Redditer: Navigating Chinese-speaking office culture as a banana

[Flibbertigibbet]

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Navigating Chinese-speaking office culture as a banana​

Career, Job, Edu Qn in SG

https://www.reddit.com/r/malaysia/s/qK2qkMXA3c

I came across this old post on r/Malaysia as I was looking for similar experiences, and was wondering if anyone here has similar stories to share?

For myself, I grew up in an English-speaking household. Mostly have English-speaking friends. Raised a lot by the Internet (thanks, Reddit) as a teen so I consume a lot of western media.

I feel like my team's culture can be pretty toxic to people who don't fit in. I work for a stat board under a team of around 15 people, and half are either Malaysians or naturalized Singaporeans from Malaysia who are Chinese-speaking. Lunches and group discussions often default to Mandarin.

There is one Malay team member, and our boss (naturalized Singaporean) has mentioned a couple of times how inconvenient it was to plan meals together as we have to find Halal options just for her. She eventually stopped joining us for lunch as (I assume) she feels like she doesn't want to trouble the team, and she usually can't join in the conversation anwyay. Our boss even tells her that she can pick it up and they try to teach her Mandarin, which is a way of including her, but why not just speak English?

I'm uncomfortable speaking Mandarin myself, with my C6 O Level Chinese - can't even have a full blown conversation in it. I see that it's a problem that could hinder my career growth. I feel trapped because I don't have many options because I don't have a good enough education to choose an industry or company with more English speakers.

While I'm trying to improve my Mandarin, I feel isolated at work. I feel like a foreigner in my own country. Anyone else can relate? This is mostly a bitch and whine post because I'm just trying to get by every day with this crushing sense of isolation and demoralization, knowing especially that there is likely going to be a growing population of people more comfortable speaking Mandarin, given our dwindling population. The only solution for me is to assimilate better but man, it feels lonely as hell.

 

[syed putra]

Those malaysians that speak mandarin look up to sinkie as their holy pilgrimage city. Bastion of Chinese culture.

 

[Dongyi]

Chinese 沒有前途。Speak English only, like a ACS boy.