A Chinese that do not speak Chinese

I just realized a very pathetic thing about myself minutes ago.

I was text chatting with a friend (which later you will believe is a new supernova of AI) on Google Talks. We talked about some research stuff. We went thru some history and new techniques in that field. Of course, again, I complained the slow development of symbolic AI now.

Just at that moment, that very moment, I realized that I felt much comfortable to discuss research topics with him in English than in Chinese, though we are both native Chinese speakers.

A few days ago, we did the similar thing. We talked about GPU computing, ensemble learning, academic career and academia vs. industry.

But we did in Chinese. And it bugged me - coz 1) I type Chinese slowly 2) half of the words we used in chat are English words. 3) I don't understand or express well in that Pidgin Chinese.

So, a feeling, a pathetic feeling, came up my mind. I am a Chinese guy who cannot discuss research topics in Chinese! Now my Chinese is only used for daily life, like, "I need an egg roll." I cannot express or understand well when talking about research - i even end up meeting Chinese faculty members in my university in English.

But, this is not my fault. I will write a new blog post later to explain why.

Oh, my friend. In 2010, his paper won the best paper award of AAAI, the best AI conference in the world. But he cannot find a faculty position all the time. So he ended up working for Google. If you are a member of faculty searching committee of a university, please do contact my talented friend Dr. Ruo-Yun Huang. Here is his homepage: http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~huangr/