The Benefits of Being Multilingual

While eating at a restaurant in Guangzhou two weeks ago, my friend and I attempted to flag down the waiter to get the bill for our meal. In mainland China, it is customary to shout “服务员!” (fú​wù​yuán / waiter/waitress) to get a server’s attention. Sometimes, depending on how busy they are or how much attention they are paying to you, you have to shout “服务员” several times before they notice you need attending to.

In Guangzhou, two languages are spoken: Mandarin Chinese (standard) and Cantonese (dialect). English is limited. Because my friend and I both look white, we were usually addressed with either simple Mandarin (你好 [nǐ​hǎo​ / hello], etc) or limited English. No one ever suspected we speak pretty decent Mandarin, thanks to our studies in Beijing, or that I have a working fluency in Cantonese.

After shouting “服务员” several times, we finally got a waiter’s attention. But not before I overheard the manager grumble in Cantonese, “服务员, 服务员. That’s the only Chinese those white people know.”

Clearly, the manager had no idea I knew Cantonese. Or that both of us knew Mandarin.

(Regular text is for English, bold is for Mandarin, italics is for Cantonese.)

Me (to friend): Manager lady just said the only Chinese we know is 服务员.
Friend (to manager): Excuse me? You think the only Chinese we know is 服务员?
Me (to manager): You don’t really think we’d be traveling in China if we didn’t know Chinese, do you?
Manager (to coworker): Did they hear what I said?
Coworker (to manager): Well, they’re speaking in both Mandarin and Cantonese. I’m pretty sure they heard and understood you.
Friend (to manager): Damn straight we heard what you said.
Me (to manager): Just because we’re not Chinese doesn’t mean we can’t speak the language, you know.

I think the manager will think twice before talking about her customers to their faces again, regardless of what language she chooses!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.