There are a lot of East Asian eateries in the Eugene area. Two Chinese ones are located fairly close to campus both down 13th Ave. The writing above Spring House translates to flavor garden. There’s writing next to Lucky Bamboo but the picture isn’t clear enough to make out the characters (and I don’t have time to go there and translate them). Since most of us English speakers can’t read Chinese, I think that the writing is put there to add appeal and authenticity to whatever restaurant puts them up. This is not true for all East Asian eateries, however. There are a lot of cities that have a little China in them where the writing is actually for the Chinese people living there but in this predominantly American population, it feels like it’s more for show.
I’m really liking this class so far and I’ve already learned so much about the languages and cultures of the three EA societies that we are studying. I’ve also learned a lot about English as a result of breaking the other languages down into their constituent parts and analyzing the ways in which they are used. I learn the most from the lectures and not as much from the readings. It’s a lot harder to focus on the text when you have other things that you could be doing and aren’t obliged to be reading, whereas in class it’s a lot easier to focus because of the fewer distractions. Maybe that’s just me and I have a hard time focusing but I’m not sure.
