On April 17, a Weibo post by a local Shanghai woman went viral, as she vented her fury at fast food company Zhen Gongfu after encountering an attendant who forced her to speak Mandarin while ordering food.
“I told her if you’re in the service industry in Shanghai you must be able to speak Shanghainese!” The employee was then backed up by a supervisor who then “rudely” told the woman to speak Mandarin, according to her post. “Are Zhen Gongfu only opening their doors to uncivilized outsiders?” she continued.
The post has received a mixed reaction from netizens with many fellow locals supporting her comments by saying that migrants should respect the local customs and learn the dialect; though some commented on the importance of standardizing Mandarin in order to ensure smoother communication between Chinese people from all backgrounds.
What do you think? Is this “typical Shanghai snootiness” or has she got a point?
See also: Authorities Place Ban on Reporters Quoting Foreign Media
Source: Weibo
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Keywords: standardizing Mandarin uncivilised outsiders Shanghainese
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First of all: People in Shanghai, I mean native " Shanghainese" dont feel Chinese at all! They think they are better than other Chinese people, and they love to express it! One of the mean of doing so is they language, which is called "dialect", but it is not a dialect of Mandarin, like for example Sichuanese, but it is a local form of another, very different from Mandarin dialect, known as Wu. No matter Wu (spoken in numerous versions in Jiangsu and Zhejiang), or its Shanghai version, are very difficult languages, a way more difficult than Mandarin. And the difference between Mandarin and the Shangainese is bigger than between Russian and French! So all "dialect lovers" from France, America, England and wherever they are in the world, should be able to easily understand at least another European language, and do they..? Another think is that natives of Shanghai, love to humiliate people from outside the city, and the language is the tool to recognize them. So the discussion here, is not just about the "regional"vs."state", but also about expressing someone's complex of superiority. So I dont support the woman from Shanghai, since I know how rude people from Shanghai are (people from other parts of China are rude, too, but they might be also very nice, and especially in the north really friendly. People from Shanghai never!)
Apr 21, 2013 22:33 Report Abuse
That SH lady definitely has the usual "SH snootiness", but she does have a point though. How there this ZGF direct its customer what dialect to speak. Speaking the local dialect is a nod to the local market. It's not up to this nasty-tasting restaurant to uphold China standardized dialect policy. Personally, Mandarin is the "lowest common denominator" dialect in China. Of course, if it's a "lao wai" then the supervisor will have an altogether different attitude.
Apr 20, 2013 16:22 Report Abuse
Well, basic rule of customer service is that you should speak the language of the one who pays. As I suppose there are millions of those who speak Shanghainese, ans it doesn't require a lot of time and resources to learn basic phrases for a fast-food restaurant employee, it means just shitty customer service, which is unfortunately so often in China. And at least restaurant supervisor should never be rude with the customers.
Apr 20, 2013 12:33 Report Abuse
Yeah , dialects suck! Ill tell you my story , I live in Spain and go to mandarin clases at the state run language school. The mandarin clases are not spanish / mandarin but Catalan/ mandarin. The books are englsih / mandarin. Alot of people in the class dont speak catalan so when the ask a question in spanish (castellano) ..the teacher answers in catalan!!! How fu€kedup is that??
Apr 20, 2013 03:11 Report Abuse
Maybe she asked for the chicken without the H7N9 and they didn't have any! H7N9 reads badly in any language!
Apr 19, 2013 21:38 Report Abuse
well it looks like me and the employee would have been arguing for a long time because my mandarin is poor and I've never heard shanghainese dialect! Sorry Gong fu restaurant your policy stinks!
Apr 19, 2013 19:19 Report Abuse
Ola Guest136110, Good point! It's not just the lack of communication, but the lack of good manners and civility CONSTANTLY shown by Mainland Chinese..and CONSTANTLY criticized by Western people,other Asians (Thai,etc.) and Chinese people from Singapore,Hong Kong,etc. :o!!
Apr 21, 2013 13:03 Report Abuse
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