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Language Confusion in China

I have a funny story about my first trip to China. I was on a tour group with my now husband and his mother. A group of three "ethnic" Chinese from South America. They only spoke Spanish. However, everyone wanted to speak Chinese to them. When in Xi'an, a man came up to them speaking to them in Chinese. They started speaking in Spanish. You should have seen the look of shock on this man's face. I speak Mandarin and am white. I tried to explain to him, in Chinese, that they didn't speak Chinese. He was once again shocked. However, the ladies wanted to know what I was saying. Fortunately, my husband speaks Spanish. So, there we were on the side of the road, me speaking to the man in Chinese, telling my husband in English, who then translated it to the ladies in Spanish!

Carey

P.S.--My husband proposed to me on that trip, on the Great Wall of China!


 

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