Ying Dan Translation Studio 颖丹传译工作室

Went to the States for two weeks in August and had a lot of good experiences:-)

I was very much impressed by Americans’ willingness to help others.  A simple example is: wherever my friends and I went, there were passers-by who would come up to me and ask: “Do you want me to take a photo for you all”. We were taking photos for each other on the street or in front of anything we liked. There’s always someone who would come to offer this small but warm help. I would give me camera to that person and posed happily with my friends in front of the camera.

In China, I never did this to a stranger, neither the most Chinese people. If anybody approaches me to ask me to take a photo for their group, I will be more than glad to help. But I never actively offered that help. I believe most Chinese are like me.

I couldn’t help thinking what caused the difference. I guess it’s because of the differences of our characters. We Chinese are more introverted and Americans are extroverted.  That’s why we feel like being asked to help. It’s not because we are not willing to do so, but because we are not used to actively speaking to strangers.  On the contrary, Americans generally speaking are more extroverted.  They are comfortable at interacting with people they don’t know.

I do like the American approach and decide to give it a try in China to see other people’s reaction. But if you are an American in China and haven’t  met any Chinese who you don’t know actively offering help, please don’t blame them. Just ask them to help.  Then you will find that Chinese people are actually very kind-hearted too.