In the process of interacting with foreigners, what misunderstandings have you experienced that make people laugh and cry?

Speaking of communicating with foreigners, I really have a short story to share with you.

Seven years ago, I was a young white-collar worker who just joined the work. I was not very satisfied with my work at that time, so I had the idea of jumping ship to a foreign company. But after leaving the English environment for many years, half a bottle of English I learned before has been abandoned. In order to create conditions for my job-hopping, I signed up for a training institution called "Wall Street" English.

When I first went to Wall Street, I was immediately attracted by his tall temperament. Everyone who enters this door can only speak English, not Chinese. There is an English corner every day to provide a platform for you to practice your spoken English. During this period, my spoken English has improved by leaps and bounds.

I remember a teacher named Paul, who was Canadian. Paul is a language genius, which I learned later. He can speak English, French, German and Italian. When he first came into contact with Paul, he was a little dismissive of this short man, so sometimes he likes to talk with his classmates about his impressions of these foreigners, not on Wall Street, but in the cafe near the classroom, and sometimes on his way home.

I remember I was talking about Paul with my classmates. This classmate said that his wife is from China, and Paul is very proficient in China culture. I said casually, "Don't think that you can speak Chinese well just because you can speak other languages. Let him speak Shanghainese if he can! " Just say that finish this sentence, she heard a word from behind, "what do you want to hear? I'll help Nong Gang and his gang! " Looking back, I really fainted, and Paul was right behind me.

More dramatically, in order to prove his language ability, Paul sang a clear-cut "Days of Our Lives" with BEYOND. It turns out that this foreigner is really a language genius and an expert on China. He speaks not only Mandarin, but also fluent Cantonese and Shanghainese, so most people can't recognize his accent.

So I will chat with foreigners in the future, and I will never speak others in Chinese behind their backs again. After all, respecting others is the greatest courtesy of civilization.