Lingualisme

The best characteristic of the Beijing is that it is not America. Not only do the locals speak Chinese, but the expats come from all over the world. Hutong school is a particularly good example of the reality of the internationality of this city. Last night I went out with two Poles, an Italian, an Australian, two French, a Slovakian and a Filipino. We also met up with a few Chinese friends.

The inevitable result of the convergence of nationalities is a language juggling act. Desert last night included a rousing discussion of the Chinese phrase 马马虎虎 mamahuhu:

French Girl1: "mamahuhu...it's horse horse monkey monkey?"
Me: "Horse Horse Tiger Tiger."
French Girl2: "and it means?"
Me: "Comme ci comme ca."
French Girl1: "Oui, Comme ci Comme ca"
Italian: "In French it's Comme ci comme ca? In Italian it's Cosi Cosi [sic]."
Pole: "In Polish it's [something I can't remember]"
German Girl: "In German it's So la la."
Me: "In English it's 'it's okay.'"

There may have been some other options discussed, but we decided that the Chinese is definitely the most astute. Somehow "horse horse tiger tiger" says it all.

I spent a good part of the weekend hanging out with the French. On Friday I went with the French guys to see NOFX. Great punk rock concert--I hope that it was Beijing's first exposure to a live American punk band because the crowd was about as rowdy as they possibly could have been. There was enough energy in the room that I somehow ended up on stage. Fortunately, there was enough energy in the room that people were there to catch me when I got off the stage.

Anyway, I started off the evening eating pizza with the French and feeling like a sore thumb for making everyone else speak English. Eventually, I had to admit that I had studied french for quite a long time, and then I got in trouble because I had to use it. At that point I could barely put a full sentence together in French before reverting back to English, or Chinese. The guys gave up and spoke to me on my own level. I did manage to overhear parts of the side conversation in French, and I think my comprehension is much better than my ability to speak.

I spent the next two days sightseeing with the French girls, Virginie et Marguerite. By the end of today, I had become thoroughly confused. I was speaking English with the girls, reading their French guide book and directing the driver in Chinese. When I tried to bargain with the driver in French, I knew I was in trouble.

The balance of my non-native languages is at stake! I'm not worried though: If I lose my Chinese, then I'll at least improve my French. Marguerite assures me that if I hang out with them, then in three months I will be watching French movies without subtitles.

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