Why are Chinese people afraid to ask?

by James

My Mum is doing a TESOL degree and has heard Chinese people are taught English by grammar translation (ie. they are given something in Chinese and they have to translate it to English).

They understand English inside out but don't know how English is used in everyday situations.

If they don't understand something, they never ask for clarification. Or if they want to know something they don't ask unless they are told to.

Why? In Chinese culture, why is it considered wrong to ask questions?

Victoria's Answer:

Actually, in Chinese culture, to ask questions is not considered to be wrong. Why others make this point is partly because Chinese people are too shy to ask questions. They are afraid others would laugh at him/her if the answers to his/her questions would be easy to find out.

Also partly because of the old teaching system, the teachers would try their best to explain very carefully and make sure there wouldn't be any questions missed. Chinese people were taught in such a system. They just waited for the teacher to find questions and give answers.

Now the government and the teachers are trying to encourage the students to ask questions and find out the answers by themselves. We are sure, as time goes by, that everyone will see Chinese people as inquisitive.

James, what you described is a typical Chinese way to learn English...especially for grammar. In China, the most common way to judge how much a student mastered a language is by the scores.

Grammar plays an important role in the tests, although the Education Department and most of the teachers recommend Quality Education. And now the government and the teachers are trying to approve the new teaching method...to improve the students' ability to use a language, not only just for test or scores.

Even when I was in university, we also had grammar courses. The teacher first explained the grammar rules. Then she/he gave us some examples, and some translation work. At last, she/he would give us homework - Chinese sentences and ask us to translate them into English to judge if we have got the point.

James, hope the above sentences would be useful to you.

Best regards,