The Chinese Language Studies Trend in Israel

Once - and you may dismiss it as an exaggeration. Twice - and you know something must be happening. It’s the second Channel 2 story about the Chinese language studies trend in Israel, and this time it’s by the somewhat prestigious Uvda show. Although this story is also lacking depth, it does have some interesting points about how Israelis perceive Chinese language and culture and about some of the cultural differences between Israel and China.

Here’s the "Hey you, I’m talking Chinese" : 

To those who are unable to understand Hebrew, here are a few highlights from the flick :

• "Israel is overwhelmed with the Chinese fever. The Chinese courses in universities and colleges are full…"
• Motives for studying Chinese :
  • "You need some thing extra in order to succeed, all the world is going to China now, China is becoming a strong economical superpower. To understand business and to negotiate right you need to study the language." from a Business Administration student.
  • "I’m here for the mental therapy… I just fell in love, it’s unbelievable" from a Law student who’s the only one not studying for hopes of money gain.
  • "It’s the language of the future. China will become a superpower like the US" from a high-school kid.
  • "Almost everything is ‘Made in China’, when we grow up we’d like to do import/export business" from the high school girls.
  • "To study Chinese and then to conquer the world, this is my conclusion from my China visit. We have to train our young ones. It will open new opportunities for them"
• The reporter asks - "The Chinese (are the future)?! those who spit in the streets?". The mayor replies - "Show me one Chinese who nowadays spits in the street. No way, no body spits. They’re clean, you won’t find one piece of paper in the street. We can only watch in envy… watch in envy. It’s amazing. Forget the west, go east".
• Small kids prefer Japanese because of Manga/Anime.
• A lecture to Israeli businessmen going to do business in China :
  • "Don’t stick your chopsticks in the rice. Don’t play with your food. Don’t play with your chopsticks. But, on the other hand, burping and eating loudly… it means that you’re enjoying yourself and that all is well".
  • "Business cards - the Chinese exchange business cards with everything that moves. This is how you give it, this is how you receive it".
• A China business advisor in response (with whom I totally agree) :
  • "It’s absurd, we think that we can ‘beat’ them using all kinds of tricks. The Israelis arrive at China in order to BEAT the Chinese, to CONQUER China. Koblai Han couldn’t conquer China, but the Israelis think they can…"
  • "If you’ll give your businesscard in one hand or two hands, they couldn’t care less".
• The reporter does all possible (embarrassing) mistakes when meeting with the Chinese like asking them - "We have a reason to be afraid?" which they probably understood as a statement - "we have a reason to be afraid". The reporter concludes - "There’s no need to fear cultural differences in communication. There is no communication".
• "How long does it take till the Children will be able to speak basic Mandarin?" the reporter asks. "Basically, three months" the Singaporean teacher responds. I say - yeah, right… more like three years.

 
tags: Asia-Israel connections, China, Chinese Studies, chinese_language_and_culture, chinese_language_studies, cultural_differences, Israel, israelis, language_and_culture