A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
So let me get this right - when I offered my linguistic skills for free as a volunteer, they weren't interested and treated me like an uneducated, unskilled labourer. But when they finally did need a someone who can speak several languages fluently, the first thing they do is to try to talk about how much they can pay me? Go figure. This is the classic Joshua Bell effect. If you give away something of great value for free - no one will appreciate it. If you put a price on it - like the US$100 seats at Joshua Bell's concert or the fee they will be paying me to do this event - then suddenly people appreciate you for what you're worth.
It confuses me - but such is human nature. Go figure.
there were some other interpretation to the Joshua bell "effect" , like under different circumstance people reaction and mentality is different. but how u interpret is also so true, the given for free is ironically not appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThanks Vienna - yeah, people are far less likely to appreciate something that is given away for free. Anyway, that's how I am going to get paid work during the Olympics instead of working as a volunteer - go figure.
DeletePerhaps I should then stop making available for free download, the ebooks of my compiled blog work, and start charging high prices through a paywall, since I write well enough!
DeleteThen I can also start charging for long comments which people find useful!
Just kidding.
I'm in agreement with you and Vienna Mei, that like you've just experienced, given the right circumstance, people would react with a different mentality and pay me handsomely for what I love doing.
For example, in the wrong circumstance, Minecraft the sandbox-builder video-game would not be earning that kind of money, but instead be panned as cheap graphics and mindless repetition.
I just haven't found that income circumstance yet.
Just back from my first corporate hosting gig and boy, I am ready to spit some venom about PRCs who were behaving in an absolutely DISGRACEFUL manner. Yikes. I was expecting the worst but even they somehow managed to surpass my expectations.
Delete5000 years of civilisation does not make one civilised.
DeleteI think it's a big mistake to imagine that someone, just because one has Chinese parents one automatically inherits Chinese culture. There are things I did inherit from my parents - the shape of my eyes, the colour of my eyes and hair, my skin tone, my facial structure - all those things that make me look distinctively Chinese. But get this: I speak much better Mandarin than my mother - she did not do Chinese at school and because I have spent time in China, I know far more about Chinese culture, history, geography and society than my parents. I have that wealth of knowledge because I spent time and effort gaining access to that knowledge - it didn't just 'happen' because oh I was born Chinese. Likewise, I have a sister who comes to me for help when she needs stuff translating into Chinese as her Chinese sucks big time - and like, we're both in the same family with the same parents, why does her Chinese suck whilst mine is totally fluent?
DeleteSo I say, that 5000 years of civilization is not automatically built into one's brain just because one is Chinese - it is not some app that is automatically installed in your brain just because you have Chinese parents.
I have met PRC people who are gracious, intellectual, charming and most civilized - it is down to the individual to make the right choices to make themselves civilized. It boils down to the kind of education you have, the kind of aspirations you have, the kind of person you want to be.
Sorry for the rant but this is a topic I have such strong feelings on!
Two things come to my mind:
Delete- I was studying Geography of Southeast Asia back in the university, and remember the lecturer telling us that Indian influence was so pervasive in this region in earlier times, especially Indonesia, that was how first Buddhism (think Majapahit and Borobudur) arrived followed by Islam (largest Muslim nation today).
In contrast, despite the Chinese being around at the same time as the same Indian traders in the past, little evidence of their presence remains, until modern times.
They came, brought their own culture, kept to themselves, married local women into their bloodlines, and left.
Perhaps we see this diehard habit persists today, especially on the mainland, possibly also the diaspora (Chinatowns).
- I read a comment from a Chinese intellectual that the Chinese are the harshest critics of their own people.
That surprised me then, and still amazes me today.
Perhaps only when a society is full of evils, unusually righteous people appear to martyr themselves.
Like antibodies appearing in response to deadly pathogens.
Perhaps that's why every year still, there are still dissenters left to continue to vanish, not to be heard from again.
Possibly China is finally in danger of wiping out their endangered species of persons of conscience.
Then when there are no natural antibodies left to defend the Dragon… I shudder to think of the long, slow cancer.
Hi LIFT,
ReplyDeleteThere is another possible explanation of why you were slotted into a mindless volunteer role in the Olympics instead of making use of your multi-lingual skills which you offered for free.
Have you spoken to the volunteer recruiters to see what positions were open for volunteers? I am guessing here that only simple mindless roles are available to volunteers. In large scale events, e.g. the Olympics, the organizers probably have set aside a budget to hire professionals for the "skilled" roles, e.g. official translators. Viewed from this perspective, your volunteer assignment is just the result of bureaucracy, i.e. the head of volunteer recruitment did not want to encroach on the scope covered by someone else.
Cheers, WD.
Hi WD, I did check that possibility out as I do know people who did manage to get roles. And YES they are always on the look out for people with language skills because this is an international event that will require people with language skills. I did summarize the story a lot as my vlog rant was already 8 mins long and originally it was over 10 mins and I had to cut it. Here's the longer explanation. YES there are roles specifically in the MEDIA SERVICES DEPARTMENT where journalists need to speak to athletes, participants, coaches, officials etc and they need stand translators standing by to facilitate those conversations. They do not have the budget to hire professional translators and if the volunteers don't speak the right foreign languages, there's this terrible assumption that British people (and American people) do make: "of course everyone speaks English" - which tends to be true to a limited degree if you're dealing with people from Europe but what about places like China? Russia?
DeleteThe priority seems to have been given to young people who desperately need work experience - so in my case, a young unemployed person who has a basic grasp of French and Spanish would get priority over someone like me who speaks 10 languages as I don't "need" this work experience, but the unemployed person does.
There's also another explanation as well - I hope you can watch this clip about young Nosa, it shows just how totally disorganized everything is. I won't be surprised if they messed up my application just like hers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18809811
Ironically, YES I have found paid work for the Olympics as a translator dealing with the sponsors' VIPs so at least I am involved in some degree and can say yes I was involved, though the whole process of volunteering makes me believe that I shouldn't and wouldn't volunteer again (ref: my rant in Tamil in the vlog).
Hi LIFT,
DeleteThanks for your clarification regarding the volunteer positions. Well, I guess all's well that end's well for you since you have a paid gig instead of the volunteer one at the Olympics.
Btw, I am impressed by young Nosa's attitude. She's someone I would give a job to. Few would have followed up patiently and carefully counter-checking each step of the way like she did!
Cheers, WD.
Glad you were able to watch that news report on Nosa - like, good grief, poor Nosa! Goodness me, alamak!! How that poor girl was treated - that's how ridiculously badly organized the system is!!
DeleteAnyway, I don't know if how interested you were in the Vancouver Winter Olympics but I will do a post on it v soon.
Here you go WD: http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/story-from-2010-vancouver-winter.html
Delete