I am not here to say that Chinese American are NOT REAL Americans....don't get me wrong. As a matter of fact, I felt that for the 2nd or 3rd generation Chinese American they are TOO American. They may like football, baseball, apple pie, hamburgers, free market capitalism, Wlamart, Jebus etc.etc. etc., but then for alot of them, at least for the ones that I met or acquainted with, they don't even know how to speak Mandarin or whatever their own mother dialects. All the sons and daughters of my brother and sisters born and raised in the States do not understand or speak Cantonese (not to mention Manadrain) well, and have very little knowledge of Chinese culture and history. The reason why Colin Pine was selected could be that he is an American, but had studied in Taipei for 2 years, and had spent sometime in China too (if IIRC).....and had had exposure to Chinese culture and history. Therefore he has sort of the best of 2 worlds, and therefore will be easier to connect intellectually with Yao Ming. At least, that was what I genuinely felt.
I agree with you, but it seems that many 2nd generation Chinese-Americans make very little effort to be Chinese because they envision themselves as American. Unfortunately eventually they run into the realization that the white Americans don't really consider them as Americans.
I agree that there probably are Chinese Americans who are better qualified than Colin Pine to be a personal translator, but you have to consider two things: 1) Did any of them apply? 2) There is still a stereotype that white Americans have regarding the Chinese, whether they are Chinese Americans or not (as parodied humorously by Bobby Lee on MadTV). It would make better business sense to have a white interpreter to make Yao more accessible to the white audience. Imagine the scene with a chinese interpreter next to Yao and a bunch of white reporters interviewing Yao. There is quite an obvious seperation of races in that scene, something that is avoided with a white interpreter.
Agreed...I think they would want someone that knows a little about the NBA, at least from a behind the scenes, plus, he was in with Yao, so that had to help... lucky b*stard...
I did not forget that, as it is already assumed. In fact, that has to be one of the major if not the deciding factor. It is assumed that every applicant has to know something about NBA and about basketball regardless it was Colin Pine, an ABC or an overseas Chinese students or whoever. Or else how could the guy interprete for Yao Ming without knowing anything about basketball terminologies/jargons, both in English and Chinese ?
pryuen, I completely agree with everything you've said in this thread, but lay off the frikkin' . There are people here that pose legitimate questions in your threads with honest intentions that are saying - sometimes asking - why this or that happened. The one thing many would point out here is that a Chinese born American might have made Yao too comfortable, and almost all of us knew Yao was going to have a very difficult time and from a basketball standpoint I think he had to be thrown into deep water and see what he could do. It's sad, but millions of dollars are millions.
To be honest, I highly doubt many chinese knew basketball in and out like colin did. Even though chinese americans are american.. they aren't exposed to the CORE culture of america like whites are. Trust me I have white friends and we do a lot of things different even though we both love hamburgers like crazy. Also, b/c we're asians we do not see from the same point of view of life and ethics the way whites do. I grew up around white people.. i mean completely... and yet b/c i'm constantly exposed to my culture at home, i have different manners and ways going about life. For example, most asians think it's disrespectful when you eat out and bring home leftovers and offer it to your parents. My white friends and I eat people's leftovers all the time, we really don't give a ****. But I know better than to offer it to my parents... even though my white friends can't understand why I mean if you have good food it's good food but hey, i don't understand it either I just know that we have different point of views.
Grapejuices - good points. I am an American of Irish, German, English and once in a while a little Scotch background. Both parents provide Irish blood and it has been interesting to me to examine the various relatives and their family cultures and to see how different they are, even after sometimes 4-5 generations of living here. So years ago I did some reading on cultural persistence and I think it was a Rhode Island prof who wrote a book about studying Irish Americans and their assimilation - they are vastly different than WASP's. What she stated was that people generally changed about 70% of their psych makeup vs their parents from the old country - but it was in work habits, sports, friends, outward looking social ways. Former farmers and blue collar workers quickly became capitalists and adapted the ways of the WASP capitalists they worked alongside. Where they did not change was in their family life and church and views like caring for the poor and aged. So two things Colin could provide Yao was a passion for basketball and a true view into the social world of the dominant American culture - white people - and capitalists. All the people have much they can teach one another, learn from one another - but the various cultures do have some very big differences. If I went to China to say get into martial arts and needed a Colin Pine - I would not pick a young person from a Caucasian family who had grown up there but lived with his American parents - unless it was about me being comfortable. If it was about me making my way into Chinese culture I would want the Chinese guy from a prominant martial arts family who could both translate and make sure I was saying and doing all the right things and meeting the right people. I'm a Yankee from Ohio and I am still learning how to not step in it with Texans even after 17 years. I have learned to stop and listen and ask myself "now what did he really mean by that subtle 'hint' he just made?" And then I sometimes decide to ignore all the warning signs and just like a Yankee overtly piss off a Texan.... Remember this is the only place in the USA where advertising is aimed at just one state: "Hey Texans, buy my truck!" You'll never go to Connecticut and see TV advertising saying "Hey Nutmeggers, Ford Pickups are built strong for you!" Culture is fascinating!
On the other hand, FULL-BLOODED (becoming rare with race mixing) 2nd and 3rd generation Chinese I'm sure see someone as Black, Hispanic, White, Asian because people look different not due to Racism. The more important question nobody so far has addressed is do Hispanics see Chinese-Americans as Americans.
You guys just missed the boat completely. How cool is it to hear a white guy in the sport scene who speaks Mandarin. The NBA is not exactly an intellectual mecca you know!
i can sleep in peace now knowing finally at last where in the world colin has landed. oh wait, where is sleepy floyd though? now i can't sleep again.. DOH!!
