ibasaw 121 points 3 years ago

Dude actually wrote a proper, coherent letter in Chinese.. if I am the teacher he is getting full marks for sure

I live poorly here.

Working conditions are not good, welfare is lacking.

But do not worry, there are only 10 serious incidents at work everyday, and I am very careful.

We opened a small stall, business is not bad.

Although I do not know English well, I can roughly understand what the white men are saying.

Hope to make a living and succeed! I will work hard here and take care of my body.

How are you guys doing?

I miss you guys a lot and hope to meet again.

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Saigonauticon 21 points 3 years ago

I immigrated to Vietnam in 2012. Even though government and society was much more welcoming than this case, the overall experience was... not that different!

Maybe immigration is just a pretty awful experience overall.

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vsg 16 points 3 years ago

Surprised that the message was accurate instead of being gibberish or even asemic.

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NewEnglandRedshirt 85 points 3 years ago

History teacher here. If this was turned in to me, rhe first thing I'd do is laugh, then have a conversation with the student. If s/he says they'd be ok with me emailing a copy of this to their parents (I'm assuming the parents speak Chinese), then I'd just give them an A for pure gall. If the kid isn't from a Chinese-speaking family, I'd probably still give him/her kudos and then make them turn in whatever they put into Google translate to begin with. But really, this is the kind of malicious compliance I wish my students had the creativity to pull off.

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parrot-party 32 points 3 years ago

It takes effort to rebel this hard. That effort should be rewarded not squashed. Eventually they'll find something that interests them and their effort will be naturally put into improving that. Basically, don't kill a child's spirit.

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ForTheLoveOfGod 24 points 3 years ago

If they don't actually read/write Chinese, then it took more effort to do this than it would have to just write the letter in English as intended. It's impressive.

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SirShanova 12 points 3 years ago

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jaydev 2 points 3 years ago

On the other hand, my twin and I got in trouble for circumventing internet rules, and it only made us more determined to do so! I think it depends on the kid too. :)

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c2h6 6 points 3 years ago

Haha that's cool. Why would you want to send a copy to their parents, to make sure it says what it's supposed to say?

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NewEnglandRedshirt 15 points 3 years ago

Exactly. I probably wouldn't actually email it home, just look for the reaction. If they look worried, then yeah, I'd definitely send it home. I've had kids cuss me out in Spanish on papers before, not believing I'd actually translate it and bust them.

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c2h6 2 points 3 years ago

Smart!

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GaryPonderosa 37 points 3 years ago

I can recognize about a dozen Chinese characters, so I can confidently say that this probably isn't about soup.

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c2h6 3 points 3 years ago

I know the Chinese character for soup and I don't see it here

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GaryL 29 points 3 years ago

The handwriting and grammar was perfect. I assume it was an English homework for the student in Hong Kong or Taiwan? (The character was in traditional style which is mainly used by Hong Konger and Taiwanese.)

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Melon 40 points 3 years ago

I think it's more likely to be history homework for a North American school completed by an immigrant from HK/Taiwan.

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pneumapunk 14 points 3 years ago

Or he's just getting really into the persona of an 1870s immigrant, who would have been using traditional characters anyway! Such attention to detail :D

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DannySpud 29 points 3 years ago

Using Lens and Google translate gave me this:

I live beautifully here.
The working environment can't live, and the welfare is gone.
But don't worry, only about ten people are seriously injured every day,
And I am also very careful. We opened a small shop, and the business is doing well.
Although I don't know English very well, I can speak a little
Right. Understand what those white people are saying.
I hope I can get ahead! I will work hard here, and
Be careful with your body.
How are you? I miss you very much and hope we can meet again.

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VoxAdActa 22 points 3 years ago

I'm pretty sure that question mark on the second to last line is anachronistic. I don't know exactly when western punctuation was incorporated into traditional Chinese script, but I'm almost certain it was well after 1870. The character at the end of that line, before the question mark, is "ma", which, by itself, turns a statement into a question.

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utopianfiat 7 points 3 years ago

Also they are very clearly not used to traditional, their handwriting for the radicals that simplified elides is really awful

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HatchetHaro 10 points 3 years ago

bruv im from (and still am in) hong kong, and my handwriting's not even half as good as this.

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Astrealix 2 points 3 years ago

Gang gang

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nasal_demon 4 points 3 years ago

The other punctuation, and the writing direction are also anachronistic.

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gonewriting 4 points 3 years ago

I don't think it's 嗎, looks more like 吧 to me, which also has question like properties. But you're definitely right about the question mark not being included until much later. The character alone says it's a question.

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VoxAdActa 3 points 3 years ago

I'll happily take your word for it; it's been close to 20 years since my Mandarin classes in college. XD

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clutchmatic 1 point 3 years ago

Imagine the teacher marking down because the student correctly wrote in Chinese but was anachronistic in style and grammar hahahaha

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kulta 14 points 3 years ago

This is actually quite impressive

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c2h6 2 points 3 years ago

Yeah that's dedication right there

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toomanyjoints69 9 points 3 years ago

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100beep 8 points 3 years ago

I was once given a similar assignment "write a letter from the German trenches in WWI," did the exact same thing.

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k5nn 2 points 3 years ago

did you get in trouble?

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metic 7 points 3 years ago

非常好

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blackstampede -9 points 3 years ago

That's a weird, and kinda creepy question anyway. Fuck em.

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festus 38 points 3 years ago

Ehh it's testing the kids to see how much they learned of the racism Chinese people faced on the West Coast (North America) back then. It's also a good way to have students emphasize empathize with those experiences too by making them write from that perspective.

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spicytuna62 26 points 3 years ago

At the risk of sounding like a dick, I think the word you're looking for is "empathize."

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senicar 10 points 3 years ago

Without the context of the class it's hard to know if "talk about your contributions" is meant as "large parts of America were built on the backs of abused Chinese immigrants," or if it's meant to whitewash the experience. E.g., "the immigrants loved the opportunity to contribute to a free western society!"

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festus 4 points 3 years ago

Hmm, I see what you mean. I know when I was a student I'm pretty sure I had a similar kind of question on this subject and the context there was definitely on the abuse they suffered, but I see how it could also mean the other option.

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dan1101 2 points 3 years ago

The wording is sort of forceful, but I assume the goal of the question is to have the students empathize with how things were for a Chinese immigrant at that time.

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