Brave New World

Read about how a Chinese speaker of English, living for a time in New Zealand, is facing “a brave new world”, misunderstandings included.

In a cheerful tone in her article “Misunderstandings”, Mihiata Pirini tells us five interesting misunderstanding experiences during her stay in France. As she believes, these misunderstandings happen because of her “mishearing” or “misreading” of the messages in the French language. Luckily enough, these episodes in her overseas life result in more fun than embarrassment. This article reminds me of my own experience of misunderstanding not long ago.

Last Tuesday evening, my hostess’s son Joe came to our home for a visit with his mum Pat. It was the first time we had met since I moved in to my homestay family last month. Friendly and energetic, Joe is a young lad with plenty of vigor. We had a nice chat especially after he told me he had been to some cities in China. Before he was leaving, he kindly invited me to have dinner at his own home with his mum next week, and he said that along with us there was a “ritual”. I happily accepted his invitation, but the only thing was, his words puzzled me a lot. After his departure, I asked Pat what kind of “RITUAL” it would be next week. Pat was also at a loss at first. A “ritual”? Then she burst into laughter, telling me that Joe was not saying “ritual” but “Rachel”. Rachel was a former Chinese student once living in my homestay family. VOW! Only at that time did I realize that I had misheard a word.

One thing is certain that I will encounter other misunderstandings during my stay here in the following months; anyway, I am confident to brave the new world with a happy and ready mood.

DU Fei  -  Wellington, New Zealand