Career Advice [go to China to teach ESL; come back and get full time hours]

[eugenetswong]

Anyways, I assume that you probably are aware of that from what little background you've told us of yourself (isn't Wong more of a Cantonese name? ), but the final decision is up to you and I'd like to wish you a safe journey no matter where you choose to go. YI LU PING AN! 一路平安!

I don't quite know it all, but I do know some of it. I really appreciate you all discussing this with me.

My last name probably is Cantonese. That's the impression I get. However, I honestly don't know. I just know that my dad's side of the family is Foo Chow, and my mom's side is Fookien. I don't know the correct transliterations of the backgrounds, but you probably know what I mean.

I just asked my dad, and he says that "Wong" comes from all over China.

 

[Celticgirl]

The mandarin is different as well. Trust me. The accent usually found in the main land has been diluted down due to the mix with Taiwanese and Mandarin.

I've had students from different parts of the mainland also tell me that there are several dialects within China itself, and that they sometimes struggle to understand someone from another part of the country. I imagine it to be similar to my attempts to understand people in England when I visited a few years back. Most of the time, I could get the gist of what they were saying but occasionally I got nothing from it but blahblahblah. One woman asked me if I was from "the French part" of Canada because I had so much trouble understanding her (obviously flawless) English.

 

[CougarKing]

Taiwanese is a bastardized version of Fu Ken just in case anyone is curious.

Yeah. I think you mean Ho Kien or Fu jian Hua/福建話. The proximity of Taiwan to Fujian province explains that.

For example,

while a Mandarin speaker would say: WO SHI XUE SHENG.
        a Hokien speaker would say:    GUA JI HAK SENG (excuse my pinyin)

while both would read it or write it simply as: 我是學生.

Also, the majority of overseas Chinese or Hua Qiao in neigbouring Southeast Asian nations like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines- where they have built commercial and financial empires like that owned by Henry Sy and the Gonkongwei families of the Philippines- are ethnically Fujianese or can trace their roots to Fujian.

 

[Celticgirl]

Living in most Asian countrys will DRASTICALY slow down your security clearance. In my case 3 1/2 years!

Do you know why it took that long? I came back from Taiwan in '99 (just long enough to fit into that 10-year window) and was told my clearance could take 6-18 months. They are requesting that CSIS waive the clearance, but I doubt very much that this will happen. I just hope it is much quicker than the time frame I was given.  :-\

 

[George Wallace]

Do you know why it took that long? I came back from Taiwan in '99 (just long enough to fit into that 10-year window) and was told my clearance could take 6-18 months. They are requesting that CSIS waive the clearance, but I doubt very much that this will happen. I just hope it is much quicker than the time frame I was given.  :-\

Once again......It takes so long for some of these to be completed, and some cases never completed, due to the fact that there has to be Criminal Checks done.  If a country does not have the proper "Agreements" with Canada and allow or cooperate in doing these "Checks" or in any way delays them, then your Security Clearance is also DELAYED. 

 

[garb811]

Further to the security clearance/reliability status issue, these are dependent upon your continued need for said clearance/reliability status.  If you aren't a member of the CF or work for the Canadian Government in the capacity which requires it, the clearance will be administratively cancelled.  Once you come back and reapply, the clearance/reliability status must also be re-initiated.  While there is scope for this to be done quickly in cases where the time since it was cancelled is short, good luck with that if you go to mainland China.

As others have said once you get outside Canada the processing times increase exponentially so you will find yourself sidelined for a very, very long time.

 

[Celticgirl]

Once again......It takes so long for some of these to be completed, and some cases never completed, due to the fact that there has to be Criminal Checks done.  If a country does not have the proper "Agreements" with Canada and allow or cooperate in doing these "Checks" or in any way delays them, then your Security Clearance is also DELAYED. 

:crybaby:

Thanks, George. It's not easy to accept, but it seems it's just matter of waiting...and waiting...and waiting.