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[A.K.A.T.D.N.]

To some the world of English is just a world apart. It's that world where Chinese is but babel, having no meaning in their everyday existence whatsoever. To these chaps I'm apalled.

Then there are the blokes who think that "everything's which glitters is Chinese." To these chaps, speaking Chinese is blood-red. There's nothing to do but charge.

I've happened to run into the latter group here, as just the other day I met a chap on the street and trying to find my way, simply asked "Excuse me, can you. . .EXCUSE ME, CAN YOU TELL. . ." but the chap just walked on. No comment, not even a glance, could deter his tunnel-vision view and viewpoint. Or was he just a foreigner I didn't know couldn't speak English?

Well, I've been running into a couple of these chaps here and there, these "babel-believers", guys who think there Westernism is a sign of weakness and that the pros must become Chinese fluent. These guys surround me on every corner of Taipei, as if Taipei is not really a place to speak English but should be banned from becoming the international city it has beome and that by the ability to not turn as xenophobic as some of these slanted Westerners. To these people, and those that don't give in to this "hyper-yuppism," I applaud even more.

I applaud them just like the lady who upon seeing the idiot pass me by who wouldn't even recognize my English language, sweetly assisted me and offered me the help I needed. Yeah, perhaps I could've tried to speak in Chinese. Or I could've stumbled across a few mis-pronouncements and been misunderstood. But to be fanatic about the point that some of these people have kind of makes me laugh, because they have forgotten that English is an international language.

If they want to learn Chinese, fine. But the rest of the international committee perhaps just wants to use what little they have to get by, and debunk the fallacy that speaking fluent Chinese is what makes you a real expat here. Perhaps it makes you a real-Chinese speaker, but expats are all walks of life, and I doubt many have really reached the point where they've rejected their own English and gone completely native.

[TaoyuanSteve]

I think you're connecting two separate issues: the issue of "going native" and the issue of expats' treatment of one another. About the guy who ignored you, perhaps you might consider giving him the benefit of the doubt. He may have sincerely not noticed you. Another possibility is that he thought you were one of the many agressive pamphleteers and salespeople who get right in your face. I often walk with a kind of tunnel vision and determined speed just to avoid all the handbills and free toilet paper ads.

I agree, though, that there is little solidarity between expats. If this person went out of his way to snub you it clearly demonstrates what kind of a headcase he really is. You won't want his directions anyway. The type of behaviour you describe is actually quite common and gets discussed at length on other sites. I personally don't like it, but others claim ignoring the presence of other westerners is justified because they really don't know each other anyway and only have race in common. My position is that we have far more in common (culture, mother language, common experience of westerner living in Asia...) than that. I believe many simply see themselves as immersed in some kind of Asian adventure and the presence of those too familiar removes the veil of the exotic and reminds them that they aren't the only westerners here.

There is a whole expat mentality that really turns me off. I choose my friends carefully. You will find those with whom you can feel comfortable. Unfortuanately alot of expats aren't worth meeting.

[myesl]

I've never ignored someone speaking English, but for those of you uniterested in speaking Chinese --or happy to learn a few niceties only -- you might try to imagine that for some people it is very important to them personally to learn the language well. Avoiding people who speak your own language is a well-known language learning aid all over the world.

Of course, in Taipei, Taiwanese won't speak Chinese with foreigners most of the time anyway . . .

[markholmes]

I'm not going to say hello to someone just because they're white. I may do this if I lived in a small village and I was the only foreigner (starved of company), but I won't do it in Taipei (unless it is done to me), as there are two many of us whities.

If someone stopped me in the street to ask for directions, of course, I would oblige.

You described two groups of people in your post, but actually most of us fall somewhere in between.