This is what a Chinese girl has to say.

[Ryu]

It's about the talk I had with a Chinese girl 2 days ago.

I was using my laptop in a cafe, then a Chinese girl I met earlier on a bus turned up, so we started talking.

After a while, she said she'd actually modeled for a Chinese photo studio, and she was eager to show me her photos.

So, I passed her my laptop and asked to show me the website which has her photos.

Instead of typing-in, she went to Google, then started typing the website address in the search bar.
Being a little baffled, I said to her "Why don't you type-in the domain name in the address bar? That's where it's supposed to be..."

She was a bit annoyed by my comment and said "I like Google...".

Anyway, she got to the website from the search result and showed me her sexy photos.

Whilst I enjoyed seeing her photos, I also noticed that the website title was written in both Chinese and English. The domain name was exactly that of English.

Thinking that it'd be difficult for many Chinese people to spell xxxstudio.com in English, I asked her "Do you know you can nowadays use Chinese characters in a web address?"

Her answer was sharp. Instead of answering my question with Yes and No, she said "I don't like them" (yes, it's her mother tongue. and she's not even so comfortable in English).

Not wanting to disturb the good mood any further, I just said "ok...." and brought the topic back to her photos.

Yes, she had a bit of temper and I could see that from the way she talked to waitresses, etc. But it was only when I mentioned about domain names she appeared unhappy towards me, which I found rather strange.

This is just one example... one person... one girl... She doesn't represent Chinese people as a whole. But let me tell you, my friends.

I wasn't impressed (though I was by her photos).

[Rubber Duck]

Perhaps if you wanted a representative opinion, you should have chatted up a girl who Liked Baidu!

[jacksonm]

I think I must have met this same Chinese girl before.

.

[yanni]

Can we see the pics?

[Ryu]

Can we see the pics?

Sorry. I cannot remember the ascii domain name. And I didn't bookmark it. But mate, that kind of photos were not quite what I was expecting from a Chinese girl!

[touchring]

This is natural, the chinese maybe one of the worst english speakers on the planet, but they can read abc. And they understand the word "studio".

Individuals aside, companies tend to be more conscious of having the correct "domain". Their marketing consultants would not agree to a random name that looks "cool"!. :p

By the way, i would expect to see a lot of mix chinese with latin names, e.g. 我爱beijing2008.com. Such names maybe considered "cool".

[Fka200]

I've had the same exact experience with a couple people and I even ended up arguing with one person (full out argument) regarding IDNs. Some people just really take IDNs offensively...

Thanks for sharing that story!

[Jay]

This is all psychological. Some people regard the Internet as their contact with the West and their way of escaping the traditions of their culture, particularly among some young people. I think this is why you are getting this reaction among some. These are the ones who are already most literate with the web and don't need IDN. You'll probably find that they also don't like songs in their own language and like to eat at McDonalds (in between having their sexy photos taken at the downtown fashion studio!).

When it comes to the vast masses (the ones we are holding out for), it will be a different story.

[markits]

This is all psychological. The answer of "not interested" mostly means she wanted to end the conversation with you immediately. She might not be understanding what you were exactly talking about, and she might be a smart ass girl that doesn't like to be taught about new thing by a stranger especially on a subject related to her own language that she thought she knew better than non-natives.

[rhys]

Clearly Ryu, I can only judge this incident once I have the web address for those photos. Go look her up dude - you aren't TRYING HARD ENOUGH.

[Neptune]

Less the photos part, I had a similar experience with a lady at Domainfest regarding russian IDNs. I think it came down to the fact that she didnt want to be taught how to navigate the internet in her own language. It was really interesting because rather than hearing me out she was immediately defensive and assumed I was regarding Russia as an inferior place that needed guidance on the internet.

I think it goes to show that on some level you have to wait and let people figure it out themselves and have that "ahh" moment when it starts to make sense.

[jacksonm]

I think it goes to show that on some level you have to wait and let people figure it out themselves and have that "ahh" moment when it starts to make sense.


Other people's ideas are always stupid.

.

[websjapan]

がんばってリュさんね！

did you talk to her in english or chinese or japanese? ive found chinese speakers of english to have fairly good spoken english. they're certainly not afraid to voice an opinion anyways, which is vastly different from japan!

[pspdropship]

instead of typing the url of the website, she used google to find it, that's what most people with little knowledge of internet in China always do, by "little knowledge" i mean they know the basics, e.g. surfing, chatting, googling, making comments... but IDN is something beyond.

her reaction only means she doesn't want you to know that she has no knowledge of IDNs, and she doesn't like to be taught, especially when China is still a "developing" third world country... she felt a bit humiliated, that's all.

I'm from China and I've studied in the west, I'm quite familiar with that feeling

[Asiaplay]

One dizzy, arrogant and harsh to say ignorant Chinese girl who is trying to shrug off her own background to try to be cool (I guess living in Japan) who probably doesn't spend more than 10 cents a year on purchases on the internet - thank god does not change how search engines work and therefore the value of idns...

But on the positive side, she can log onto the English version of my site if she likes (as she probably uses English to search to be cool too when she can) and then switch over to the Chinese IDN site when she has trouble understanding / reading the English one.

But humorous story and thanks for sharing - does give me a giggle :p .
Worry is if the search engines think a keyword in English should match a search in native languages (that hasn't happened yet ;) )

Cheers, Asiaplay

[Drewbert]

Yes, she sounds like she has a very high opinion of herself.

But apart from that, get back to your laptop and look for the URL in your history file. The boys are getting restless.

[Ryu]

LOL, that was half a year ago. All histories are gone, mate.

BTW, I met her in Si Chuan, China. We spoke in English.