许多财大气粗的中国父母有能力将子女送到海外就读大学，因此越来越多的中国学生到加拿大大学留学。但是在土生土长的加拿大大学生Kevin Jia看来，中国留学生难以融入本地社会，并且在很大程度上被认为缺乏社交能力，他们甚至连与说不同母语的同种族裔学生都很少交流。— 他们非常勤勉，但同时似乎又远离课堂
作者：Kevin Jia
最近，我和某位约克大学学生的父亲进行了一次有趣的谈话。在20分钟的对话中，这位加拿大人士表达了对儿子无法和约克大学的大量国际留学生尤其是中国留学生结交朋友的失望之情。
I recently had an interesting conversation with a Canadian parent of a York university student. In our 20-minute dialogue, he was disappointed that his son couldn’t make friends with the scores of international students at York, particularly those from China.
据这位父亲称：“儿子告诉我，如今的大学校园和我们当时的校园有很大差别。很多中国学生基本上不与我们交流。”
“My son says; Dad, they just won’t talk to me,” the parent said. “The classrooms of university are a lot different than when I was in school.”
作为加拿大的一名大学生，我深知在大学学生的人口特征在近年来发生了很大变化。目前，所有加拿大大学都在充分利用有利可图的留学生市场。今年的国际留学生已经为加拿大经济贡献$80亿元，其中大部分是来自于学费和住宿费。在短短10年中，加拿大大学及专上学院的国际留学生数量就增加了近一倍，从2002年的13.6万人增至目前的逾26.5万人。
As a university student in Canada, I am aware that the post-secondary demographic has drastically changed within the past few years. The lucrative market of foreign students is being exploited by every Canadian university. This year, international students have contributed $8 billion to Canada’s economy, most of which being tuition and housing. In just a decade, Canada has nearly doubled the amount of international student in university and colleges, from 136,000 in 2002 to more than 265,000 today.
源源不断涌入的国际留学生已经改变了加拿大大学的社会行为。一名加拿大学生用负面语言描述了当今中国留学生的现状，认为他们面临孤立的社交困境。
The influx of international students has ultimately changed the social behavior of the Canadian universities. One student paints a grim picture of what Chinese international students are like – social isolation.
这名学生称：“他们从来不说英语，他们只和其他不说英语的孩子们来往。”
“They never speak English. They only hang around with other non-speaking English kids,” says one student.
作为一个西方大学生，我对中国留学生的印象是在自习室里，身着名牌的他们会坐在一起摆弄笔记本电脑和各种苹果产品。在食堂里，他们会用普通话相互玩笑和叫喊。在课堂上，他们会坐在教室前排疯狂地做笔记，但却从不会发言或举手。这是一种只有亲眼目睹才会了解的奇怪现象——他们非常勤勉，但同时似乎又远离课堂。在社交媒体上，他们用普通话进行相互攻击，但只用中文发帖。
As a Western University student, I have my personal view towards these Chinese international students. In study areas, they often carry brand names and sit in groups with their tablets and Apple gadgets. In cafeterias, they laugh amongst themselves, yelling in Mandarin. In class, they’re furiously scribbling down notes at the front of the class, never uttering a word or raising a hand. It’s a strange dichotomy that can only be witnessed firsthand—they’re attentive but simultaneously disengaged from the learning experience. On social media they continue their Mandarin assault, only posting in Chinese.
当然这其中也有例外，比如在我的经济学课程班上有一个上海女孩，她永远都能正确回答出每一个问题的答案。在我的宿舍里还有一个深圳男孩，虽然他英语蹩脚但却只唱美国歌。但这些情况都很少见。
Of course there are outliers, such as one Shanghainese girl in my economics class that answers and knows the answer to every single question ever. And there was a Shenzhen boy who lived in my dormitory that only sings American songs with broken English, but those are few and far between.
中国留学生的“非英语”行为令一些加拿大学生反感。既然你来到加拿大，为什么还不说该死的英语？
Some Canadian students find their ‘non-English language’ behavior revolting. You come to Canada, why don’t you speak the damn language?
中国留学生很少走出他们的华人社交圈，其中主要的原因是因为他们缺乏语言技能。而难以和加拿大人进行基本沟通的留学生几乎不可能尽情享受异国他乡的生活。
Only rarely do Chinese international students ever branch out from their Chinese social circles. The obvious reason is language deficiency. It’s nearly impossible for international students to enjoy living in a foreign country while lacking basic language skills to communicate with Canadians.
但是别误会我的意思，虽然这听起来像是包括我在内的加拿大人只挑中国留学生的刺，但我们并不歧视他们。一般来说，来自印度、韩国和日本的留学生也不常说英语，且通常也会有类似社交现象。不过以我的经验来看，中国留学生常常表现得更加疏离和保守。
Don’t get me wrong. It may sound like Canadians, I included, only pick on Chinese students, but we don’t discriminate. In general, international students--Indians, Koreans, Japanese—all usually behave similarly so long as they barely speak English. But, in my experience, Chinese students are usually far more reserved and conservative.
前几天，Maclean的一篇文章吸引了我的注意，这篇文章的名字叫《国际留学生眼中的加拿大》。该文章称调查显示，有91%的留学生对加拿大的学习生活感到满意，甚至还有96%的留学生建议其他学生到加拿大留学，这一令结果我深感震惊，出乎我之预料。
A few days ago, I came across a Maclean’s article that caught my eye; the subject--how international students feel about Canada. Expecting fairly dismal results, I was stunned that 91% of foreign students were satisfied with studying in Canada and 96% even recommended studying in Canada.
由于我会说中文，我偶尔会和中国留学生进行交谈。我一开始总是说英语，然后突然转为说普通话，这时候他们常常会震惊地说“你会讲中文啊?!”，这是很有趣的事情。
Since I am able to speak Chinese, I occasionally converse with Chinese international students. I approach by speaking English, and then stun them by speaking Mandarin. “你会讲中文啊?!” It’s great fun.
我问他们，“你们对加拿大感觉如何？你们喜欢加拿大么？”而他们的回答通常都是“无聊”。加拿大郊区湛蓝的天空和清新的空气的确与中国城市繁华和拥挤的水泥丛林相去甚远。我至今仍记得我表弟曾说：加拿大好山、好水、好无聊（空气很清新，水源很干净，但却太无聊）！
I ask them, “What do you think of Canada? Do you like Canada?” The usual response: boring. The blue skies and crisp air of Canadian suburbia are a far cry from the bustling and crowded concrete jungles of urban China. I even recall my cousin saying: Jianada;hao shan, hao shui, hao wuliao (very clean air, very clean water, very damn boring)!
由于相关的调查结果令我深感困惑，我不禁怀疑自己是否对国际留学生存有偏见。我和某些中国留学生的谈话是否让我给所有中国留学生贴上错误的标签？
Deeply baffled by the survey results, I questioned if I had been prejudice in my perspective of international students. In my conversations with some Chinese students, had I incorrectly labelled an entire demographic?
极度渴望答案的我得出了自己的结论，那些受访的国际留学生根本不敢说真话。试想一下，如果你住在别人家里，你会对其装修评头论足么？
Desperate for answers, I arrived at my own conclusion. International students are afraid to speak the truth with the surveyors. Think about it, if you were living in someone else’s house, would you ever comment on the décor?
我的许多朋友都已经对国际留学生的自我隔离现象越来越不满。虽然这些留学生在加拿大并不快乐，但他们仍然继续进入加拿大的顶尖学校，从而导致加拿大本土人才遭边缘化。
For a lot of my friends, they’ve grown impatient with the social attitude of the international students. They are unhappy to be here yet they continue to marginalize Canada’s own domestic talent by getting into top Canadian schools.
我的一个朋友认为加拿大学生必须和留学生进行竞争并不公平，他指着我说：“你要知道，你是出生在这里，你本应得到优先照顾。这些留学生不会说英语，也不喜欢加拿大。我们应该彻底杜绝他们到加拿大留学。”
“I don’t think it is fair we have to compete with them,” said one friend. “You know, you were born here” as he pointed at me. “You should receive priority over international students and we got to worry about our own first. They don’t speak the language, and they don’t like being here. We should stop letting them come altogether.”
那样或许会很不错，但同样重要的是我们不能草率行事。如果加拿大想要继续成为改革、创新和自由思考方面的领导者，我们就必须吸引国际人才。这是一个令人左右为难的局面，要想继续保持辉煌，我们就不得不让本土人才受点委屈。
That very well may be, but it’s also important we don’t jump the gun here. If Canada wants to continue to be a leader in innovation, creation, and free thinking, we must attract international talent. It’s a catch-22; to stay at the top, we have to marginalize our own homegrown talent.
只要看看加拿大职场未来的发展方向就能理解这一点。毫无疑问加拿大将继续允许大量外国劳工和移民在加拿大定居，因此职位的竞争将变得越来越激烈。
Just look at where the future of the Canadian workplace is headed. Canada will unquestionably continue to allow scores of foreign workers and immigrants to settle in Canada and as a result, top jobs are becoming heavily contested.
此外，鉴于加拿大学生的学业压力与欧洲或亚洲学生相比可谓小巫见大巫，让加拿大学生面对一些竞争未必是坏事。长话短说，国际留学生对加拿大的未来至关重要。但问题是，这种做法是否利大于弊？对此我也不知道。
And besides, introducing a bit of competition for Canadian students might be a good thing, considering academic pressures are laughable in comparison to our European or Asian counterparts. Long story short, international students are vital to the future of Canada. But the question is, do the benefits of harboring them outweigh the costs? Your guess is as good as mine.
鸣谢：大中报
