"Can't pay" = A toast!

Two tourists from the west were visiting China. They were having dinner at a Chinese restaurant where a wedding banquet was taking place in the same hall.

In keeping with Chinese tradition, the newlyweds were going from table to table to toast their guests. At each table, everyone would stand up, raise their glasses to the happy couple, and everyone would say, "干杯！" (pronounced "gan bei")

The western tourists were watching with curiosity as they knew no Mandarin. As the toasting continued, they began to get rather agitated.

As the couple finished toasting the last table of guests, the tourists went up to the couple and said, "If you can't pay, let us know. We will pay the bill for you!"

干杯 (gan bei) in Mandarin literally means "empty glass" or "bottoms up" in English. Since these tourists knew no Mandarin, they thought the newlyweds were telling each table of guests "can't pay!" Both phrases sound similar.

To those who know Mandarin, this story is a classic case of miscommunication. Similar sounding words and phrases in different languages can have vastly different meanings. The moral of the story is: do not assume anything. Ask for clarification.

Happy cross-cultural communication!

Is Chinese taking over as the universal language?

Is Mandarin becoming the universal language over English? Maybe not yet, but much of the world does speak Mandarin, especially considering that China's population is already one-sixth of the world. That does not include all the Chinese diaspora all over the world!

This article tells us that Lao villagers may not have much money, but education is a priority. What is more important is that, to the average Lao parent, learning Mandarin is more important than learning English. Considering what a great influence China has on Lao economy, what Lao parents are doing is probably wise. After all, China is a huge market both domestically and internationally.

A Malaysian businessman in Vietnam told me that he sent his children to a Taiwanese international school and gave them extra lessons in English. He felt that English and Mandarin (or Chinese) were essential to their ability to succeed in life. Today, his son is studying in America and his daughter has just completed her time in Europe. She is also learning French.

Every parent wants the best education for his children. In today's fast-changing and fast-moving global economy, it looks likely that Chinese is catching up with English as the universal language of the business world. Thousands in China attend classes to learn English. Chinese students are all over the world in the quest to get ahead.

In South Korea alone, there are 80,000 students from China studying there. A Chinese pastor living in Seoul commented that sometimes he thought he was in China, rather than in South Korea. All around him he would hear Chinese being spoken.

While knowing one language is good, being bilingual or even multilingual is even better. Effective communication is a fact of life. We all want to avoid misunderstandings. Being able to communicate in another language helps cut down the risk of miscommunication. Knowing Chinese will help you communicate with much of the world! Why not start learning Chinese today?

You can find many different packages to learn Mandarin here.

Have fun learning Chinese!

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Miss Communication, Miss Understanding

The English is not perfect, but the message conveyed more than makes up for the less than perfect spelling and grammar. In any language, let's be careful what we say!

Have fun learning another language!

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