You learn some....you forget some....

I admit, I've never been good at Cantonese, although it has improved significantly since I started working for a certain organization. I could never speak it that well, but I understood a lot more and I had the confidence to speak it.

But since I've removed myself from that environment and found myself in another position, my Cantonese language skills have dropped quite a bit, as well as my confidence in my ability to speak it.

So...the other day when an old Asian gentleman was spotted wandering the hall outside my office, a colleague and I decided to see if we could help him. He didn't speak English very well but we were able to understand that he was looking for a room number, that was probably in the other building. It was difficult trying to tell him that he had to go back down to the main floor, go to the other building and then go back up. But I managed to tell him to follow me.

Was he Chinese? I didn't think he was, but my colleague asked me to try, so with hesitation I asked him if he spoke Cantonese. Glee!! He understood (although he had another accent - probably spoke another dialect)! Problem was, I didn't know how to tell him in Cantonese either, the directions to get to the other elevator. Heck, I didn't even know how to get to the other building myself! And how do I say "building" in Cantonese??

So both my colleague and I went to the main floor with him, and luckily we spotted a volunteer (you have to love volunteers), and we asked her to take him to where he wanted to go. Though she didn't speak Cantonese either, but we knew the room number he was looking for. So off they went, and back to my office I went, regretting how poor my Cantonese language skills really are.

I guess I haven't really learned that much since I didn't even know how to give directions.

Hmmm.....

Parlez-vous français?








Wait....my French sucks too....