Asian people are very capable of learning the intricacies and grammar of a language. However, past the critical stages of lingual learning (1-7 years old, asians have to cope with not being able to pronounce words in other languages, especially English, correctly. This is true of nearly all asians that arrive in the United States after the age of 15, when the human brain begins to lose its plasticity.
“What!?” Is this a boring bio lesson on Stuff Asian People Like?!
(Heck no.) Asians have a way with languages. When words come out of asian mouths, they are more refined and articulate. However, this is only true to the eye of the asian. Take Fried Rice for example. Asians are known to say, “Flied Lice.” This holds true only in some asian languages where the L and R are non-present consonant sounds (when they are in the beginning of words). These languages, such as Japanese, usually carry the L or R sound in the middle. In the same category are words like “flo (for)” and “larely (rarely).”
Other asians learn simply by listening. These asians will wind up cursing by saying things like “mother-father” and “thuck you” or “shamit!” 1st Generation Asian parents are the best at mispronunciation because they have probably just heard the new word and want to show their mad skills to their children. Asian children know when their parents have just talked to their salon friends when they are asked about if they want to apply to “Habard (Harvard), Yeild (Yale), Pu-rini-ston (Princeton), or Stamfurt (Stanford).”
Due to the nature of asian languages, intonations and slurs are very important. In American *english* these slurs and intonations are bland and odd-sounding. Asians, for that reason, give more emphasis to certain vowels. “Do your deeeeeshes” or “Clean Yaaaaa-ore room!” In Asian *asian languages* these long slurs and intonations are signs of annoyance and disrespect. They could also be suggestive of marriage.
The next time you are in an Asian county or area, try these new things out. Order some “flied lice” or talk to the local women about “Stamfurt” and if their “dothers” will be accepted, because chances are that they won’t know the difference. They won’t care either.
Email from Contributor: “I first had Chinese food when I and friends used to pop into a restaurant in South Kensington after a Prom and share a couple of spring rolls and some fried rice. I’m embarrassed to say that we called it ‘Flied Lice” and in front of the waiters” -anonymous
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14 responses so far ↓
1 Justin // Mar 1, 2008 at 2:59 pm
hilarioso!!! =)
2 non asian who lived in asia // Mar 2, 2008 at 3:44 am
thanks for letting me know ‘that site’ has been stealing all your cute and funny ideas…
3 Bad Copy Cat! // Mar 3, 2008 at 11:28 pm
These are supposed to be stuff Asian people like??? I don’t think Asians actually like to mispronounce as much as it is difficult for them mimic the American accent. I do think they try their best but to say they take pride of mis-pronounciation is inaccurate.
I so want to like this site but I don’t know… it doesn’t have nearly the ‘bite’ as the white ppl blog.
4 That Guy // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:03 am
i somewhat agree. The white people one is more satirical and exposes the quirks of upper middle class liberal whites (i.e. White people like to know what’s best for the poor, or white people like to be culturally diverse) .
The asian people one doesn’t do that, but instead pokes fun at asian culture only in a literal manner (asian people like honda civics, har har).
I’d like this blog to point out more minute details of asian culture rather than just the obvious ones.
5 StereoTypicalAsian // Mar 5, 2008 at 7:27 am
I guess you haven’t heard an American people trying to speak Japanese or Korean. It’s pretty funny, but Asians actually understand that it is difficult for non-native speaker to speak another language. They are actually very encouraging to those who try.
6 Michael // Mar 6, 2008 at 3:04 am
Yes I also don’t think this is funny. Stuff White People Like is already very much on the edge to racism, stereotypes and discrimination but at least it allows the white American majority to question itself and see itself with different eyes. It is actually written for white people.
Stuff Asian People like is obviously not written for asian people but for white people to make either fun of asians or in the best case, learn something about asian culture.
If you’re not asian you will have a very hard time riding on this thin edge between irony and racism and will create not self-questioning but support racial stereotypes. Please think about what you’re actually doing here.
7 AsianGal // Mar 6, 2008 at 3:19 am
That’s funny because I’m asian and I could connect to all the posts…that’s why I come back daily because even if the posts don’t go in depth, it’s a good laugh to see minor nuances and think of other nuances of my own culture. If I can’t connect, some posts pose a few points and push me to question why my parents or relatives do the things they do!
Although, there are always exceptions…especially very americanized asians or exceptions in general. Generalizations are again, generalizations (don’t take it too seriously). As an Asian, this site serves great entertainment value and I’d like to encourage these writers to continue to ask, Why are things this way for Asians? Even if it’s not perfect. Since I’ve really enjoyed this site, I really want to support the people who write daily to continue writing and share their views. This is America and people are allowed to share their opinions on things they care about and it is not in their control what people make about of it. Some can see it as providing great laughter and others cannot connect to it, and that’s fine.
I feel like I’ve learned a lot about what other Asian culture that I’ve not been aware of. I think that you should just keep an open mind and take entertainment for entertainment..and somewhere down the line, meaning can spring out of anywhere or anything. My 2 cents for all those people who like to compare. SWPL and SAPL attract different audiences and different community of writers with different goals and purposes. I can see how you can like SWPL and think this site is only for white people to learn about Asians. Either you are an americanized asian who grew up embracing American culture or you are white/non-asian and you can connect more to SWPL (maybe their fan). Asian Americans can easily connect to SWPL because they are grown up in American. Now take the reverse, are there many white/european/even american-born-asian or other non-asian people who immigrate to or were raised in Asia? You would agree rarely, maybe for business, but very rarely. Therefore, it may seem white people would like to come to SAPL to learn more about Asians because they obvious know less than Asian Americans knowing white culture, but Asian Americans alike…like me, who were born in America or immigrated when we were young, we see these posted things maybe not in our own lives..but in Asia or in other Asian families. Asian culture vary from family to family.
Stuff Asian People Like allows me to think and understand more about why Asian people do the things they do…and not fear it, look down upon it, but rather understand where they are coming from and be more accepting. I’m also able to see the uniqueness of my asian ethnicity…you’ll find that asians are so different and vary from being born in Asia, born in America, immigrated to America when young, immigrated or came to American for study when they’re older. levels of connection to these stereotypes from how much influence does american or non-asian culture have on you or how much you yourself want to separate or ignore where you were from because it takes too much work to even try (esp. when you’re not living in Asia). However, I hate to see people comparing oranges to apples. Please take it for what it is.
8 Eugenia // Mar 6, 2008 at 8:13 pm
actually i don’t really agree with that…yes it’s true that it’s hard for many asians to learn to speak english properly after the age of 15 or so..but i think that really depends on the fact that if they’ve had proper education too. I moved here to the States when I was 16 and I currently work in a american place where I am the only asian in the office. My boss and coworkers had no clue i was foreign born becasue according to them I speak just like everyone else does. Another example being my engineering phsycis professor. He got his undergrad degree and moved here after that for his maters and phd and he speaks just fine. I think this english part is pretty much a stereotype. it’s like are you gonna make fun of non asian people trying to learn asian languages? it’s the same deal…
9 Just bad // Mar 8, 2008 at 2:13 pm
To me this blog seems like it’s written by somebody who is also Americanized. Most of the things are more about Chinese or Japanese people than the general Asian public. It is not representative at all and should not mislead people by claiming that it’s stuff Asian people like. Chinese people are as different from Middle Eastern people as they are from white people. The things written here are not liked by people that are actually living in Asia, more for Asian people living in North America. So if you are non-Asian and want to learn about Asian people, I don’t know how much you are going to learn.
10 YASPY Chick // Mar 11, 2008 at 11:04 am
I think the accent thing depends on how you were educated in the old country if you’re an “accentless FOB.” Those from snooty International Schools or even English immersion schools in Hong Kong tend not to have a “foreign” accent and speak standard American, Canadian or British English.
My parents, though very fluent English speakers, never taught me the language beyond “hello”, “goodbye”, “please” and “thank you.” They wanted me to learn at school, through people who speak standard Canadian. You can’t really do that today, at least not in Toronto. Too many kids in class come from the same situation.
11 Anonymous // Mar 26, 2008 at 10:20 pm
The accent thing is because of the way your brain develops and is true of any person learning any foreign language later in life.
You are born with more neurons than you end up with as an adult. As you learn to do various things at a young age (including language), then ones that you use are specialized for that purpose. The ones that you don’t use as much die off. The process is called pruning.
This is why it is difficult for me as an English speaker to begin learning Spanish at 34. My neurons aren’t specialized to roll Rs. My brain is less plastic. It’s not as if the entire nation of Japan (I know this blog is overall Asian focused, but the specific stereotype seems to be most often directed to the Japanese) got together and decided collectively decided to swap “l” and “r” sounds.
It’s Biology. And it’s making it really difficult for my old brain to learn Spanish since I’ve gone back to school. But that doesn’t stop me from trying my darndest and butchering the language. Props to anyone who learns to be even a mediocre speaker of a second language past the age of 5. It’s quite a task.
12 josie // Jul 16, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I think this site is pretty clear in that it is about Asians living in North America.
13 LL // Sep 18, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I’ve also noticed that a lot of chinese from china don’t pronounce the last letter of a word. Like for “card” they say “car”.
I know this because I live in a mostly chinese immigrant area.
14 heaps of notes // Oct 8, 2008 at 4:33 am
‘card’ in Chinese character is ‘ å¡’ pronounces ‘ka’ which is the same pronunciation as car. In your case, some Chinese people just lazy to say the last letter as they feel familiar with that.
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