anyone here speak Chinese?
Allen, a Chinese co-worker of hubby’s has always wanted to come to HKG. He’s lived in China all his life, and while he has traveled to the USA, he’s never been to HKG. For business related reasons, it worked out that he could come this weekend. He has been so excited and asking hubby lots of questions, making all kinds of plans. He also amassed a shopping list for himself and friends; things that aren’t easily attainable in China. He was ready to take the city by storm.
After a flight delay, he and hubby finally landed Friday night and hailed a cab to get to our apartment. They hopped in and the taxi driver looked at the two of them before speaking. Then he began speaking to Allen in Cantonese (only used in HKG) to see where they wanted to go, rather than asking hubby, who is clearly not Chinese. Allen, who only speaks Mandarin (the language of mainland China) and looks very Chinese, looked at hubby and said, “What did he say?”
Hubby was still laughing about it when they got home.
April 26th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
LOVE IT!!!!!!!
Is Hong Kong that different from China???
April 27th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Oh, saw the question above - are you going to answer that one?
See one of the advantages of being white — no one expects you to speak the language.
What about forks and children? At what age should a child be given a fork?
April 27th, 2008 at 7:21 am
The confusion caused by Cantonese/Mandarin never ceases to delight me. I’ve thus far only spoken to one Chinese person in Mandarin and then been informed that they speak English and Cantonese solely. Haha…
To make things even more difficult, within Mandarin itself there are different groups. While in Beijing proper Mandarin is understood, within the city of Fuzhou if you speak to elderly people using proper Mandarin, half the time they won’t even understand you. I guess it’s like the difference between English and Pidgin…they are the same, but you have to work hard to understand them both.
And because asking questions is fun: How is your learning of the language coming?
April 28th, 2008 at 11:36 am
THIS IS HILARIOUS!