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China Elevator Stories
“Do You Speak Foreignish?”
I chat with a little girl at a supermarket in Shenzhen.
04/05/2013
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
I’m at a supermarket in Shenzhen. A little girl, no older than 5, is playing with the cup that’s usually used for putting rice into a plastic bag.
I ask her: “Can I borrow this for a moment?”
She answers: “Sure.”
And then, after looking into my face: “Wow. Are you a foreigner?”
“I am.”
“Do you speak foreignish?”
“I do. I speak German.”
She then asks: “Where’s your home?”
“My home is in Austria. Where’s yours?”
“In Shaanxi. Did you come here on a plane?”
“I did.”
“Why would you want to come to China?”
“I like it here.”
Were you ever surprised by the questions of a little child?
This is part of the series ‘Conversations with Locals in China,’ where I share conversations with Chinese people on my blog.
On a side note: Please excuse the low quality of the illustration. The original drawing was lost when my blog was taken down by my ex without my prior knowledge in 2017.