Taxi Cab Confessions: Why Beijing Drivers Don't Speak English
"Wel-ah-come to BEI-jing taxi," the automated machine chimes every time I first open the door of a cab. That is the most English wai guo ren (foreigners) should expect to hear in a taxi in Beijing. Despite efforts to teach the drivers Olympic English, many say they couldn't pick it up or didn't have enough time. Some even say they're just too old.
Though I told every one of my drivers (and I've taken at least two or three cabs per day in the two months I've been in Beijing) that he or she could practice their English with me, only one took advantage. "Light turn! Leff turn! Stop!" one driver exclaimed adorably, and then corrected his pronunciation per my instructions. "Lr-light turn! Lef-tah turn! Stop!" Close enough. But the rest shied away, telling me in Mandarin that they weren't comfortable, were embarrassed, or were too afraid to because they hadn't learned enough.
Here's a sampling of translated explanations from drivers:
"Why would I learn how to say 'I am your driver'? Don't they already know I'm the driver when they get in the car?"
"I drive 12 to 14 hours a day [which seems quite standard, while others take 24-hour shifts and drive every other day]. I don't have any time to learn when I get home."
"For-bid-d....eh? It's too long."
"Why learn a new language that I can only use for two weeks?"
"It's too difficult. I'm old now. If I had studied it since I was young, it'd be a different story."
"Wel-ah-come to Bei-jing! That's it. That's all I have."
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This is ridiculous. In the year I spent living in China I never once expected a taxi driver to speak to me in English. When you're in THEIR country speak THEIR language.
God, leave the poor drivers alone. When I was living in Korea and Japan, I used taxis a lot and always spoke to the cab drivers in their language (I speak and read Japanese, but my Korean is basically tourist survival level, though I can read Hangul). They have a hard enough time navigating their streets without some foreigner telling them what language to speak.
Moreover, if you speak a second language, it can take a fair amount of your brainpower to use and do you really want a driver translating something in his head from Mandarin to english while he is at the wheel? All that does is increase the distractions he has to deal with.
One other thing: in Korea, or at least according to my former students there, being a taxi driver is thought as well of by general society as being a janitor or retail clerk here in the U.S. In other words, it is held in low esteem, the province of folks not smart or able enough to work for big companies. It may be that way in China, I don't know. So all you do by asking them to speak english is further make them feel bad about themselves by pointing out something else they can't do.
Altantean? That would be someone from the lost continent of Atlantis. We're just Atlantans. I drove a cab for a while in the 80's and I can tell you that most of our cabbies in '96 probably spoke any one of the number of Middle Eastern languages. In Atlanta in 2008, most of our cabbies speak Spanish.
If I could go to China for the Olympics, I'd learn enough Mandarin to get by. It'd be fun. I certainly wouldn't expect everyone I meet to speak much English.
So Ms.Tan, I was just curious as to why you went to Beijing so far ahead of the opening ceremonies?
I love the piece, just curious.
"Lr-light turn! Lef-tah turn! Stop!"
Hilarious. It's funny cause it's true.
We can't have it both ways.
Many Americans insist that everyone here must speak English.
Some went so far as to post signs in their establishments that only English must be spoken.
What arrogance to then expect others in their own country to speak English.
agreed - what is Onlympic English anyways? (feel free to read between the lines)
heres's my suggestion for china (which they partially already do)
grow and sell both kinds of hemp (they already do one type but not brave and truthful americans whom will allow their own farmers to even grow one kind as they are the real control freaks)
outlaw nicotine from their country as that is the real century of shame now as it comes from a country owned and striped from asians and is the real poison
make americans buy their goods with euros, gold, or a real commodity, not one merely printed and thrust into the hands of other country's invaded and occupied like iraq, afghanistan
I wonder how many Atlantean taxi drivers learned to speak Mandarin for the 96 Olympics?
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