Just one more reason to start learning Chinese in 2010...for more info on private tutoring, adult lessons or our Corporate program, please email us at info@ChineseLanguageSchool.org.
NY Times: For American Workers in China, a Culture Clash
For American Workers in China, a Culture Clash
By HANNAH SELIGSON
December 23, 2009
As more Americans go to mainland China to take jobs, more Chinese and Americans are working side by side. These cross-cultural partnerships, while beneficial in many ways, are also highlighting tensions that expose differences in work experience, pay levels and communication.
In the last few years, a growing number of Americans in their 20s and 30s have been heading to China for employment, lured by its faster-growing economy and lower jobless rate. Their Chinese co-workers are often around the same age.
“The tight collaboration of the two countries in business and science makes the Chinese-American pairing one of the most common in the workplace in China,” said Vas Taras, a management professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a specialist in cross-cultural work group management.
But the two groups were raised differently.
The Americans have had more exposure to free-market principles. “Young Americans were brought up in a commercial environment,” said Neng Zhao, 28, a senior associate at Blue Oak Capital, a private equity firm based in Beijing. “We weren’t. So the workplace is a unique learning process for my generation.”
People in Ms. Zhao’s generation were born around or shortly after Deng Xiaoping opened up China to the West, so China has evolved from a government-regulated economy to a more free-market system in their lifetime. Therefore, they can face a steeper learning curve.
Sean Leow, 28, founder of Neocha, a social networking site based in Shanghai, says young Chinese employees often enter jobs with less hands-on preparation. They may also have less understanding of client services, he said.
In addition, he said, “I know a lot of my Chinese colleagues did not do internships in college,” in contrast to United States students.
Managers hiring workers in China appear to be paying a premium for Western experience. Foreigners tend to earn 10 to 15 percent more than their Chinese counterparts in similar positions, said Michael Norman, senior vice president at Sibson Consulting, an American firm.
That imbalance does not go unnoticed by Chinese workers. “There is definitely the perception that Americans get paid more for the same work,” said Ting Wang, 25, an associate at WildChina, a travel company based in Beijing.
The difference is a function of supply and demand, Mr. Norman said. “If you need the foreigner for their specialized knowledge of the West, companies are willing to pay a little more.”
On the other hand, Chinese workers have a deeper understanding of the influences, like Confucianism and Communism, that play a part in their country’s culture and economy.
It is imperative for Americans working in China to adjust, said Mr. Norman, who works on management and work force issues for multinational companies operating in Asia.
“In the West, there is such a premium on getting things done quickly, but when you come to work in China, you need to work on listening and being more patient and understanding of local ways of doing business,” he said.
Ming Alterman, 25, a senior account executive at Razorfish, a Shanghai-based digital media firm, is the only American among 40 employees. He says Americans need to understand the importance of building so-called guanxi (pronounced GWAN-she). The word means relationships, but has implications beyond the obligatory happy hour, occasional lunches with the boss or networking.
“In China, it’s really expected that you become friends with your boss and you go out and socialize in a way that doesn’t happen in the U.S.,” Mr. Alterman said.
The Chinese now rising in the work force were raised and educated in a system that tended to prize obedience and rote learning. Their American counterparts may have had more leeway to question authority and speak their minds. This can affect workplace communication.
When Corinne Dillon, 25, was working at a multinational company in Beijing, she noticed that her Chinese colleagues were sometimes hesitant about expressing their opinions, which she thought was rooted in views about hierarchy.
“Because foreigners are often in higher positions in companies, or even when they are not, there is sometimes an implicit respect given to them that makes Chinese people not want to directly disagree with them for fear of being perceived as impolite,” said Ms. Dillon, who is now director of sales and marketing at That’s Mandarin, a language school based in Beijing.
The difference cuts both ways. Ms. Zhao, of Blue Oak Capital, recalled her first experience working for an American at an American-run agency in Beijing. What her American boss perceived as directness left her feeling humiliated, she said. “I remember I was so embarrassed when my American boss told me he didn’t like something I was doing, right in front of me,” she said. “The Chinese way would have been much more indirect.”
Communication styles, Professor Taras said, can create workplace challenges. “Americans often perceive the Chinese as indecisive, less confident and not tough enough, whereas the Chinese may see Americans as rude or inconsiderate.”
This, he said, “can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings, but also affect promotion and task assignment choice, and ultimately performance.”
What is similar, though, is that both the Americans and the Chinese perceive a glass ceiling. “Most expats don’t speak good enough Chinese, so their promotion prospects are limited, and on a social and cultural level, young Chinese feel there are barriers that are hard to get past,” said Ziyu Wen, 28, who works with Americans in her job as a communications manager in Beijing.
Despite the tension, the Chinese-American pairing holds many economic and political benefits for both countries.
“China needs workers who understand China and the West, so they can develop a business presence and influence in overseas markets,” Mr. Norman said.
“Likewise, America needs people who truly understand the Chinese, in order to compete and cooperate.” Having Americans working alongside the Chinese in China, he said, “is one of the best ways to cultivate and internalize this understanding for the future.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/business/global/24chinawork.html?_r=2
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
CLSC Alumni Student Wins Intel Scholarship
CLSC graduate, current Boston University student and Stamford, CT native, Wes Uy was the winner of the third season of WGBH's Design Squad on PBS and the $10,000 scholarship provided by the Intel Foundation.
The finale episode is currently available in full on
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/season3/index.html
Wes's cast page is http://pbskids.org/designsquad/season3/cast/03-wes.html.
The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series Design Squad is high-energy, high-drama reality TV that lets kids show off their smarts as they design and build working
solutions for real-world clients-people who are hungry for clever ideas from a new
generation of innovators. From creating remote-controlled flying football targets
for Hasbro to dry land dog sleds for the Jamaica Dog Sled Team, the action
culminates in the final episode when the top two scorers battle for the Grand Prize:
a $10,000 college scholarship from the Intel Foundation.
Way to go, Wes!!
The finale episode is currently available in full on
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/season3/index.html
Wes's cast page is http://pbskids.org/designsquad/season3/cast/03-wes.html.
The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series Design Squad is high-energy, high-drama reality TV that lets kids show off their smarts as they design and build working
solutions for real-world clients-people who are hungry for clever ideas from a new
generation of innovators. From creating remote-controlled flying football targets
for Hasbro to dry land dog sleds for the Jamaica Dog Sled Team, the action
culminates in the final episode when the top two scorers battle for the Grand Prize:
a $10,000 college scholarship from the Intel Foundation.
Way to go, Wes!!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Banking and Finance in China in the 1970s and 80s
JP Morgan Chase Chairman (China) Peter Rupert Lighte has published a book, with proceeds going to benefit children in orphanages in China via Half the Sky Foundation.
Buy the book here: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/pieces-of-china/6068378
From: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/12/07/memoirs-of-a-banker/
December 7, 2009, 7:41 AM ET
Memoirs of a Banker
For years, longtime China banker Peter Rupert Lighte has been diligently taking notes in the endless meetings that bankers have to sit through. Little did his colleagues realize that he wasn’t tallying profits and losses but jotting down ideas for his sideline profession of memoir writer.
Now the chairman of JP Morgan Chase Bank (China) Co. has published them in a book aimed at helping Chinese orphans. “Pieces of China” evokes an era of late 1970s, early 1980s Taiwan and China, when Lighte–a trained scholar of classical Chinese–was getting started in banking and both regions were in the midst of huge economic changes.
The book is available free online but Lighte hopes readers will buy the book for $18 with profits going to Half the Sky Foundation , one of the few foreign-run charities that has been licensed by the Chinese government.
Now 60 years old, Lighte has kept diaries for years but says the stories are drawn entirely from memory. Most striking is that they are replete with telling details, such as the time he was at a dinner table for U.S. Thanksgiving with President Ronald Reagan and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang. Zhao wondered why the holiday was celebrated with mere poultry and kept quizzing the president on the price of turkey in the U.S., while the president kept trying to talk about the pilgrims.
“In a funny way, only details are worth remembering,” Lighte said in an interview. “The beauty is in the detail of recollection–it’s the only thing that brings you into the present of the memory.”
Most evocative are the stories about the strange world of banking and business in the early 1980s. Lighte was living, like many foreign businessmen, in the Jianguo Hotel–they were not allowed to rent apartments. He write about his relations with Chinese people, including a funny story on how his assistant tried to get hair to grow on his bald head.
Beside helping orphans, Lighte hopes the stories will mean something to his two adopted Chinese daughters. A student of the “Book of Changes” (the “Yi Jing”), Lighte wants them to see that while the pace of change in China is rapid, it’s connected to a past that they shouldn’t forget. “In a funny way when you live in China it’s a unique period of time but it’s all a piece of the cloth.”
– Ian Johnson
Buy the book here: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/pieces-of-china/6068378
From: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/12/07/memoirs-of-a-banker/
December 7, 2009, 7:41 AM ET
Memoirs of a Banker
For years, longtime China banker Peter Rupert Lighte has been diligently taking notes in the endless meetings that bankers have to sit through. Little did his colleagues realize that he wasn’t tallying profits and losses but jotting down ideas for his sideline profession of memoir writer.
Now the chairman of JP Morgan Chase Bank (China) Co. has published them in a book aimed at helping Chinese orphans. “Pieces of China” evokes an era of late 1970s, early 1980s Taiwan and China, when Lighte–a trained scholar of classical Chinese–was getting started in banking and both regions were in the midst of huge economic changes.
The book is available free online but Lighte hopes readers will buy the book for $18 with profits going to Half the Sky Foundation , one of the few foreign-run charities that has been licensed by the Chinese government.
Now 60 years old, Lighte has kept diaries for years but says the stories are drawn entirely from memory. Most striking is that they are replete with telling details, such as the time he was at a dinner table for U.S. Thanksgiving with President Ronald Reagan and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang. Zhao wondered why the holiday was celebrated with mere poultry and kept quizzing the president on the price of turkey in the U.S., while the president kept trying to talk about the pilgrims.
“In a funny way, only details are worth remembering,” Lighte said in an interview. “The beauty is in the detail of recollection–it’s the only thing that brings you into the present of the memory.”
Most evocative are the stories about the strange world of banking and business in the early 1980s. Lighte was living, like many foreign businessmen, in the Jianguo Hotel–they were not allowed to rent apartments. He write about his relations with Chinese people, including a funny story on how his assistant tried to get hair to grow on his bald head.
Beside helping orphans, Lighte hopes the stories will mean something to his two adopted Chinese daughters. A student of the “Book of Changes” (the “Yi Jing”), Lighte wants them to see that while the pace of change in China is rapid, it’s connected to a past that they shouldn’t forget. “In a funny way when you live in China it’s a unique period of time but it’s all a piece of the cloth.”
– Ian Johnson
Friday, December 11, 2009
CLSC Instructor Initiates Chinese at Bridgeport's Harding High School
CLSC instructor Lei (Gordon) Cheng has faciliated a new Chinese program at Bridgeport's Warren Harding High School.
http://www.newstimes.com/schools/article/Harding-offers-a-new-accent-in-learning-Chinese-278120.php
"Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world. In Connecticut, according to the latest available statistics, just 593 public high school students in the state were studying Chinese. That is double the number taking it in 2005, but compares to 70,791 who took Spanish in 2007"
Harding offers a new accent in learning: Chinese
By Linda Conner Lambeck, STAFF WRITER
Published: 04:15 p.m., Sunday, December 6, 2009
BRIDGEPORT -- Griselle Lopez and Alberto Santiago converse briefly in Spanish, their native tongue, before pulling their chairs together to rehearse a brief monologue in Mandarin Chinese.
"OK, guys," announces Lei "Gordon" Cheng, their instructor, when time is up.
Seven weeks into a course held twice a week after school at Warren Harding High School, Lopez and Santiago, both 17, manage to plow through the transliterated dialogue about how many people are in their family and what they do.
When one stumbled, the other offered a little coaching by mouthing the words or using hand gestures in encouragement. They are followed by five other pairs of Harding students who had varying levels of success with Chinese tone and pronunciation.
Cheng is the first to admit, Chinese is not an easy language to learn. Some say it takes twice as long to learn as other languages. Yet, Cheng said his Harding students seem to have what it takes to learn the language. "They are enthusiastic, self-motivated and smart. I am learning from them. I teach them Chinese. They teach me English, and a little bit of Spanish," said Cheng, who is a University of Bridgeport graduate student.
The program brings together 20 students, most from Harding's World Language Academy, and the resources of UB's School of Education for a year-long class. The class meets from 2:45 to 4:15 twice weekly through the end of the year.
William Jassey, director of the international degree program at UB, said the idea came from Harding Principal Carol Birks, who used to run Gear Up, a college preparatory program, at UB.
"It's just a great opportunity to expose them to another language," said Birks. "We offer French and Spanish. We don't offer Chinese, which is one of the languages students today should know."
Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world. In Connecticut, according to the latest available statistics, just 593 public high school students in the state were studying Chinese. That is double the number taking it in 2005, but compares to 70,791 who took Spanish in 2007.
Birks said she used $5,000 from a federal Small Learning Communities grant to hire the teacher and provide transportation to cultural activities at UB. The class has already made the trip once to campus to meet with UB's large Chinese student population. There is also a before-school Chinese art class.
Leticia Castro, 16, a Harding senior, took the class because she is interested in Chinese culture and wants to become an engineer and may study abroad. "I think it would be interesting to work in China and talk their language. I don't want to be seen as a foreigner," she said.
Getting used to Chinese pronunciation has been a challenge, Castro added, but she feels she is finally getting the hang of it.
"Sometimes I walk home saying things out loud to myself," she said.
Ricardo Perez, a teacher in Harding's World Language Academy, tells the class the best way to learn a language is to try and internalize it. If they have to think about it, it inhibits fluency.
There are handouts and repetition exercises in Cheng's class, but no one seems bored. There is a buzz and frequent laughter as Cheng reviews body parts in Chinese and watches as students reach for toes and noses. He explains that in Chinese, there are different words for family members -- grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, depending on which side of the family they are and who was born first.
"So many words in Chinese you need to know," he said. So many characters, too. Chinese has thousands of them.
Everyone in the class has a Chinese name, just as Cheng adopted "Gordon" as his English identity.
Lopez entered Harding four years ago not knowing how to speak English. She said Chinese is easier than English. "The letter combinations sound the same as Spanish," she insisted.
"The hardest part is speaking it," Aryzandy Tepale, a 14-year-old freshman, said of Chinese.
Marco Aguilar, 16, a sophomore, said his goal is to place an order in Chinese at a Chinese restaurant.
Though some students in the class are still on their way to mastering English, Perez, said learning two languages at once is a good thing. "They can compare grammar and structure and ways of thinking," he said.
Birks has already talked to district officials about the possibility of adding Chinese as a credit course in the curriculum next year.
http://www.newstimes.com/schools/article/Harding-offers-a-new-accent-in-learning-Chinese-278120.php
"Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world. In Connecticut, according to the latest available statistics, just 593 public high school students in the state were studying Chinese. That is double the number taking it in 2005, but compares to 70,791 who took Spanish in 2007"
Harding offers a new accent in learning: Chinese
By Linda Conner Lambeck, STAFF WRITER
Published: 04:15 p.m., Sunday, December 6, 2009
BRIDGEPORT -- Griselle Lopez and Alberto Santiago converse briefly in Spanish, their native tongue, before pulling their chairs together to rehearse a brief monologue in Mandarin Chinese.
"OK, guys," announces Lei "Gordon" Cheng, their instructor, when time is up.
Seven weeks into a course held twice a week after school at Warren Harding High School, Lopez and Santiago, both 17, manage to plow through the transliterated dialogue about how many people are in their family and what they do.
When one stumbled, the other offered a little coaching by mouthing the words or using hand gestures in encouragement. They are followed by five other pairs of Harding students who had varying levels of success with Chinese tone and pronunciation.
Cheng is the first to admit, Chinese is not an easy language to learn. Some say it takes twice as long to learn as other languages. Yet, Cheng said his Harding students seem to have what it takes to learn the language. "They are enthusiastic, self-motivated and smart. I am learning from them. I teach them Chinese. They teach me English, and a little bit of Spanish," said Cheng, who is a University of Bridgeport graduate student.
The program brings together 20 students, most from Harding's World Language Academy, and the resources of UB's School of Education for a year-long class. The class meets from 2:45 to 4:15 twice weekly through the end of the year.
William Jassey, director of the international degree program at UB, said the idea came from Harding Principal Carol Birks, who used to run Gear Up, a college preparatory program, at UB.
"It's just a great opportunity to expose them to another language," said Birks. "We offer French and Spanish. We don't offer Chinese, which is one of the languages students today should know."
Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world. In Connecticut, according to the latest available statistics, just 593 public high school students in the state were studying Chinese. That is double the number taking it in 2005, but compares to 70,791 who took Spanish in 2007.
Birks said she used $5,000 from a federal Small Learning Communities grant to hire the teacher and provide transportation to cultural activities at UB. The class has already made the trip once to campus to meet with UB's large Chinese student population. There is also a before-school Chinese art class.
Leticia Castro, 16, a Harding senior, took the class because she is interested in Chinese culture and wants to become an engineer and may study abroad. "I think it would be interesting to work in China and talk their language. I don't want to be seen as a foreigner," she said.
Getting used to Chinese pronunciation has been a challenge, Castro added, but she feels she is finally getting the hang of it.
"Sometimes I walk home saying things out loud to myself," she said.
Ricardo Perez, a teacher in Harding's World Language Academy, tells the class the best way to learn a language is to try and internalize it. If they have to think about it, it inhibits fluency.
There are handouts and repetition exercises in Cheng's class, but no one seems bored. There is a buzz and frequent laughter as Cheng reviews body parts in Chinese and watches as students reach for toes and noses. He explains that in Chinese, there are different words for family members -- grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, depending on which side of the family they are and who was born first.
"So many words in Chinese you need to know," he said. So many characters, too. Chinese has thousands of them.
Everyone in the class has a Chinese name, just as Cheng adopted "Gordon" as his English identity.
Lopez entered Harding four years ago not knowing how to speak English. She said Chinese is easier than English. "The letter combinations sound the same as Spanish," she insisted.
"The hardest part is speaking it," Aryzandy Tepale, a 14-year-old freshman, said of Chinese.
Marco Aguilar, 16, a sophomore, said his goal is to place an order in Chinese at a Chinese restaurant.
Though some students in the class are still on their way to mastering English, Perez, said learning two languages at once is a good thing. "They can compare grammar and structure and ways of thinking," he said.
Birks has already talked to district officials about the possibility of adding Chinese as a credit course in the curriculum next year.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Chinese New Year Festival!
The Chinese Language School of Connecticut will be holding its 8th Annual Chinese New Year Festival on Sunday, February 7, 2010, 12-4pm, at the Stamford Plaza Hotel and Conference Center.
Please join us and help us ring in the Year of the Tiger!
For more info please visit www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org.
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