My coworker and I were talking inside the subway station near the exits loudly in English when an old Taiwanese lady came up to us and asked which exit is to get to Minquan West Road. I was really surprised since we were speaking English and she asked us where to go in Chinese. I told her in Chinese and she understood and left. My coworker who can't speak any Chinese told me that she gets it a lot where people would ask her where to go. I never get that lol When someone asks me and I try to help them, they actually are annoyed that my Chinese isn't that great and they can't understand me lol My coworker is Japanese American but she gets mistaken for being Chinese all the time.
It was ironic when later I went to this small restaurant to order just white rice (yeah, I know..I love rice lol) and the older lady worker couldn't understand me. This lady who was ordering food standing next to me helped me and she even told her a couple of times what I wanted but she didn't really get it until we kept repeating it. The worker can speak Taiwanese but I'm surprised that she couldn't even understand the native person speaking to her although she was speaking in Chinese.
I will admit though, the language barrier is getting to me. When I had to call GRE about my scores a couple of weeks ago, it was great to speak English quickly and feel relieved and assured that they could understand me. I didn't have to worry about anything and I got everything that I needed to be done. It's hard sometimes when you just want to do something but you are being misunderstood. I know I put it on myself since I speak Chinese first instead of English but lately these past couple of weeks it's been frustrating me a bit. I guess it just gives me more motivation to practice my Chinese!
-Chihchat
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