<p>Haha, Private_Joker, have you HEARD cantonese? 
I speak both that and mandarin, and I think cantonese is decidedly one of the ugliest languages.</p>
<p>are the mass media images of Asian women meek and submissive housewives?</p>
<p>P_J: more like just a random comment on the biased nature of society.</p>
<p>No, the sexual image forced on first by Confucianists during the Song Dynasty and popularized for next thousand years, and then exported abroad and aided by the Japanese and the American incursions in SE Asia as well as WWII. What you described was a part of it, which is why I think there is the mass desire and appeal.</p>
<p>Lol, TabuLaRasa, maybe I shouldn’t have made such a generalization, then. I hadn’t heard too many Asian languages, and I was basing my judgement on the ones I had heard, such as Chinese. Possibly, one day I’ll have more familiarity with the variety of Asian languages out in the world.</p>
<p>Edit: Purrli, I get it.</p>
<p>I think Chinese would be cool to learn. It has cool sounding and writing. But it wouldn’t be too much useful even if you are a businessman. You might do deals with Chinese people, but I’m pretty sure there will be a translator and also many Chinese know English so you probably won’ need it too much. </p>
<p>Unless you find it cool I don’t think it would be too useful to learn.</p>
<p>Cantonese is harder to speak than Mandarin as it has nine tones instead of four.</p>
<p>Canto-pop doesn’t sound as harsh as its spoken version though.</p>
<p>I’m watching Memoirs of a Geisha right now. I suppose that’s also part of what you said earlier about the whole Asian fetish mindset? btw I didn’t think Gong Li was this pretty from her other movies, but I think she is in this one.</p>
<p>I am merely talking from a history perspective. If the movie is accurate (I have never seen it nor read the book for I am not interested in Japanese history) then yes, that is a major part of it.
I do not keep up with those kind of movies, however. If I want good action mixed with humor and romance I go to the Bollywood section of the movies.</p>
<p>Gong Li is really pretty in Memoirs of a Geisha. Too bad she was in an antagonistic role.</p>
<p>Everyone here says Chinese is going to be big, and I’m sure it is. A Chinese guy at my dad’s office had no problem getting hired - entirely fluent in both Chinese and English. I think it even got him a promotion and he gets more of the business trips.</p>
<p>Above me is some proof.
Is Gong Li something like the mother who mistreats the geisha? That would be the only antagonistic role I can think of in a movie about that subject.</p>
<p>yep she’s the head geisha who becomes jealous as Sayuri (Zhang Ziyi) surpasses her.</p>
<p>odd the the 3 female leads were all Chinese though. typical Hollywood casting for famous names I guess.</p>
<p>I remember that some were noting the peculiarity of casting Chinese over Japanese in the film, which angered some.</p>
<p>yeah, because of the whole C vs. J antagonism. It’s surprising that I’ve seen that on CC though - I thought it was typically just old people and perhaps our parents generation who are holding the grudge.</p>
<p>No, it has been passed down most definitely; after all children do learn correct behavior from parents.</p>
<p>Private_Joker, not true at all. I am a black male, and I went to China last year (for two weeks). I visited Beijing, Huang Zho, and Shanghai, and NEVER experienced racism, prejudice or ANYTHING in the time I was there. I wasn’t there long, but I was there long enough to know that the Chinese as a whole are a very accepting people and would be happy to have a little diversity. The only thing that keeps me away is the superstrict gov’t.</p>
<p>That government will fall soon enough; you can’t force a lid that tightly on an already disillusioned rural population.</p>
<p>I think Chinese is the language of the future.</p>
<p>Another pro-China supporter is here as well. However, Hindi will also get its place, and it is even less respected than Chinese.</p>
<p>hindi? isnt it different in every village?</p>
<p>the government will fall soon? lol u obviously not azn</p>
<p>so how useful is chinese? almost as useful as english</p>