As the elderly beneficiaries were paired with the volunteers, we ensured that there would be as little language barrier as possible. Hence, I was paired with someone who could speak ‘English and a bit of mandarin’, exactly how I would describe myself. :)
On my very first call though, I soon realised that my beneficiary preferred to speak in Mandarin and despite my mind working on overdrive preparing myself to utilise the language I have hitherto only used confidently to order food, the words that came out quickly sounded foreign to my ears, at least for the first few seconds.
Before my elderly friend realised how poor my Mandarin was and laughed secretly in her mind, I readily acknowledged that my Mandarin was worse than my English. She laughed it off, saying, “华文人需要讲华文的吗。如果你不能讲就不是华文了咯。”In other words, a Chinese must be able to speak Chinese. If you cannot speak Chinese, then you are not Chinese.
Challenge accepted.
Surprised by such a blunt remark, I was motivated, probably more so than any other Chinese class I have ever attended, to speak well. Accompanied by my trusty Chinese dictionary, I am thankful that our conversations thus far have been fruitful and diverse. What I am most grateful for however, is her patience and understanding when I stumble or take a while to phrase my ideas into a coherent sentence. At times, I still break into English to which she understands and responds earnestly. While I appreciate her patience, I wondered why it seemed to be absent in the rest of us. I am sure we are all guilty of judging others quickly and critically at some point in our lives instead of offering to help them. Could the fast-paced and cutthroat society we live in make it totally intolerable for us to patiently help others out and compel us to laugh indiscriminately at other’s inadequacy instead? Or perhaps it is simply a natural response to tease someone that speaks awkwardly first so as to reduce any tension when one subsequently tries to correct the speaker. Either ways, I do think it would be a lot more beneficial for all of us, if we were more accepting of other’s mistakes, sensitive to others’ insecurities and above all, patient and willing to guide them as a friend or simply, a fellow human being.
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