Stranger in a strange land

I dated a Guangdong woman, a recent-arrival, who kept talking about how she missed Guangzhou. She was here because her parents dragged her here. If she was so unhappy and if America was such a culture shock, then GO HOME! Chinese parents who bring their kids to America in their teenage years ARE GOING TO FUCK THEM UP! They are going to feel alienated and retreat into Chinese pop culture (Andy Lau, blast that handsome devil!) The neural pathways of language will have been cemented and the kid will not speak or listen fluently. Permanent accent. These parents think English is just a simple language that anyone can learn but there are layers of nuance and syntax and dynamic vernacular and cultural cues that cannot be picked up unless one speaks and is spoken to constantly throughout the day, complete immersion.

It’s worse for young Chinese males who arrive. Those with H1-Bs can at least be exploited by IT firms who don’t want to pay Medicare or Social Security taxes. But those who arrive around adolescence face an upward fight.

What happens when a Chinese kid cannot comprehend life in the American city because the TV set and radio sounds like gibberish? What happens when he feels he can’t communicate with teachers, the police, government agencies, employers and other people who are necessary for life in the big city? What happens when he feels he has no control over his destiny and that the only protection is to join other alienated males aged 16-35? You get packs of unemployable unskilled males preying on the population of productive citizens, A PARASITIC SURPLUS OF MALTHUSIAN PROPORTIONS!!!!

And I wonder why she stopped seeing me…