我是香蕉人 (Wo Shi Xiang Jiau Ren)

We are 香蕉人......or Banana man. 

We are not ABC (American-Born-Chinese).

What is 香蕉人 (Xiang Jiao Ren) ?

香蕉人 direct translation to English is "fragrant banana people" or "banana man". But, the true meaning behind 香蕉人 is that it is a term made for category of people who are born chinese but do not know chinese. It could be half 香蕉人 or full 香蕉人 where half is that person do know how to speak in chinese, verbally, but do not know how to read and write in chinese. 

Why name 香蕉人 (Xiang Jiao Ren or banana man) ?

What I understood from all the information that I have gathered, it was named after the banana colour. Most 香蕉人 are from English educated Chinese. Caucasian man who is white in color (as opposed to the Asian "yellow man" or the African "black man").

As we can see in a banana, the outer layer of the banana skin is yellow in colour when ripe while the inner part of the fruit is not white in colour (partially yellow, mostly whitish in colour). It resembles the meaning of 香蕉人 in a way where the appearance of a Chinese guy symbolized by the yellow colour on the skin of a banana but has an English educated background symbolized by the white colour in the fleshy part of the fruit.

I'm in the category of half banana man or 一半香蕉人 (Yi Ban Xiang Jiao Ren).

1. Being 一半香蕉人 has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages are:

• making a conversation more interesting
  
• imposing an indirect training on the body language
• can act dumb sometimes (especially towards conversation that you did not wan to proceed further)
• eavesdropping other people's conversation (very useful in identifying potential gossips about you)
• surprising yet disappointing people that have the conception that Chinese people must know Chinese language
  

The disadvantages are:

• possibility of making the conversation more difficult - unable to understand what others meant
  
• could not perform some jobs that require the usage of Chinese language
• difficulty in reading directions when travelling to countries that fully utilizes Chinese words (such as China and Hong Kong)
• often caused misunderstanding when using the Chinese language which are inappropriate in the spoken context due to lack of Chinese language understanding
• unable to sing Chinese songs when joining friends in karaoke session

2. Three golden words when you are unable to understand what another person is saying but you still want to continue the conversation and you did not want to exposed that you are 香蕉人 are:

• "yuen lai..." (signifies that you understood what he/she is saying)

• "shi meh?" (really?)

• "ohhh...." (also signifies that you understood)

3. Sometimes there is a need to add some catalyst to make the person believe that you understood what he/she is saying and at the same time making him to speak in a simpler Chinese words:

• "shen mo?" (what? or pardon me?) 

Then the other person will repeat what he/she is saying in a clearer manner and then it could help you to understand more of what he is trying to tell you. If you still having a big question mark in your mind, do not bother what he/she is trying to say. Just reply:

• "ohh..." (i see)

 4. When you really do not understand what he/she is trying to tell you but you feel that its a very important message that could affect life and death of a person or could lead to the catastrophic phenomenon , then its time to exposed what you truely are by saying the magic word:

• 我是香蕉人 (wo shi xiang jiao ren - I am a banana man)

5. Sometimes its hard being a 香蕉人 and sometimes its fun being a 香蕉人. But, acceptance of being who we are is the utmost important.

6. Do not feel upset or lacking in confident especially when communicating with others if you are a 香蕉人!! Because you are not the only one! Look at the bright side. Being a 香蕉人, helps you to understand that in communication, whatever language you are using is not really important. What is important is that the message that are being conveyed are successfully passed on to another being. At the same time, creating a world that has no language barriers.

7. Some will say that mastering a language helps to achieve a better communication. But, what do you think of a salesman that is very good in his Chinese language mastery but could not convince his customers to buy his product due to the message did not passed on successfully? It is said that 60%-70% of communication lies on the body language or non-verbal language. If a 香蕉人 is able to make the conversation more interesting in his own way, it will certainly attract the attention his customer and eventually influenced him/her to buy his product.

8. By the way, just for some information on the usefulness of banana fruits, it saves lives. When someone is attacked by asthma, and there are no medicine available nearby at that critical moment, use banana! This is because banana is rich in potassium which helps in body functions such as regulation of blood pressure and of water content in cells, transmission of nerve impulses, digestion, muscle contraction, and heartbeat.

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