My grandfather came from Germany in 1912 and spoke with a German accent all his life. I never heard him speak a word of German, and his sons didn't know a word of it. My fluency comes from high school (my teacher was voted the best teacher of German in the USA).
When Chinese workers were imported to build the railroads in the 1840s they…
My grandfather came from Germany in 1912 and spoke with a German accent all his life. I never heard him speak a word of German, and his sons didn't know a word of it. My fluency comes from high school (my teacher was voted the best teacher of German in the USA).
When Chinese workers were imported to build the railroads in the 1840s they mostly came from Toisan Province. Nine generations later their descendants still mostly speak Toisan, or maybe Cantonese which is closely related. Major difference between Asian and European immigrants.
One driving factor could be as prosaic as their food. I know about 20 Vietnamese dishes that cannot be distinguished in English.
My wife is an excellent scratch cook. Give her ingredients and she will prepare a delicious meal that you would identify as Thai food that is not on any restaurant menu. When she first came to America, the closest thing to an Asian market was Pier One Imports. Ready-made pastes and such didn't even exist back in Thailand, and we made everything the old way. A bottle cap nailed to a stick to scrape the meat from a coconut to make coconut milk since the canned stuff was not yet a thing for example. Zeus bless the Vietnamese entrepeneurs for making Asian markets a thing.
A little back in the day blurb for you. A department store was opening a "from China" department (sounds weird to young people, no doubt, but it was "exotic" in those days) and advertised to employ two young female Orientals (would be illegal today), and of course, pretty. They hired her and a young Filipina (straight black hair, high cheek bones and eyes with the epicanthal fold made you "Chinese" in the eyes of the average American back then). The other "They all look alike."
My grandfather came from Germany in 1912 and spoke with a German accent all his life. I never heard him speak a word of German, and his sons didn't know a word of it. My fluency comes from high school (my teacher was voted the best teacher of German in the USA).
When Chinese workers were imported to build the railroads in the 1840s they mostly came from Toisan Province. Nine generations later their descendants still mostly speak Toisan, or maybe Cantonese which is closely related. Major difference between Asian and European immigrants.
One driving factor could be as prosaic as their food. I know about 20 Vietnamese dishes that cannot be distinguished in English.
My wife is an excellent scratch cook. Give her ingredients and she will prepare a delicious meal that you would identify as Thai food that is not on any restaurant menu. When she first came to America, the closest thing to an Asian market was Pier One Imports. Ready-made pastes and such didn't even exist back in Thailand, and we made everything the old way. A bottle cap nailed to a stick to scrape the meat from a coconut to make coconut milk since the canned stuff was not yet a thing for example. Zeus bless the Vietnamese entrepeneurs for making Asian markets a thing.
A little back in the day blurb for you. A department store was opening a "from China" department (sounds weird to young people, no doubt, but it was "exotic" in those days) and advertised to employ two young female Orientals (would be illegal today), and of course, pretty. They hired her and a young Filipina (straight black hair, high cheek bones and eyes with the epicanthal fold made you "Chinese" in the eyes of the average American back then). The other "They all look alike."