WORK|OUT European Students’ Review

CHINA — LOST IN TRANSLATION

When you’re in China, take the “mini-bus” taxi, it’s cheaper than the ordinary cabs!

    | Catinka Tabacaru (BOLOGNA). Shanghai is an invigorating city with much to offer the Western traveler. There are over 300,000 Europeans living here today, and with China’s 2001 WTO commitment to open its borders to foreign investment, more Westerners arrive every year. There is an initial feeling of loss that accompanies any arrival into China; the language barrier being almost impenetrable. Even proper names have been assigned Chinese words that sound nothing like the original. Upon my arrival, delirious from a 12 hour flight, an hour-long wait at customs and another half hour of cuing for a taxi, I finally sit down in the somewhat-dodgy yellow Volkswagen. “Hilton Hotel,” I utter. The driver stares at me blankly. “Hilton Hotel,” I repeat. He raises his eyebrows in silence. I hand him a print-out of my reservation and point to the Chinese letterhead. Realization sparkles in his eyes. “Ah! (incomprehensible Chinese gibber here).” Twenty minutes later, he pulls into the driveway of the Shanghai Hilton Hotel.

ADVICE FACT #1: ALWAYS CARRY PRINTED MATERIAL OF YOUR DESTINATION.
   This rule works most of the time. But sometimes the Red Giant has other plans. One night, during my first week here, I get into a taxi, “Ni haa (hello),” and hand the driver the address of my destination. He drops me off in Xi Tian Di, a neighbourhood geared more towards Westerners than Chinese, and points around the corner. I take this to mean “it’s just around the corner.” I pass an Italian restaurant, a Starbucks, and turn the corner only to face an empty alley way. I show a storekeeper my address. He points and says something I obviously cannot understand. I head in that direction and... well, after an hour and a half, I am sitting in my third taxi staring at the driver’s overgrown pinky nail, which seems to be the latest fashion in nail care for transportation technicians. By this point, I have ridden all over the city, have been verbally abused by a driver whom I refused to pay because he drove me around aimlessly, and I am about to burst into tears. Suddenly, my driver pulls over right in from on Trattoria Isabella, exactly the place I was looking for!

ADVICE FACT #2: HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR ABOUT THE RIDICULOUSNESS OF A SITUATION AND YOUR HELPLESSNESS TO SOLVE IT. YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST PERSON IT HAS HAPPENED TO.
   Learning my way around the city took a few weeks, but now I can generally point taxi drivers in the direction I need to go. These instructions are usually received with lots of question in Chinese. I just giggle and keep pointing, which is usually received with smiles and more incomprehensible Chinese in a tone of understanding. Once lost in translation, eventually you start finding your way.

| To be continued... — “Shanghai, the Shiny City” in our next issue for more adventures in China!