muirm Posted January 12, 2011 at 11:17 AM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 11:17 AM I was in the elevator heading up to my hotel room in Beijing when two women came onboard. I glanced at them and smiled, and then one turned to the other and started "外国人都。。。“. I uncontrollably snapped my glance back over, unfortunately catching her eye. Without skipping a beat she looked straight back at me and continued "你听得见我在说什么吗”, or something to that effect. I nodded to her with my best "busted!" look, but if only I had waited a few more moments I could have finally found out the truth about all of us 外国人! It surprises me how few opportunities I've had to rudely eavesdrop on Chinese people rudely discussing me in Chinese. Anyone have a cool story about overhearing something about yourself and then returning fire with some sort of burning quip? 1 Quote
Guoke Posted January 12, 2011 at 11:27 AM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 11:27 AM I guess she was going to say: 外国人都帅到爆！！！ ;) 1 Quote
creamyhorror Posted January 12, 2011 at 12:02 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 12:02 PM 。。。不会听中国话 Quote
xiaocai Posted January 12, 2011 at 12:20 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 12:20 PM I guess she was going to say: 外国人都帅到爆！！！ Not very likely to hear this in Beijing, though... Quote
anonymoose Posted January 12, 2011 at 12:46 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 12:46 PM Two women come into the lift as you're heading up to your hotel room, and you fantasise . . . about language??? Seriously, this kind of thing happens all the time. Well, maybe not all the time, but it's not uncommon. I was waiting at a busstop in Shanghai once and a couple of people started talking about me in Shanghainese. So I just had to tell them, in Shanghainese of course, that some foreigners can actually understand what they're saying! Also, just yesterday I was on the metro here, and some American guy made a call on his mobile phone (shouting so loud that it would even have put the 民工 to shame), and some young girls started discussing in Shanghainese what he was saying. Unfortunately the train was quite crowded, otherwise I would have been very tempted to crack open the Shanghainese again. Quote
muirm Posted January 12, 2011 at 01:09 PM Author Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 01:09 PM Two women come into the lift as you're heading up to your hotel room, and you fantasise . . . about language??? Haha, touché. In my defense they were middle-aged, and I was already exhausted from my last org... err... meeting. Surprising them in 方言 must be extra satisfying! Did the people at the bus stop play it cool and chat with you, or did an awkward silence take over? Quote
BertR Posted January 12, 2011 at 01:44 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 01:44 PM 哈哈 Reminds me of this: 1 Quote
anonymoose Posted January 12, 2011 at 03:06 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 03:06 PM Did the people at the bus stop play it cool and chat with you, or did an awkward silence take over? They did chat a little, but they were a couple of generations senior to me, so there weren't any sparks flying. Also, my Shanghainese is rather basic, so it's difficult to sustain an in-depth conversation. But yes, it's a lot more satisfying to use dialect. Quote
jbradfor Posted January 12, 2011 at 05:01 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 05:01 PM The closest I've come was at the Hong Kong airport, I was sitting with my daughter and there were two older Chinese woman across from us talking about her. Not very embarrassing to them, however, as they were saying mostly positive things about her. When they started discussing whether she is mixed, that's when I chimed in and told them that she is. They stopped talking about her. I must say that "overhearing something about yourself and then returning fire with some sort of burning quip" has been a fantasy of mine as well, but I will need to improve my listening comprehension skills before I have a chance of fulfilling that particular fantasy. Quote
gato Posted January 12, 2011 at 05:36 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 05:36 PM And quipping skills. 2 Quote
Daan Posted January 12, 2011 at 07:48 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 07:48 PM I was once on a bus in Taipei with a foreign friend. Two girls saw us and started discussing the differences between Taiwanese and foreign guys...they thought foreigners were far more 帥. (I don't claim credit for that.) I stood next to them and listened to their conversation for a few minutes, then just before I had to get off the bus I turned around to them, smiled and said 有的老外聽得懂國語，下次不如說台語吧！ I still wish I'd said something funnier. Or asked them for their phone numbers. Or anything cooler than this - which means no others will ever have this pleasure again! Still, the looks on their faces were pretty priceless. 1 Quote
Erbse Posted January 12, 2011 at 08:10 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 08:10 PM I was in the elevator as well, when some people talked about how tall I am. Before leaving the elevator at the ground floor I told them my height ;) Quote
Etwood Posted January 12, 2011 at 08:41 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 08:41 PM I was on a bus in Kunming (a lot of this seems to happen on a bus, doesn't it?) and a mother and her little girl were standing near me. The little girl looked at me and then looked at her mum and said, "老外为什么这么高？" The mother looked at me, saw me smile, and said to her daughter, "他可能听得懂"， looks at me, "是吗?" I nodded, and the mother told her daughter she'll answer her question later. Love it when things like that happen. I wonder how the mother answered the girl's question eventually? Quote
jbradfor Posted January 12, 2011 at 09:14 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 09:14 PM And quipping skills. Snif. You're saying my quipping skills need work? I think it's easier to improve my Chinese.... Quote
grahamH Posted January 12, 2011 at 09:20 PM Report Posted January 12, 2011 at 09:20 PM Funny stories. A few years ago, when I was at the beginner stage, I was at a restaurant struggling to follow a conversation. But I did catch one of my best friends say "all the English are stupid", I gave her a wide eyed glare to let her know I understood. Her friends gave an embarressed laugh for her, but she continued her tirade... Quote
Hofmann Posted January 13, 2011 at 12:53 AM Report Posted January 13, 2011 at 12:53 AM Your language fantasy was learning what two women thought about foreigners? Quote
muirm Posted January 13, 2011 at 01:13 AM Author Report Posted January 13, 2011 at 01:13 AM Your language fantasy was learning what two women thought about foreigners? No, it was understanding their secret conversation and then responding with a snarky comment. Quote
xiaocai Posted January 13, 2011 at 02:46 AM Report Posted January 13, 2011 at 02:46 AM Believe it or not, this happens to Chinese as well, in Shanghai and Guangzhou. People just assumed that I can't understand Shanghainese (picked up a bit from my Grandfather and my mom) or Cantonese (learned from watching HK dramas) because I spoke Mandarin to them with a "school accent". Of course they didn't talk about my appearance on a bus or anywhere else because I just look like everyone else. But I did get the chance to hear things like one shop assistant complaining to the other because I walked in when they were about to close the shop and taxi driver flirting with his lover over the phone. Most of the times of course I did need to respond at all, plus, my spoken Shanghainese and Cantonese are very elementary. And often I said to myself that I'd rather not be able to understand what they are talking about because most of the time it is not things which are comfortable to hear. Quote
Meng Lelan Posted January 13, 2011 at 02:55 AM Report Posted January 13, 2011 at 02:55 AM I was in a bus in Beijing and kind of lost my balance, stepping on the toes of the 售票员, so she angrily called me a bad name in Chinese and I said 对不起. Her face got real red with embarassment. I think she even forgot to sell me a ticket because she didn't want to look at me anymore. Quote
gato Posted January 13, 2011 at 04:00 AM Report Posted January 13, 2011 at 04:00 AM Snif. You're saying my quipping skills need work? I meant working on translating your brilliant skills to Chinese. Quote
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