multi-lingual incomprehension

[trochee]

"Bonjour," says [French guy, we'll call him Jean], upon arriving in the office, to the South Indian [we'll call him Prakash] with whom he shares a cubicle wall.

Prakash looks back, blankly.

"Buenos dias," Jean tries again, gamely.

Another stare.

"Guten Tag, bon giorno," Jean tries, with a tiny note of desperation along with his accent. "Nii hao, hello!"

"Namaste," I add, perhaps unhelpfully.

Prakash pulls the tiny tiny earphones out of his ears and looks at us both. "What?"

Comments

[tangy-apple.livejournal.com]

*L* Reminds me of when I was in Mexico a few years ago. I asked (in Spanish), "where is the restroom?" to an employee at a shopping center. She asked me, in Spanish, something like "say that again?" I repeated my request. She answered in English, "ohh, the bathroom. Inside this store, to the left, just beyond the children's section."

Her English = much better than my Espanol. :)