It’s happened more times than I can count here. I begin a conversation with someone in Chinese, quite pleased with my ability to speak and understand the language. It doesn’t take long, however, for the “uh oh!” moment to occur…that moment when the person I am speaking with says something I don’t understand, or uses words I might understand too quickly. My immediate reaction, often out loud, at that moment, is “uh oh”. My confused expression and lack of response then prompts an equally befuddled look from the person I am speaking to. The fact that I can now say a few common phrases quite well in Chinese makes these moments more and more frequent.
It happened just a few minutes ago at Dairy Queen. I was ordering a small oreo blizzard with vanilla ice cream (yep, they have Dairy Queen in Beijing…gotta love it). With the help of the picture menu I placed my order, and then the clerk behind the counter said something completely unrecognizable to me. I turned to Amy who was standing right beside me and said, “uh oh”. Her look of utter bewilderment matched my own and several seconds of awkward silence followed.
There are several possible reactions following the “uh oh” moment. Sometimes, the person I am speaking to begins saying more things I don’t understand in rapid fire Chinese, hoping that I’ll understand something of what they are saying. Those who know English may switch languages and put my pathetic attempts at Chinese out of their misery. Lastly, some people simply wait to see what I will say, leaving me to flounder for a response.
The clerk at Dairy Queen today chose option number three. Luckily 听不懂(ting bu dong), which means I don’t understand, is one of the few things I do know how to say and I remembered it at that moment. The clerk patiently used simpler words(which I did understand) to review my order and I happily paid for my blizzard and headed off to have many more “uh oh” moments with people all over Beijing.
