Personal Narrative
“May I help you?” said a shop assistant with fluent Mandarin as soon as my mom and I entered the store of Jurlique in Mongkok, Hong Kong. Although we replied that we only want to take a look, she insisted to follow us. Whenever we mentioned or pointed to a commodity that we were interested, she immediately took it out of the counter, held it like models in the advertisements, and introduced us its functions with flawless Mandarin. She passionately introduced us to a series of skin care products and boasted how “extremely suitable” it would be to me in Mandarin. I was surprised by her proficient use of Mandarin and her enthusiasm, which bought me a sense of warmth and familiarity that appeared to make my shopping experience …show more content…
Enough time to let you travel back to Shenzhen!” (Hagen Dazs in mainland is more expensive and Shenzhen is just across the boarder line of HongKong,so people from Shenzhen would bring ice cream from Hong Kong back to save some money). She was mostly calling for customers who were apparently speaking Mandarin instead of the locals, and she specifically advertised the quality of the ice packet, which would be used on tourists’ way to their home. Ten years ago, speaking Mandarin was embarrassing. Most people in Hong Kong did not know how to speak Mandarin and were not patient enough to distinguish what mandarin speakers were talking, which means that I may be ignored if I speak Mandarin. On the contrary, everyone in Hong Kong nowadays could speak fluent and clear Mandarin, and I would no longer fear of being ignored only because of the language I …show more content…
This time we entered Dior, with a dozen of mainland girls selecting lipsticks. When the shop assistant standing in the front of the shop rushed toward us, I switched to Cantonese to speak with my mother. This time, she did not use fluent Mandarin to greet us but simply dropped a “lei hou” (hello in Cantonese) and then stepped along to let me choose what I want. Although the shop assistant still explained all my questions and provided advices, she did not insist that I should buy a product once rejected, which differs from what the other shop assistants were doing to the Mandarin speakers. When we requested payment for the items we have bought, she stilled asked casually if we would like to spend 300$ more to enjoy a discount, but she did not seem disappointed when we rejected her. She did not speak much when we were paying,while a girl speaking Mandarin at the counter next to me was answering “no” to a series of questions ranging from getting a membership to taking perfumes for an extra discount from the
“May I help you?” said a shop assistant with fluent Mandarin as soon as my mom and I entered the store of Jurlique in Mongkok, Hong Kong. Although we replied that we only want to take a look, she insisted to follow us. Whenever we mentioned or pointed to a commodity that we were interested, she immediately took it out of the counter, held it like models in the advertisements, and introduced us its functions with flawless Mandarin. She passionately introduced us to a series of skin care products and boasted how “extremely suitable” it would be to me in Mandarin. I was surprised by her proficient use of Mandarin and her enthusiasm, which bought me a sense of warmth and familiarity that appeared to make my shopping experience …show more content…
Enough time to let you travel back to Shenzhen!” (Hagen Dazs in mainland is more expensive and Shenzhen is just across the boarder line of HongKong,so people from Shenzhen would bring ice cream from Hong Kong back to save some money). She was mostly calling for customers who were apparently speaking Mandarin instead of the locals, and she specifically advertised the quality of the ice packet, which would be used on tourists’ way to their home. Ten years ago, speaking Mandarin was embarrassing. Most people in Hong Kong did not know how to speak Mandarin and were not patient enough to distinguish what mandarin speakers were talking, which means that I may be ignored if I speak Mandarin. On the contrary, everyone in Hong Kong nowadays could speak fluent and clear Mandarin, and I would no longer fear of being ignored only because of the language I …show more content…
This time we entered Dior, with a dozen of mainland girls selecting lipsticks. When the shop assistant standing in the front of the shop rushed toward us, I switched to Cantonese to speak with my mother. This time, she did not use fluent Mandarin to greet us but simply dropped a “lei hou” (hello in Cantonese) and then stepped along to let me choose what I want. Although the shop assistant still explained all my questions and provided advices, she did not insist that I should buy a product once rejected, which differs from what the other shop assistants were doing to the Mandarin speakers. When we requested payment for the items we have bought, she stilled asked casually if we would like to spend 300$ more to enjoy a discount, but she did not seem disappointed when we rejected her. She did not speak much when we were paying,while a girl speaking Mandarin at the counter next to me was answering “no” to a series of questions ranging from getting a membership to taking perfumes for an extra discount from the