I was coming back from Shanghai, and caught a cab home from the station. Zhenhai is pretty much a Ningbo outer suburb, which means the cab drivers are iffy about getting a fare back or really don’t know where it is.
When trying to establish where I want to go the coversation invariable runs like this…..
“Zhenhai” (me)
“Zhunhai” (Driver)
“Yes Zhenhai” (me)
“Zhunhai”
“Zhunhai”
“Zhunhai”
Anyhow if I get stressed about not being understood in Chinese, I start breaking into Polish. It’s usually just stuff Tak Nie (yes or no) or Naprawde (really), but on this trip I was halfway through “Prawo Lewo Pawo Tunel Prawo” (Right left right tunnel right) that I realised I was doing it, and that’s not happened in years.
Tags: Language, The Subconscious
Jim Bowen's Blog 
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