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   Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 07:37:11 JST Adrianna Tan

   Oh my parents got a ni-hao on their second day in Portland

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 07:38:17 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     They don’t find it weird because they come from a place where they are the racial majority and this probably just sounds like someone trying to be friendly but let me just say saying ni hao to someone is very weird don’t do rnayb

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 07:40:24 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     If you ni hao at someone in sf or la you’ll just get a Cantonese curse back

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     Matt Campbell (matt@toot.cafe)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 07:50:05 JST Matt Campbell

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte Was that from a Chinese person or a westerner?

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 07:50:05 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Matt Campbell

     @matt Chinese people won’t assume you speak mandarin :)

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 08:16:39 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     In case you need this spelled out.

     Why this is bad: it has nothing to do with *your* intentions

     It doesn’t matter if you think you’re racist or not. It has everything to do with calling out specific people and Othering them and then expecting a cookie that you bothered to lead a foreign word

     Most of the time you’re profiling people and also getting it wrong. You’re saying ni hao to Thais, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Japanese, Korean people and Chinese people who don’t speak Mandarin either

     Don’t expect a cookie for shit like this

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Feb-2025 08:24:12 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     That’s entirely different from if you’re engaging meaningfully in a language and culture and it’s the right time and place to share it with someone.

     You’re at a dumpling restaurant and someone says ‘here’s a dumpling.’ You say, ‘I really like these dumplings! I had them when I visited Taiwan!’ In Mandarin. They thank you and say oh cool you know some Mandarin! They walk away.

     A service worker isn’t your language tutor. Go to source country and do that shit, or hire a tutor on italki who can praise you for knowing two words and then can teach you more. Pay them.