- 13 Aug 08, 11:19 AM
The other day I went to film a group of Chinese learning English in their spare time. It's the second time I have done this and I'm amazed by the enthusiasm of people of all ages in Beijing to learn our language.
They called it an "English Salon" -- a talk shop where everybody spoke to each other in English. They ended up singing Edelweiss from the Sound of Music! I've heard it sung better but the Chinese do have a real sense of fun.
Many say they have taken up English so that China can welcome the world at these Olympics.
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But what is interesting is how people over 60 and 70 are also going to English classes. Some grew up in a time when the language was banned under Chairman Mao and Russian was taught in schools.
Some pensioners simply want to help their grandchildren with their English homework. But others have become volunteers at these Games.
Will Londoners be able to welcome the world in the same way?
We put them to the test by sending a Brazilian student out on to the streets of London and seeing if she got any help when she got lost.
We didn't tell people we were filming them at first. And I have to say, people were incredibly helpful to her.
People north of the Watford Gap sometimes think Londoners are rude and unfriendly. I know because I grew up in the Midlands and studied in Scotland and I've often heard that view.
I don't think that is true at all. Our film shows Londoners can be very helpful when put to the test.
London and Britain has the potential to provide a fantastic welcome to Olympic visitors in 2012.
It might help, though, if some of us copied the Chinese and got some lessons in a foreign language in the next four years.
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I have just got back from a 3 day break in London with my family.We stayed at my sisters house who like me originates from Leeds,I still live ''up north'' in Warrington (all Rugby League and fish and chips..NOT).We spent our time in Central London so it was very touristy,but can honestly say only heard one London accent in the whole time I was there as virtulally all the people serving in restaurants attractions and on the transport systems were not from the UK never mind London.On that basis the visitors in 2012 WILL HAVE NO PROBLEMS as all languages and ethnic groups are already here and catered for!I plan on being a helper at the Olympics if accepted as I expect it to be the biggest thing ever to hit this country and would not miss it for the world,even at the age of 54!No doubt you will get lots of the ''whats the Olympics going to do for me/my town/region etc,etc'' brigade commenting on here ,but when it happens even they will struggle not to apprecaite it.
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Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place but this is my first foray into the Blog.
My comment concerns yesterday's canoeing final. It seemed to me that the Gold medallist touched the third green gate from home......the pole certainly moved and I would be interested in your comments on this.
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smartVernon
Your first foray into blogging is both articulate and relevant to the post. But I didn't think the Poles won the gold? Er...
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I just want to thank all the ordinary Chinese people who volunteered to help at these games, I think they are the real stars of the show with their friendliness and helpfulness.
Every time I've visited China I've also been amazed by the appetite to learn English. You often see signs saying thinks like "English is the passport to a better future", and people are very eager to chat and practice English.
A small point though: You do have to be slightly careful in the tourist areas (eg: Nanjing Rd in Shanghai) as a few people there will try to get you to go for coffee or a drink to 'practice English'.... they work for places nearby and you'll be given a huge bill! Luckily I was warned but a friend of mine got stung...
But the appetite for knowledge is great and I'm trying to reciprocate by learning Mandarin.
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crazyjohn80 you are so right, but back on topic - there will be plenty of Poles to welcome the Polish team to London.
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I am not too worried about Londoners not being welcoming enough for the Olympics.
I am far more worried about what kind of transport infrastructure we have in London - it's falling apart, literally.
It would be a good idea to organise some sort of 'Keep London Tidy' campaign before 2012...pay a visit to Stratford and you will see it's a mess there. I can't believe it. Embarrassing.
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Crazy John,
Nice try with the Pole - Gold joke but it was in fact a Slovak, they don't like to be confused!!
As for the Olympics and our welcome, it's nice to see a bit of positivity but I'm afraid it's miss placed. I live and work in central London and I can tell you we are going to be embarrassed. We may well manage to put on a smile for the two weeks in 2012 although that is also doubtful, the problem lies in our Customer Service culture or lack there of. Foreign visitors won't be used to queuing at a Pub bar to order food only to be told that the food's run out / the Chefs on Lunch or they don't have a table number so can't order. Nor will they understand, should they manage to order, why they are being shouted at from the bar to come and collect their microwaved roast dinner that's gone cold in the mini lift. They'll think it's one big prison
I'm emigrating before 2012 and assuming a Greek accent so as not to be associated with the disaster that will befall our once great Island.
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Being involved with my local athletics club the young athletes are keen to participate in London 2012 or Glasgow 2014. This enthusiasm is terrific but I'm very concerned with the lack of investment in grassroot sports. Every other host nation suddenly has gold medallists coming out of the woodwork because they have not only built the Olympic arenas but built facilities throughout the country and poured money into helping aspiring medallists to achieve their goals. There has been no such investment here. In fact, if anything, they have cut back!!
They should also be giving athletic clubs free tickets to Athletic Grand Prix meetings and doing the same for clubs involved in other Olympic sports to encourage the youth of Britain to participate. Not everyone can be successful but they will be fitter and better people for trying.
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London 2012? I'm looking foward to new events such as naked karaoke, the pie jump, tube face stare-out, Staff walking, sweat wrestling and go-on-kick-it-as-hard as-you-can-cos-its-a-ball. And that logo? Yes, it really does sum up what this city has become...
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@jamminben13.
Your description of the "pub experience" sounds totally unfamiliar to me I'm afraid.
Your final comment on how you would like to leave the country sounds more like someone who desperately wants to live the UK rather than someone who can assess our sense of welcoming.
London is one of the most visited city in the world and the Londoners are as helpful as any other nation.
I have been living in France for years. Prior to my departure, I was told all sorts of stories about how rude the French were. At the end of the day, I just discovered that all this was pure fantasy (doubled with some classic francophobia). Obviously, I did go to restaurants in which I experienced poor service but I experienced in Greece too (Your great example of "I'm better off being Greek").
Finally, every time I'm travelling, I take a few minutes to learn the customs of the country I'm visiting. If the future visitors of the Olympics can not understand that you have to order your food at the counter and that you will not be served at your table then too bad for them.
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At the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, special Olympic pins were available to speakers of foreign languages, depicting the flag of the nation concerned - Spanish, French, Italian, etc. and the relevant phase in that language stating "I speak (whatever language)." These pins were about 2 inches across and easily identifiable so that non-English speakers could spot someone who spoke their language and was willing to help them. A useful idea that London could copy?
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It is the nature of the chinese people, people who have arguably faced many many decades of hardship.
They don't do anything by halves it seems, whereas we, the English, try as hard as possible (ironic?) to do everything with as minimal effort as is required.
It's ashame really...
(When I refer to them as the English and the Chinese, it really means a generalised 'Joe Public' - I know full well there are exceptions in both societies...)
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London has already welcomed the world - 1 in 4 londoners wasn't born in Britain! Thats pretty welcoming in my book. Secondly there are more languages spoken in London than any other city on earth so what other languages do you think we should learn?
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I have been living in London for 3 months now, thankfully only on a temp basis. I'm sorry to say that in general I find Londoners arrogant, rude and selfish.
For example I went into a well known DIY store in the london area and was served by a man who was somewhat abrupt and spoke to me with evident contempt (for some unknown/unnecessary reason). I was then served at the till by a young lady who's manner could only be discribed as sulky and completely disinterrested. To cap it off as i was paying, the the yound lady started a stand up arguement with the person on the other till irrespective of the huge queue of people waiting to be served by either person.
Now, in my student days I used to work in a similar shop up in the heathen north in similar roles. If i had spoken to people or done what they had done I would of received at least a written warning. However they're shop floor manager was stood on the information desk during the row like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Getting back to the point, customer service in london is APPALLING!!!!!! all I can say is that a new general attitude needs to be instilled or god help the olympics when it comes. Otherwise I just hope visitors realise that London is not a reflection of elsewhere in britain
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Interesting question Adrian. Will we welcome the world?
I live in South London and I for one think we will. From the very moment the announcement was made that the Games would be coming to London I have been looking forward excitedly to our city opening up to the rest of the planet.
I have to admit I worry when I see the massive financial and organisational effort that the Chinese have put in to these games and wonder whether we could match that (or should, given their civil liberties record and subjugation of their own people).
Like all big cities, London has many negative points but (excluding SOME shop assistants who I agree can be the rudest people on the planet) the vast majority of Londoners are friendly happy people who will welcome our Olympic visitors with open arms.
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london will probably not put on as great as an opening show but at least everything wont be turned into a 'Davis Cup' style game so at least they will be more enjoyable
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"I'm amazed by the enthusiasm of people of all ages in Beijing to learn our language."
Dear Mr Warner: The above is condescending. Could you not just have said "to learn the English language"?
Regards
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I live in the midlands and the south of london, i honestly do not notice a difference in peoples attitudes at all. There are moody people, inconsiderate people and poor services everywhere in the world.
What London does have however, is the biggest array of cultures in the world, as has been mentioned. We'll be fun, fine and friendly. I cannot wait to volunteer!
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Anecdotal evidence of the "some bloke gave me a dirty look once" is really irrelevant: it does nothing other than to suggest the writer is clutching at straws to "prove" an existing prejudice.
Londoners are used to having people wandering around with a confused look on their faces and are happy to point people in the right direction.
We may not exchange addresses and become your life-long friend, (most of us you meet on the street will be busily on our way to work, lunch or home) but you will get as much help here as anywhere else in the country; in fact, probably more than most places as we are less likely to see foreigners as a problem like so many elsewhere seem to.
I've seen the number of overseas born London residents estimated as high as 33% but with the lack of official counting, it's anybody's guess really. Given the British tendency to shun learning other languages, hopefully some of them can be persuaded to use their language skills.
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English is fast becoming the global standard second language - meaning there is no obvious choice for native English speakers. That said, a walk through the West End of London reveals English as a minority language so I don't think anyone coming for the 2012 games will have trouble finding someone to talk to.
Once they've stopped laughing at the logo anyway. That is going to be changed before the games isn't it ?
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I assume the 'people' the Brazilian girl talked to in London were, either from 'up north' or were NOT Londoners. I visited there recently, i needed some directions, i approached 5 or 6 people, every one of them ignored me, would not give me eye contact and walked past me!!!!!. Iam 5' 2" 56yrs and 8 stone wet through! but, i am from up north, i did not have my Whippet with me, or have me cloth cap on!!!! so why were they scared! i can only conclude that some people in the capitol suffer from 'dialectiphobia'. I went in a shop, they helped me, reluctantly, needless to say, i cut short my visit, and finished my break in York luvvie, where thet have manners. The suggestions that the north is finished, and we go and live down south, God forbid, i would sooner break me kneecaps.
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I am Cantonese and lived in UK for more than 20 years. The thing about if London will welcoome the Olympics is not the issue here. The real issue is the Govenment welcomes the World to their Olympics, as the Home Office keep on changing the rules and apply extortion amount of fee to people entering to the UK. It is giving others the feeling you are not welcome here. What will you think if you are Chinese and been living and working in the UK for 20 years and when your relatives wants to come and visit you they have to pay £2000 in advance per person before even getting on to the plane? Is the Home Office got nothing better to do but to think up more stupid ideas to upset other ethnic minorities? I appreciate this is more to do with stopping potential terroist come into the UK but is affecting the normal people and it will cost UK more in the long runs.
You see the News about the Chinese arresting the report but compare to the UK programmes such as Road Wars or Cops on TV the things that on it is even more dramatic and worse than what you see in China.
I like living in Britain and working with Brits as they are much better and nicer to work with. I have worked in Hong Kong for 6 years and did not like it at all. People there are divests and not to be trusted. That is why I brought my wife to the UK and rise a family here, but just can not accept the fact that the Home Office keep changing goal post every year and increasing the application fee every year and come up with silly ideas every year. It is coming to a point that we are thinking of leaving the UK, but it will be my last resort.
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i bet the brazilian student they used for the survey was hot hence the many direction specialist happy to help
number 21 - cruisecrew:
the reason no one in central london would give you directions is that every single person in central london is a tourist - they didn't have a clue where they were either
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