Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan
issue date

It's just different
December 24, 2003
By Angela Lehmann
Photo by Yao Fan

Jan McCarthy, Director of Engineering, Dell Computer (China) Co., Ltd.

When arriving in China from the West the first thing most people notice are the differences. They are endless. The traffic is chaotic, restaurants serve food never seen or heard of before, people have different ideas about the world and of course the greatest barrier is often the completely different language.

Jan, from the U.S.A, however likes to notice the similarities between China and the West. By accepting our differences and choosing to see what we all have in common, she suggests we might understand each other a little better.

第一次来到中国的时候，许多外国朋友都会发现中国与他们的国家有着许多不同之处。交通是那么拥挤，餐桌上的食物是他们有生以来从未见过、从未尝过的。人们 有着不同的世界观。当然，最大的障碍就是一门截然不同的语言。

然而，来自美国的简·麦卡茜却喜欢去寻找中国与西方的共同点。她说，求同存异的相处之道也许能让我们彼此更加了解对方。

Family life

Jan, the Director of Engineering at Dell Computers, moved from Texas to Xiamen over a year ago. Her first year here was spent alone and recently her husband, Bill, and ten-year-old daughter Siobhan, came to join her. Siobhan goes to the Xiamen International School, which she enjoys.

“It was funny when we first got here she was a bit disturbed by being singled out. She’s not used to being different. We try to explain that it's a very positive difference. We tell her she is different in a good way. She has very much adapted to that and now she likes being different, being special.”

Jan and her family live a relatively normal life in Xiamen. Siobhan is allowed much more freedom than she would in the U.S. because her parents feel safer here. After school she rides her bike or plays in the park. On the weekends they love to get out and explore some of local sights and delicacies.

Local food

"I really enjoy Chinese food," Jan says. “I have really developed a taste for spicy Sichuan food. In the U.S. we have Sichuan food but it's not the same. The spices aren’t the same and the quality is not the same.

"Eating is so much more relaxed here. Meals are more of an opportunity. At home everything is so much more formal. Here it really is about sitting down and eating with people. It’s about the company you are with and the whole process of the meal. It's very enjoyable."

The language barrier

Jan’s husband Bill is currently immersing（专心于） himself in Chinese language lessons. Being the director of a section of a multi-national company doesn’t leave much free time for Jan herself to study. Employees of Dell are all required to speak a good level of English so for Jan, this makes life a little easier. Nevertheless, language can cause difficulties.

"Language is a big barrier. From a friendship perspective（角度） it is very hard because you have to be very conscious when you speak English, which can be very tiring. So unless you are a Chinese who is very at ease with speaking English I think it makes it very difficult to have a good friendship because it is a lot of extra effort," she says.

“The difficulties of friendship and the language barrier work for both sides. For me, I can’t be as free flowing. I have to consciously think about what I am going to say. It is probably the same with somebody who is Chinese and I think that extra strain（焦虑） probably makes things a little more difficult. Everybody has to make the effort. It's a two way thing.”

Accepting difference

Living in a foreign culture means living with the pleasure and pain of difference. Language differences can cause problems, for example, while different food can be an adventure waiting to begin. Jan chooses to accept and enjoy these differences and seek bonds of commonness we all share.

"One of the things somebody once said to me is that we are all 90 per cent the same. But everybody focuses on the 10 per cent. I’d rather focus on the commonness. It’s very easy to say what the differences are. The language is different; the food is different; the traffic is different; people’s ideas of warmth and kindness are different. But that’s the way it is. It’s not something I would put a judgement on."

"I came with every expectation that I am living in a foreign country. You just go with the mindset that it’s not going to be like home. There is going to be differences. Appreciate the differences but don’t focus on them or make a judgement on them."

"It’s just different."