I was just recalling an incident I had which was eerily similar to what Prof Ooi mentioned in class about the Mandarin words for hot "re"热 and "shao". I was eating at Jumbo Restaurant and many of the servers there were from China. The crabs had gotten cold so we called one of them over and asked them in Mandarin whether we could heat it up. So it went something like this:
Me: Ke yi nong shao ma? (can make hot?)
Waitress: ah?
Me: nong shao?
Waitress: (looking totally puzzled, probably wondering why this Chinese girl isn't making sense at all) lai, lai! (calls another waitress)
Me to Waitress 2: ke yi nong shao ma? (can make hot?) (gesturing desperately to the plate of crabs)
Waitress 2: (stares blankly for awhile) Ah! nong re shi ma! (make it hot is it?)
Me: Ah! shi, shi! (yes, yes!)
Isn't it interesting that we always assume we as long as we're speaking the same language we'll definitely understand each other. I think this example shows how in different countries people may be speaking the "same" language in name but might not understand each other due to the different ways the words are used and how the individual is primed in their use of language.
