We’ve all heard before that only 7% of our communication is verbal content, 55% is body language, and 38% vocal tone and infliction. For a high context language like Chinese, that 55% increases greatly. High context means that the context …
Can You Hear a Plant?
Summer banana leaf prints show up everywhere, summer attire, cocktail napkins, backyard parties, hotel wallpaper. Did you know that they have served as a percussion instrument? In Chinese culture banana leaves are famously celebrated by poets to provide meter for …
Don’t be Afraid of the Dark (meat)
If you order a chicken salad, chances are the chicken meat on the salad is breast meat. Chicken breast costs more per pound and is a highly preferred part of chicken consumption in the American context. If your favorite Chinese …
One God or None?
China is officially atheist. The Communist Party has legislated it so, but the Chinese culture is not atheist. The Chinese language is imbued with expressions that assert the existence of a higher superior being(s) that for the people who speak …
Meat Rock Rocks!
The Meat Shaped-Stone is a celebrity in Taipei’s National Palace Museum. It is a treasured piece of the illustrious Imperial collection. It is the Winged Victory (Nike) next to the Mona Lisa of Taipei’s National Palace Museum’s jadeite cabbage. This …
Wolves or Blackhawks?
Between Wolves or Blackhawks, which sports souvenir from Chicago would a Chinese tourist prefer? Culturally speaking, the most probable answer is Blackhawks. It has little to do with their current standing or their particular history, but more with what connection …
A Name isn’t just a Name
Because Mandarin has far fewer sounds than English, there are far more opportunities for puns. When naming your business in a Chinese speaking country, research the Chinese name so that it doesn’t evoke derogatory or negative meanings. That may doom …
Chicago Bulls or Chicago Bears?
Between Chicago Bulls or Chicago Bears, which sports souvenir from Chicago would a Chinese tourist prefer? Culturally speaking, the most probable answer is Chicago Bulls. It has little to do with their current standing or their particular history, but what …
Can Do Attitude
In Mandarin there are 2 verbs for can do and able to. In English, in many circumstances the distinction is minimal. In other languages the distinction can be vast. Chinese culture precludes the speaker from overpromising one’s own abilities. For …
Scoring in the Rain
As a soccer mom, I’ve become accustomed to my child playing soccer in the occasional raining weather. Incidentally, one of my children’s coaches was Dutch and he once said, “In my country, if we stopped playing soccer every time it …