept. But the minor differences become a stone in your shoes. and you try to move on and it keeps disturbing.
F: hahaha  true
B:maybe. I've been in contact with English since I was a child, so maybe I cannot perceive the language difference that much also
F: Because of the gap between Easterner and Westerner, both side hold stronger stereotypes due to the culture differences to each other. Like Latino and European are all westerners, though there are stereotypes between you two, but I believe that it's stronger between Asian-European or Asian-Latino
B: hm, I'm not sure
F: hummm….I am not sure either
B: the stereotypes we have in Brazil about Asia are quite simple, since we don't know much about it. The main ones are: Everyone looks the same, everyone is good in math and eat rice everyday!
F: haha that's it! coz you don't know much, so it's easier to think that Asian are all the same!
and………you racist!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha
B: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
F: and a racist barbarian!!
B: even for me that am better than average I'm terrible in knowing where which is from.
uga buga racist barbarian that walks naked in the streets of Brazil and eats bananas! hahahahaha
F: uga buga?? you see, this is a living example of the gap of language. and the sense of humor, too. It's very hard to get the point if you don't understand the language.
B: "uga buga" = typical sound of some savage in a tribe
F: hu ga sha ga in Chinese, 呼嘎夏嘎, literally.
B: Chinese savages speak hu ga sha ga? hahaha
F: No, that’s Chinese imagines how African savage speaks!
B: hu ga sha ga  would work in portuguese also.
I'm watching the TED video, the Nigerian one, I'm in about the half of it. It is incredibly similar to stories we talk about everyday here in Brasil.
F: now we’ve eliminated the boundary between languages. Yeah. That one was great.
B: danger of one story, I am identifying so much with her hahahhaha
for me, she just said that she does not like when they refer as Africa as a country,
the same for my and America
F: True story! it's very dangerous. People always say, you Latino instead of you Brazilian.
another example is about the race. In Asia, at least in my area, the population is quite homogeneous. and we didn't interact with other races that often as you did. So you are more sensitive when it comes to the term "race". I guess in Europe (don't know about Brazil), it's a heavy accusation to call someone a racist! but in Asain, it's not that big deal. coz...... WE ARE ALL THE SAME!
B: As to the language, I'm cool with it, because I study English for far too long. and English's everywhere for me. internet, television, names of stores, music...btw, I'm curious now, did you study Karl Marx in school?
F: Karl Marx? You mean his theory, socialism or communism? Not if you go to university for social science. He was in high school text book like one paragraph-3 sentences at most. I guess students on mainland China would learn more about him.
B: in Brazil we learn a lot about Karl Marx Theories. it's more like doctrination, since we don't really learn any others. We're in a really big debate now in Brazil. Brazil's importing doctors from other countries, around half of them are from Cuba.
F: I saw your post on wall.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexnaidus/amazingly-nerdy-history-jokes
I barely understand the jokes. Maybe just 4 or 5 of them.
Are they very difficult?
B: Really? There's just 4 or 5 that I'm not sure if I don't understand or it is just not funny hahaha. but maybe I'm just a very nerdy guy hahahaha
F: Let's test other Asians. See how many would they know. I 've share the link on FB.
B: the geek Brazilians will get most of them, but not the avarege ones.
F: Thanks for sharing! Got to leave for work
B: It would be nice if I could read some of the jokes of your side of the world.
F: I will try to find some for you.
B: unfortunately, I still don't know Chinese
F: but it probably will be in Chinese
B: If you do, tell me. I'll try google translator
F: and you know, Chinese people don't have sense of humor. Haha We are serious!!
B: hahaha I can see!
you know, when I was a child I decided to study very hard lots of things to understand lots of languages, to understand lots of topics,
so I would get all the jokes! hahahahahhaha
F: Good point! Need to study harder!
B: yup. Too many jokes to be understood!
F: got to run. good morning, there! ttyl

B: and good night there  hahaha