Language, please!

This weekend just gone, my Dearly Beloved and I played host to Jason, a Chinese teacher presently in Australia on an exchange visit.

Jason teaches English at a school in central China; most young Chinese are keen to get ahead in life and live a more "luxurious" Western lifestyle, so having good English skills is seen as vital to getting the kind of employment that can facilitate this ambition. My Dearly Beloved, being amongst other things, an Australian who teaches Chinese to young Australians wanting to learn a second language, has taken a number of student groups over to China to provide some cultural context to the language. The school at which Jason teaches and my Dearly Beloved's school have a sister school relationship; and so, this weekend, we showed Jason some of the sights of Melbourne.

It has been an interesting experience meeting Jason. He English skills are very good, and he displays a quick-wittedness and sense of humour in English that can take you unawares because of his normally gentle and disarming manner. For example, Jason very kindly offered to cook us dinner on Saturday night, and whipped up a beautiful dish of stir-fried noodles, vegetables, and lamb. As I was watching him expertly stir the food in the wok with a pair of chopsticks, I decided to be a smart-arse and said:

"What is it with Chinese civilisation? You guys invented paper, and gunpowder, and government, and a whole heap of other stuff. How come you never invented the knife and fork?"

A slow smile spread across Jason's face, and without taking his eyes off the wok, he said quietly: "I don't know. How come you guys never learned to use chopsticks?"

I had to laugh. Not only was it a great comeback, it also made a cogent point: us Westerners have learned lot of things from Chinese civilisation, yet those aspects which we've never managed to make our own we have tended to adopt a rather superior attitude towards. Jason's riposte was a lovely little lesson in humility.

Mind you, it appears that the Australian idiom has been causing Jason some head-scratching moments. As we were eating the meal Jason had prepared, and were engaging in general conversation, he asked in his usual unassuming manner: "Can you tell me what wanker means?"

I nearly chocked on my noodles. Oh dear, I thought, some of the kids at school have been introducing Jason to the local colloquialisms...

Fortunately, my Dearly Beloved was able to explain the meaning using a compound Chinese term that meant "to use by hand" and "the airplane" (I'm sure you'll be able to work it out!). Don't ask me how she knew; I don't want to know! Jason considered my Dearly Beloved's explanation for a moment, then enquired: "So if we're driving somewhere, and someone in another car does something stupid, I should call him a wanker?"

We hastily assured him that he should not do so - not unless he wants to risk getting into trouble!

Jason has dubbed me Wenlong, which (very roughly) means "wise dragon". My Dearly Beloved is Li Shan, or "beautiful mountain". Jason is "Golden Monkey" - I'm still trying to get my head (and tongue) around the Chinese for that! But it was very pleasant hosting him for the weekend, and as he'll be here for a few more weeks, I'm sure there will be further opportunities to help each other around the traps and pitfalls of our respective languages!

Talk to you soon,

BB.

Quote for the Day: The instant a wise man understands that he is wise, he becomes a fool. (Confucius)