This First Person column is written by Bill Chow, a second-generation Canadian who is a teacher in Mississauga, Ont. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
“Nǐ hǎo, qǐng wèn nǐ men de dòu bàn jiàng zài nǎ lǐ? 你好,請問你們的豆瓣醬在哪裡?” asked a customer in Mandarin.
“Sorry, I do not speak Mandarin, but I would be more than happy to help you with whatever you are looking for,” I replied in English.
The woman said she was looking for fermented chili bean paste in English.
Unfortunately, I still didn’t know what that was, so I asked her for the Cantonese name of the product.
When I still didn’t understand what she
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