French in Chinese

Back in October, Randy's company hosted their American salesman for a week of visits and meetings. On the Friday night of that week, a group including the salesman, some of Randy's coworkers (including my blog's occasional guest star, Mr. H), and our family went to Great Wall Fresh for supper. Randy drove, navigating the traffic expertly. His American guest, though, could not help but comment on how the driving behavior in China was something that made him nervous, and he wondered aloud how Randy adapted to it.

Randy admitted that driving in China surely wasn't doing his "language" any favors. I further joked that while his Chinese was still shaky, driving had done wonders for his French. All the American adults in the car laughed, while the Chinese people looked confused. What did I mean by "French," Mr. H asked.

I explained in Chinese that we Americans use the idiom "Pardon my French," when we want to apologize for using foul language. To illustrate what I meant by foul language, I bashfully whispered a few colorful expressions in Chinese. Mr. H gave a bit of a startled jump at hearing such things, but he clearly now understood the exchange among the Americans, and the humor behind it.

"Oh, Jennifer," Mr. H laughed in English. "Your French in Chinese is very good."