英国服务员抱怨中国人点餐太粗鲁？当Ta知道真相后，彻底改变了对中国人的看法！

很多小伙伴在学习英语，使用英语的时候，会发现，按照中文思维翻译的英文，

在以英语为母语的国家的人的眼里，听起来很不礼貌。

这是为什么呢？本质上，也并不是因为文化或者种族歧视所造成的。

本质上，是因为，中西文化之间，本身就存在着一层看不见的“文化纱幕”。

今天分享一段英国小姐姐回想自己一段关于中国人点餐的真实经历。

我们将通过中西比较哲学的角度，告诉你这些误解究竟是从哪里来的。

New Words:

colleague /ˈkɑːliːɡ/：n. 同事；同僚

complain /kəmˈpleɪn/：v. 抱怨；投诉

rude /ruːd/：adj. 粗鲁的；无礼的

tolerate /ˈtɑːləreɪt/：v. 容忍；忍受

perplexed /pərˈplekst/：adj. 困惑的；茫然的

polite /pəˈlaɪt/：adj. 有礼貌的；客气的

explain /ɪkˈspleɪn/：v. 解释；说明

literal /ˈlɪtərəl/：adj. 字面上的；逐字的

permission /pərˈmɪʃn/：n. 允许；许可

mindset /ˈmaɪndset/：n. 心态；思维模式

barrier /ˈbæriər/：n. 障碍；隔阂

direct /dəˈrekt/ /daɪˈrekt/：adj. 直接的；直率的

I once had a colleague complain to me about Chinese people being so rude and that she didn't know how I could stand them.

我曾经有位同事向我抱怨中国人太粗鲁了，她说她不知道我怎么能受得了他们。

And that really shocked me, like this was like, ten years ago, I was working in a restaurant.

那件事真的让我很震惊，大概十年前吧，我当时在一家餐馆打工。

I would always be sat at the Chinese tables because I’d been in China before I hope you knew that.

领班总是安排我去服务中国客人那桌，因为我去过中国——希望你知道这点。

And one day she came to me and she was like, I just do not know how you can tolerate their rudeness.

有一天她走过来对我说：“我真不明白你怎么能容忍他们那么粗鲁。”

And I was totally perplexed, I was like, what do you mean? I was like, for me, Chinese people are pretty like polite.

我完全懵了，我说：“你什么意思？对我来说，中国人挺有礼貌的啊。”

And basically, she explained that she didn't like the way Chinese people ordered food and ordered drink.She thought it came across really rude. They never asked and they never said “Could I order this?”. They never said “please”.

然后她解释说，她不喜欢中国人点菜和点饮料的方式。她觉得那样显得特别没礼貌，因为他们从来不问“我能点这个吗”，也从来不说“请”。

She just thought that Chinese people in general were really rude.

她就觉得中国人整体上就是很粗鲁。

In that moment, I was just really shocked and I explained to her. I was like, you do know that in Chinese it would sound really weird to order and say, like, “Can I have...?” because it comes across so literal, it's like you're asking permission.

那一刻我真的震惊了，于是跟她解释：“你知道吗，在中文里点餐时说‘我能要……吗’听起来特别别扭，因为那太字面了，好像你在请求许可。

Just doesn't work the same. So like when you go to China you will never say, “Please can I have it?” sounds so weird. “我可以点一杯咖啡吗？” Just sounds odd.I don't know.

就是行不通的。所以你去了中国绝不会说“请给我来一杯好吗？”——听着太怪了。“我可以点一杯咖啡吗？”就是很奇怪。我也说不好。

Yeah, I just like explain this to her and yeah, she had no idea and she came away from that conversation with a different mindset.

反正我就这么跟她解释了一遍，她之前完全不知道，聊完之后她的心态彻底变了。

And even though this whole thing happened more than ten years ago, it stuck with me because I feel at that time, I realize that I want to help bridge this gap somehow like I feel like there's a huge cultural barrier.

虽然这整件事过去十多年了，但我一直记着，因为那一刻我意识到，我想做点事来弥合这种文化隔阂。我觉得存在很大的文化屏障。

And we in the UK, we don't know that Chinese people have this in their language where they just say I want duh duh duh.. and it's just very direct and it's not rude at all.

我们英国人不知道中文里就是那样——直接说“我要什么什么……”非常直白，但一点都不粗鲁。

英国服务员抱怨中国人点餐太粗鲁？当Ta知道真相后，彻底改变了对中国人的看法！

早餐英语|实用英文口语

英国服务员抱怨中国人点餐太粗鲁？当Ta知道真相后，彻底改变了对中国人的看法！