Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Insult and injury

I got a call the other day from some company trying to sell me something. After letting me humiliate myself in worse-than-pidgin Mandarin the woman at the other end stopped me to say: “Your Chinese is terrible”.

It’s really come to something when people cold-call you to say how bad your Chinese is. But such is my life.

I think my poor teacher is completely fed up of me. I seem to forget words quicker than I learn them. Of course, I should practise more but every time I try even the simplest conversations I’m struck completely dumb – in every sense – by the person’s incomprehensible reply. “Ting bu dong” I say – I don’t understand.

Then, to make matters worse, more often than not they don’t even understand what I’m trying to say when I say I don’t understand.

The sooner I teach China to speak English the better.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe you should drop your posh headingley accent when talking in chinese!!.
Paul.

4:36 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh forgot, happy belated New Year, or should I say "Xin nian yu kuai"
Paul.

4:38 pm  

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