Stereotypes and numbers: meeting 1 (Dutch-Chinese group)

15 Febuary, 2019

During the first meeting we started by choosing the topic which we would take about, which became stereotypes. Jiaqi, Huaichen and Changling actually mentioned for me the most expected stereotypical aspects, which are sex and weed. Me and Merlin than explained that these are actually pretty normal as both sex(prostitution) is very much allowed and drugs such as weed are widely tolerated, however, the stereotypical view most of the time exaggerates the actual situation. We then explained some of the other typical things such as clogs (wooden shoes), windmills and flowers which are associated with the Netherlands.

When it came to Chinese stereotypes I actually had a little difficulty thinking of what is stereotypical for China. The things eventually named were eating dogs and that Chinese people are fairly short. We then received some explanation on these topics as was told that eating dogs is not common anymore and very few people still do it. They also explained that Chinese people are getting taller due to more nuitrional food.

Besides stereotypes we also tried to teach each other to count from 1 to 10 in Dutch and Chinese. And to be fair the Chinese were better at it then we were as pronouncing a word wrong in Chinese gives it a different meaning, while in Dutch if its pronounced wrong people will still know what you are saying.

English: one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten

Dutch: een-twee-drie-vier-vijf-zes-zeven-acht-negen-tien

Chinese: yi-er-san-si-wu-liu-qi-ba-jiu-shi

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