No, not at all. I mainly know and learn because I eventually plan to marry into a Chinese family, so it’s important.
I learned when a bunch of us went to a Chinese restaurant in Princeton and our Chinese colleagues taught us how to do it. I think my technique is rather poor, but it works. It paid off when I went out to the Bay Area for work and wound up in a restaurant where they didn’t put silverware out. I felt much better not having to ask for any.
Yes I can, however I have no memory of actually learning to use them; I simply always could. Weird, right? Well, perhaps it’s not so strange. You see, when my mom was pregnant with me, she once sat next to an Asian lady on a bus. I believe it works that way.
And in addition to using chopsticks, I can also play chopsticks on the piano. A rare talent, to be sure.
I learned when I was invited to dinner at the home of my major professor, who is Chinese. Chopsticks was the only “silverware” at hand, so I learned fast. I ate the tripe too.
In China, I picked up a single peanut (yes, shelled) with chopsticks and asked my host if I had graduated; he told me I was at the post-doc level but I think he was just being polite. But, yes, I can use them after a fashion but they probably laugh when I leave.
Yes, and for some reason, I feel really, really weird if presented Chinese food with Western silverware. It just doesn’t feel right to me. They seemed pretty intuitive to me from the get-go–I can’t remember actually learning how to use them, and I have no idea where I learned, as I grew up in a Polish family.
I can use them really well, although I had to reteach myself for a while in Japan because “I was using them the Chinese way.” 
My dad always made ita contest when we were young. My and my sister got pretty good. The ultimate test was picking up a single face down almond sliver in slippery duck sauce.
I learned to use chopsticks in a Chinese restaurant when I was stationed in Germany. Strange but true.
As a quick aside, I was so impressed with the family who owned the restaurant–they’d come to Germany some 15-20 years earlier, and learned not only German but English as well (since there were a fair number of American soldiers in the area).
Yes. I learned it when I was together with a Thai girl. My technique pretty much matches Dunawake’s link. I still say it’s a horribly inefficient way of eating rice, though.
I used to be able to pick up a single grain of rice with chopsticks. Arthritis has made me unable to manipulate them any more.
Not only can I use chopsticks, I can use them with either hand. Or even with both hands, if given 2 sets. 
But I can’t play Chopsticks on a piano. 
Had a Chinese roommate at university. So, oh yeah I can.
She taught me and wasn’t satisfied until I could pick up peas loose on the table. Also we practiced by using them to remove and replace cigarettes from a pack, but that could have been because we all smoked then and they were conveniently at hand.
I was always told though that it was considered ill mannered to use them in such a way that the part above your wrist ever crossed. Never quite understood that part.
I am proud to say I ate at her mothers table without embarrassing myself!
And I can still clean up every grain of rice with them. Though the lacquered Japanese ones leave me a little mystified, I still prefer wood but can make do with plastic in a pinch.
I’m Japanese American, so yeah, I can use them OK. The odd thing is my Dad used to bag on me for using them incorrectly. To this day, I still have no idea what the hell he was talking about. I can pick up peas and slimy tofu.
But it’s so easy to learn how to use chopsticks:
[ol]
[li]Tuck under thumb and hold firmly[/li][li]Add second chopstick - hold it as you hold a pencil[/li][li]Hold first chopstick in original position move the second one up and down. Now you can pick up anything[/li][/ol]
please try your Nice Chinese Food With Chopsticks the traditional and typical of Chinese glonous history and cultual.
I learned how as a kitten, but I’m still a bit clumsy. I can manage to eat sticky rice with them, but I get impatient. My sister can use them in either hand, which impresses the heck out of me.
The Chinese restaurants we used to go to when I was a kid always had out chopsticks. You had to request a fork.
For a few years I used chopsticks that were bound together with an elastic so they worked kinda like tweezers. I guess I was about 8 before I was able to use them regularly.
The one thing that always gave me problems was rice. I love rice, but just could not eat the stuff with chopsticks. Then I learned that it helps if you eat out of a bowl instead of off a plate.
I have two pairs of nice rosewood chopsticks that I use at home regularly.
I’m very good with chopsticks. I lived in Korea for about 8 years, and often got compliments from Koreans on my mad chopstick skillz (apparently my technique is textbook).
Me, too! I learned chopsticks when I was in about 7th grade. We were living in Pensacola, FL at the time, and my parents’ friends were really into cooking Chinese food all the time.
In fact, my New Year’s Resolution for 2007 was:
I will only use chopsticks to eat any Chinese food I may consume during 2007.
Silly, yes, but so much more fun than “I will lose 10 lb”.
I don’t know if my method with chopsticks is inelegant or not, but I can eat with reasonable speed and dexterity with chopsticks. I’m actually better at eating noodles with chopsticks than with a fork, knife, and spoon, so I often feel a wee bit awkward when out at Italian restaurants. “Where are the chopsticks?” ::worried face::