The Chinese have been cut off from the rest of the world for so long that it must be hard to have a realistic view about other nations and nationalities.
Although I have met people here who speak very good English, the vast majority of the Chinese seem to know nothing more than "Hello". This means that most of them do not speak any foreign language at all. I would also say that they are generally quite unaware about other languages. One day I was chatting on the bus with a student who spoke pretty good English and had been learning French for 6 months. It had not occurred to her that the English study a foreign language at school and she was really surprised when I told her that many of us know some French.
Strangers here differ in how they communicate with me. Most of them just gabble away, apparently assuming that the whole world can speak Chinese. A big advantage of the Chinese script is that it can be used to communicate with a speaker of another Chinese language, even if the people cannot understand each other's spoken language at all. Many people here also seem to apply this principle to me, so if I don't understand, they write it down. Actually I'm even more unlikely to understand this. A few seem to assume that it will be impossible to communicate with me.
Even those who know me and know that I speak a little Chinese mostly do not know how to adapt their communication for a learner of the language. I think this is a skill that many city-dwellers in Britain acquire through experience. However, in common with my experience in Hungary, I find that people here do not see the need to simplify or slow down what they are saying. (My flat mate, Wang Fei, seems to be learning.) Furthermore, they do not realise that hand-written characters are more difficult to read than printed ones.
The stereotype of the Chinese as reserved and inscrutable does not really fit with what I have experienced. I find them generally friendly and willing to talk.
"Loosing face" is also supposed to be more of a big deal then in Europe. My understanding is that this is a kind of deep, internal embarrassment when you lose status (eg because your business fails) or when you do not fulfil your responsibilities (eg to look after a guest). Although I am aware of this, there haven't been any times when I have really noticed it in practice. If they do feel they have lost face, they may clam up completely.
Andy and Sarah tell me that the Chinese are often very persistent when asking for something. For example, if someone calls them but it is a wrong number, they will ask for the person they want repeatedly rather than ringing off. Chinese people may also state their opinion much more directly than we do. For example, if people think they are not doing the right thing for their children, they are told about it in no uncertain terms.
There are definitely some significant differences between how we communicate. I find that Chinese people giggle in circumstances that would be odd for us. This is often a sign of embarrassment rather than amusement. I can imagine a Chinese person laughing as they make an apology, which for us would sound very insincere. Apparently they may even do it when told of someone's death. They also listen differently. In Britain, we listen quite vocally, inserting "um", "uhuh", "really", etc into pauses to show that we are paying attention and to encourage the speaker. In China, the listener is often silent, which is quite disconcerting for a European. Noises for agreement etc are also quite different. And verbal agreement has a lot of repetition, often "Yes" is said three times rather than once. I didn't make a careful study of eye contact, but I think there are probably some differences in this area too.
If a person present is being discussed, they are usually referred to as "he" or "she" rather than by name. If we do this in English, we invite comments about the cat's mother, but in Chinese it seems to be more polite to do it this way. The Chinese also sometimes use "You must ..." when in English we would make a suggestion. For us this sounds bossy or interfering, even though it is not meant in that way.
Business and financial matters are conducted very differently. In a restaurant, one person pays the whole bill, although it is relatively common to have an argument about who will have this privilege. Business is conducted much more on the basis of personal contacts. I'm not sure about this, but it seems that the right way to go about negotiating is to have a private discussion with the person concerned. It seems to work better if you take one person aside to discuss rather than trying to do it in a group.
One of the odd things about being here is the number of people who tell me that I'm pretty. This happens more or less on a daily basis. I would have to dredge very hard in my memory to think of the last time it happened in Britain. At first I was so surprised that I just said thank you, but now I'm getting better at the Chinese style of denial. I haven't reached a conclusion about whether it's because I'm more suited to Asian tastes, because it's normal to pay compliments here, or because the blokes at home are just less shallow. (You don't need to comment on that!)
One thing that I find myself missing is talking English at full speed. Although I have been communicating in English quite a lot of the time, most of the time it has been with non-native speakers. This means that I am constantly monitoring my speech and so it feels like an effort all the time, a little like I'm at work (college, not office). I remember that feeling from Hungary that after a week of only speaking Hungarian, it was really nice to go back to the staffroom and be able to speak effortlessly.
On the other hand, I have really enjoyed the experience of speaking Chinese with my classmates. As far as I can remember, this is the first time that I have had normal conversations where the language was not the first language for either of the speakers. It gives me some feel of what it is like for my students to speak to each other in English. I found the sense of achievement quite satisfying.
I've very pleased with my progress in Chinese. I can now usually hear the differences between the consonant sounds and also between the tones. My pronunication has also improved a lot, especially of the vowel sounds. My listening has also improved hugely - I can pick out bits of conversation between native speakers and sometimes I can even make out what the bus conductors are shouting. My vocabulary is still pretty small because I find remembering the words pretty difficult.