During my first year in China, some friends who’d been around a little longer than me introduced me to the concept of “House Plant Syndrome”.
Imagine you are at a party at someone’s house. You’re hanging out when suddenly a house plant starts talking to you. Now, there are several ways you could respond to this. Perhaps you would ignore it. Perhaps you would ask the person next to you if they heard it as well. Perhaps you would try talking back to the house plant and engaging it in conversation.
I am that house plant.
The story of the talking house plant explains what can happen here when a white person unexpectedly speaks Chinese. It’s especially true with Chinese who haven’t met foreigners before.
Over time I learned to deal with House Plant Syndrome by talking without being looked at. I visited a restaurant at least once a week. Waitresses there would often stare blankly at me, not even hearing what I was saying when I tried to ask for things. So I leaned to speak clearly while looking in another direction. Without the “foreigners don’t speak Mandarin” filter, the waitresses heard and understood me easily and responded immediately.
A few years later, as my Mandarin became more fluent, and my foreign accent diminished (减少), people could hardly realize I was actually a house plant. This happened a lot with taxis. A lot of the time after I called a taxi, I would get a call from the driver, who would confirm my location. This meant I had a short conversation with the driver long before they saw me. Then I would get in the taxi, say where I wanted to go, and we would drive off in silence. Twenty seconds later, he would burst out “You speak such good Mandarin: I thought you were Chinese!”
I am rarely seen as a talking house plant anymore. The more I work on my accent and fluency, the less I am seen as a house plant. Definitely a good reason to keep working on my language!
【小题1】What does “House Plant Syndrome” refer to?| A．A cultural practice in Chinese households. |
| B．A disease that house plants often suffer from. |
| C．Foreigners’ preference for Chinese house plants. |
| D．Chinese people’s reaction to a foreigner speaking Chinese. |
| A．Lack of confidence in her Chinese. | B．Discomfort with looking at strangers. |
| C．Desire to hide her identity. | D．Ease of speaking Mandarin when looking away. |
| A．Astonished | B．Embarrassed | C．Confused | D．Annoyed |
| A．The silent conversations of a foreigner in China | B．The journey to reveal the secrets of language. |
| C．Tackling cultural challenges in China. | D．Chatting with house plants. |
