The Language

I arrived in the restaurant, on my own for the first time, without needing to rely on April’s fluency in Chinese. I had a bundle of phrases and words up my sleeve and ordered a number of items from the menu in Chinese! Woohoo, I overcame a big hurdle!

Up to this point I had ordered various things at restaurants and bars with April, but this was my first time doing it on my own and to my surprise they understood me, although a few wry smiles broke out on her face as I got the words out. Haha!

I have learnt around 15 – 20 phrases or words in the three weeks I have been here. Having April is a wonderful resource and without her correction in my pronunciation of words I wouldn’t have learnt as much as what I have now.

Living in Shanghai means I need to learn Mandarin which is the official Chinese language and the dialect Shanghainese. Most of what I have learnt is Mandarin but I have a couple of words in the local dialect particular when I need to shoo away the pesky watch sellers in the city. “Nian ke!” I say, which literally means “Get the hell out of my way!” Funnily enough it has worked a treat so far, especially seeing the shocked look on their faces when a Laowai (foreigner or white man) can speak their language!