Let's talk English

English is a very useful language to know.  In fact, I may even go so far as to say that it is the most useful language to speak fluently in this day and age. It may seem strange that I'm writing a blog about our experiences in China and talking about the English language, but living in China has made me truely grateful to have grown up in an English speaking country.  Everyone here wants to learn English and in many countries around the world they already speak English as a second language.  This means that if you like to travel English is the common denominator language in many lands.  It also means that many people learn English here from someone who also is speaking it as a second language.  I overheard a Chinese girl yesterday speaking English with a Russian accent.  Weird.  The downside for me in this situation is that if I want to talk about people without them understanding what I'm saying the safest way is to use pig latin.  Ixnay ethay englishway.  A couple of days ago however, I experienced the otherside.....finally!  Sam and I were eating at a restaurant when a couple sat down at the table right next to us and began talking to each other about foreigners.  (They were speaking Chinese.)  I find that more and more people see us as an opportunity to start a conversation about foreigners.  They aren't necessarily talking about us, they just start talking about foreigners in general.   This particular couple started talking about teaching english.  I gathered that maybe one of them was an english teacher.  Sam and I just continued our own english conversation.  As I was speaking about something not too important I overheard the man ask the woman if she could understand our conversation and she said "Ting bu dong" (Hear but don't understand).  That felt most satisfying to me.