Job Discussion Forums

[khmerhit]

Some people start to go native without knowing it, others do so quite deliberately. Are you going native or not? How can you tell?

[Wolf]

I eat only local food. I get up at dawn like everyone else. I spend hours in net cafes.

PS it's "No one gives what they don't have," right?

[denise]

Depends on what you mean, exactly, by going native. I've only been in Japan for two months, so even if I truly wanted to remake myself in Japanese style, it'd take me a while longer. But do I want to?

Yes, I do want to learn the language, learn how to be polite, experience the local food (as much as possible on a limited vegan diet), get to know my town and its culture and traditions, etc. I do NOT want to draw attention to myself because of inappropriate behavior. (One look in the mirror, however, and I am reminded that I draw attention to myself every time I leave my house.) On the other hand, I do not want to become Japanese. I'm fairly happy with myself and my values and beliefs.

Another question. Or two, rather. Why do some people "go native"? Is it because they truly feel that the new life they are experiencing is in some way superior? Or is it because they are running away from something back home, or from something within themselves? And is going native necessarily a good thing? I've seen and heard stories of a few too many foreigners who felt that they were a cut above the other foreigners because they were more involved in the local life. Going native for the sole purpose (OK, maybe not the sole purpose, but it happens in the end...) of boosting your own ego is a bit messed up.

d

[Roger]

Going native?
To some extent, depending on whether you want to adopt certain features of lifestyles that define the locals.
But surely I am in a foreign country to help locals "go English-speaking native" to a certain extent.
What does that mean?
Among uncounted many things, a foreigner acquiring English also learns behavioral norms of Westerners.
While the Chinese do not feel it is necessary to be polite to each other, which I have to accept as a fact of life in my social intercourse with evrybody, my students quickly have to learn that there are things we do in the West, and things we DON'T do!

[Guest]

[Guest]

[lajzar]

Suddenly, I have a great deal of sympathy for American grandmothers.

[double agent]

Yes what are the SIGNS

I hang out with the native and eat with em even if it
kills me and sometimes it feels like it does. BUT BUT BUT...
I WANT MY MTV I WANT SUSHI AT MIDNIGHT I WANT MY MOUNTAIN BIKE.

Had native lovers, but religion and language..nah ...fuuurrgggiiitbbbooouttti itttt.

[Capergirl]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "going native". I don't feel that I had completely assimilated into the new culture when I was in Korea or Taiwan, but I did attempt to blend to an extent. I learned a bit of the language (more Korean than Mandarin Chinese...Korean was easy to learn), ate the local food (the only "Western" food seemed to be fast food and that got old pretty fast), and checked out the local forms of entertainment, festivals, etc. I did not, however, spend all of my time with the locals even though I'd made a lot of Korean and Taiwanese friends. As much as I enjoyed their company, there were times that I needed to just relax and get out of teaching mode--something I could not seem to do unless I was around other mother tongue English speakers. I was always fascinated by those foreigners in Asia who didn't want anything to do with any other foreigners, though. They would say something along the lines of "I don't hang around with other Westerners, that's not what I came here for...I'd have stayed home if that is what I wanted to do." These are the ones who did not speak English outside of the classroom, hung around only with local people, and barely acknowledged other foreigners. This I do not get....their choice,