Welcome to Next Time

I had language class with Maggie today, which was really fun since we both just got back from our October holiday trips. For us it was KL and Singapore with the kids. For her and her husband it was their much-delayed honeymoon to Hong Kong and Macau. (More than two years after they were officially married, and about a year-and-a-half since their wedding ceremony in his hometown in Shaanxi province). They went with a tour group and left their 10 month old Ya Xin @ home under the watchful care of three grandparents (a pretty good adult: child ratio!)

Since our last lesson Maggie had texted me and wanted to know the meaning of "hustle and bustle." She explained today, that a friend of hers had come across the phrase and she then got in contact with me to confirm the idiom's meaning. After a year and a half in our conversation class, we end up spending a fair amount of time on these kinds of topics. I am usually looking for Chinese phrases that sound di dao (local) and she likes to confer about what English phrases she learned may actually be passé. We have decided that most adults in the U.S. don't usually say, "Long time, no see," on a regular basis, as her University English textbook taught.

As a family, we are frequently finding the English taught in China is formal to say the least. Several times during our China years people have asked if they can take the girl's photo, which usually the three blond Johnson’s are not up for. "Thank you all the same," has been a polite refrain we've heard from those working from a Chinese version of Emily Post's guide to polite manners and phrases. It always makes me just a little sad, when these polite people are turned down, knowing that are plenty of photos across China of our wai guo hai zi (foreign children) taken by less polite photographers. (Millie smugly finds satisfaction in the fact that most of those photos show angry faces, or, Mom or Dad charging into the frame to stop the photo shoot!)

Our favorite English phrase, however, is one that comes as a literal translation from Chinese. Instead of saying, “Come again,” after we completed our dining experience, one helpful restaurant employee offered this salutation: "Welcome to next time!"

We were tempted to respond with another of our favorite phrases we've heard used, "It's your pleasure!"