Ting bu dong

Ting bu dong. Ting bu dong. Ting bu dong. Where have I heard that recently...well not out of my mouth I'll tell you that! Ting bu dong, meaning I hear but I don't understand, is a polite way of stopping any conversation while explaining to the other person that you can't make out their Chinese whether it's good, bad, or just out of your vocabulary range.

For awhile I would use this phrase every so often when I got stuck. But I tried to avoid it after the lady at the shoe store said that ting bu dong is the only thing wai guo ren know how to say. The irony is that in our short 5 minute friendship I eventually had to tell her I ting bu dong. Anyways, about four months ago I was elated when I heard someone say ting bu dong to me. Wow, I thought, it means I'm actually talking. Not very well, because the other person can't understand me, but at least I'm talking.

Well recently I've been bombarded with an onslaught of ting bu dongs. The lady sitting next to me on the airplane, the server at the restaurant, the seller at the market...it's amazing...they all ting bu dong me! Now I'll admit this is a sign that I should probably work more carefully on my pronunciation, tones and grammar, but I'm just so excited that I can talk now that I can't help but jump for joy. They ting bu dong me!!

My other huge praise has been that since coming back last week I've been able to comprehend maybe 75% of what's going on around me. So not only do they ting bu dong me, I ting dong them consistently nowadays! I'll admit that the majority of this 75% is either a) related to food b) understood while watching Thomas the Train in Mandarin or c) because another wai guo ren is speaking and I understand the context, but even so, I'm elated because I am also picking up on other conversations between locals that I'm eavesdropping hmhmhm* I mean happen to overhearing even without context. So, yeah me!

But before I go tooting my own horn I must be true to life and and describe what I heard today as I eavesdropped hmhmhm* I mean happened to overhear what a waitress said after I ordered some take out jiaozi.

“Her Mandarin is like a child's” she told her friend while looking at me and then quickly looking away.

Sad, but true. But I still have the last laugh...not only did I ting dong...I was totally stoked!!! Wow...my Mandarin is like a child's! I'm no longer a baby...I've graduated. I'm like a three year old now. And if you think my tongue is in my cheek think again. I actually am really excited. From 0-3 in eight months, not too bad! I'll need all the help I can get bringing on 3-6, but I'm ready for it!

*This is the sound of me clearing my throat just in case the context didn't dictate the random letters symbolizing a noise.