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Published on Chinese Blast (http://www.chineseblast.com)

Princess Remy Podcast #419 (Made in USA. 美國文化.)

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Created Nov 25 2008 - 5:07am


Gèwèi péngyǒu dàjiā hǎo. Wǒ shì Hēimǐ.
My friends, how's everyone? I am Remy.

Hěn gāoxìng gēn dàjiā zài wǎnglù shàng jiànmiàn.
Glad to meet you all on the net.

Suīrán shuō wǒ zài ōuzhōu qiánqiánhòuhòu zhù le bù duǎn de rìzǐ ō
Even though I have been living in Europe, up to now, for not a short period of time

nà yě chángcháng zìxǔ shuō: "ài, duì ōuzhōurén yǒu xiēxǔ de liǎojiě"
I still often boast to myself, "Oh, I do understand the Europeans some."

Nà hěn duō xiē shēnghuó xíguàn (ā), sīxiǎng fāngmiàn bùtóng de yìxiē de kànfǎ ne,
Regarding their daily habits, different ways of thinking,

yě jiànjiàn nénggòu liǎojiě shuō: "ài, zhège jiù shì ōuzhōu rén tāmen sīkǎo luójí ō".
I slowly came to understand them, thinking to myself, "Oh, this is the logic behind European thinking."

Suǒyǐ yě bùhuì xiàng yǐqián gānggāng kāishǐ de shíhòu, juéde shuō, ài, hǎo qíguài ō!
So I'm not like when I for first started, often feeling, "Huh? That's strange!"

Ránhòu, chángcháng yòng zìjǐ de jiǎodù qù kàn duìfāng (ō).
And then proceeding to use my own personal point of view to evaluate others.

Zhège yīnggāi shì shuō lái dào guówài zhīhòu (ō), yígě hěn dà de shōuhuò.
This is probably, since coming abroad, one of the biggest things I've gained.

Zhège shìjiè zhī dà zhēn shì wúqíbùyǒu, shéme yàng dé rén dōu yǒu shéme yàng de xiǎngfǎ.
The world is so big, it contains all kinds of things. Different people have different ways of thinking.

Kěshì ne, suīrán shuō, zhème jiǔ, wǒ háishì yǒu yìdiǎn yìzhí hěn méiyǒu bànfǎ qù lǐjiě de, jiù shì:
But, even though, after this long, there are still some things i can never understand, that is:

Pǔpiàn lái shōu (ō), ōuzhōu rén (nē) duì Měiguórén (nē) dōu bù tài yǒushàn.
Generally speaking, Europeans are not too friendly towards Americans.

Yě bù néng shuō bù tài yǒushàn la, jiù shì tāmen yǒu diǎn qiánbùqǐ měiguórén la.
Well, not really not too friendly, but they kind of look down on Americans.

Tāmen chángcháng jiǎng de jiùshì shuō: "à...Nàge Měiguó lìshǐ zhème duǎn la, méiyǒu shémé wénhuà ā."
They often say stuff like: "Oh, American history is so short, they don't have any culture."

Jiǎng dào Měiguórén, jiùsuàn shì ōuzhōu yǒu zhè yàngzi zhème duō bùtóng de guójiā ō,
Speaking of Americans, even though Europe has so many different countries,

nà zhème duō bù tóng de guójiā dé rén, tāmen tǒngyī de kǒujǐng (ō) zhēnde yǒu dà bùfèn de ren (ō), dōu shì bǎochí zhè zhǒng bǐjiào (ēn) bǐjiào qīngmiè de tàidù.
and so many nationalities, they all have spoken with one voice, really, a majority of them, all seem to have, um, this dismissive(disdainful) attitude.

Juéde shuō ōuzhōu de lìshǐ wénhuà ō, sīxiǎng wénhuà shì juéduì gāo guò Měiguó de liǎng bǎi nián ō.
That they feel the European culture, based on its history and thought, must be superior to the 200 years of American culture.

Dāngrán cóng kèguān de jiǎodù lái kàn, juéduì méiyǒu cuò la! Měiguó suàn shì...Měiguó wénhuà, Měiguó de lìshǐ qíshí gēn ōuzhōu ō cháng yǒu yì ge jiǎn bù duàn lǐ hái luàn de guānxi ō.
Although from an objective point of view, they are absolutely right! America is a, American culture, America's history actually often has this intertwining relationship with Europe.

Nà...ēn...měiguó yǒu hěn dà yì bùfèn de chuántǒng ā sīxiǎng ā yuán zìyú ōuzhōu ō.
So...um... A large part of American tradition, the way people think, all comes from Europe.

Nà dànshì ne... hěn qíguài de yíjiàn shìqíng jiùshì shuō, suīrán shuō zhèxiē ōuzhōurén, tāmen duìyú měiguó wénhuà bǎochí bǐjiào nàge qīngmiè de tàidù ō.
But...the strange thing is that even though these Europeans maintain attitudes that tend to look down American culture,

Dàn shì ne... zuì qíguài de jiùshì shuō ō tāmen hái shì ā zhàoyàng xǐhuān qù kàn měiguó de diànyǐng, nà diànshì shàngmiàn dē nē... chōngmǎn dě yěshì měiguó de yǐngjí ō.

(But)...the strangest thing is that they still like to go see American movies, and their TVs are full of American shows, too.

Shuō zhēnde, quán shìjiè de diànyǐng nàme duō, nà dāngrán hǎoláiwù dé wénhuà nē shì yígè wúyōngzhìyí de, shì yígè fēicháng qiángshì diànyǐng dé wénhuà.

Honestly, the world has so many movies...And of course, Hollywood is undeniably a very strong force in the culture of movies

Dànshì jiǎng dào ōuzhōu, ōuzhōu yǒu zìjǐ de diànyǐng ā.
When talking about Europe, Europe has its own movie industry

Xiàng Fàguó de diànyǐng, xiàng Yīngguó de diànyǐng ō zhèxiē nē chángcháng yě shì ràng yǐngpíng rén féicháng zànbùjuékǒu de ō.
Like French films and British films, they are often enthusiastically praised by critics

Shuō shízài de, ōuzhōurén ā tāmen bìng bùshì fēicháng de qù pěngchǎng ō. Tāmen ā zuì xǐhuān de háishì xǐhuān qù kàn měiguó diànyǐng.
In reality, Europeans simply don't support these movies often. They still like American movies the best.

Zài kàn diànyǐng de shíhòu háiyào chīshàng zhège shi cóng měiguó lái de bàomǐhuā, háiyǒu měiguó lái dě kěkǒukělè ō.

And while watching the movies, they also insist on eating popcorn from America and drinking American Coca-Cola as well.

Nà kàn diànshì de shíhòu nē, zuì xǐhuān kàn dě yě shì Desperate Housewives.
And when watching TV, their favorite show is Desperate Housewives.

Nàge Desperate Housewìves dì èr jí nē zài zhège lǐbài sì yǒu shàngyǎn.
Desperate Housewives season two is airing this thursday

Nà zhè biān de bàozhǐ ā, zázhì ā, nà dàjiā ō yě dōu shì zuìjìn fēicháng rèmén de yì ge huátí ō.
So in the newspapers and magazines here, and for people too, this  has been a very popular topic lately..

Shuō : "ā! Diànshì zhōngyú yào kāiyǎn, bù zhīdào yòu yào yǎn shémè" zhè yàngzǐ ō.
[You can hear people] say stuff like: "Oh! Its finally starting, I wonder what's going to happen."

Nà wǒ kàn dào zhè yí qiè xíngwéi, wǒ jiù juédé: éi, zhèxiē bùshì Měiguó wénhuà ma? Nǐmen yì fāngmiàn yòu zhème biǎndī Měiguó wénhuà, yì fāngmiàn yòu duì zhèyàng dé wénhuà fēicháng de qūzhīruòwù ō.
I see this kind of behaviour and i think: "Eh, isn't this American culture? On one hand people are minimzing American culture; on the other hand they flock towards other parts of American culture such as this."

Zhège shì...yì diǎn wǒ fēicháng wúfǎ lǐjiě de yì ge xiànxiàng ō.
This is... a phenomenon I just can't figure out.

Dào xiànzài nē háishì wúfǎ lǐjiě.
Even until now, I still can't understand this.

Wŏ bùzhīdào shuō dàjiā yŏuméiyŏu zhè yàngzi de yígè xiăngfă.
I don't know if anyone else have had the same thought.

Huòshì shuō, yǒuméiyǒu céngjīng xiǎng guò zhè yàngzì de yìgè wèntí ō.
Or have, say, in the past thought about this question.

OK, nà wǒmen jīntiān jiù liáo dào zhèlǐ, wǒmen míngtiān jiàn. Bàibài!
OK, that's all for today, see you tommorrow. Bye-bye!


Source URL:
http://www.chineseblast.com/node/74