When conversing with people of other ethnicities, it’s common to assume that the other person does not understand our Mother Tongue.
However, times have changed in Malaysia, with more Malay students enrolling in Chinese schools to learn Mandarin.
Two shop assistants learnt this the hard way recently when they made a negative remark about someone right in front of them.
On Mar 20, TikToker @farahnanad, or Farah, recounted an incident that happened when she went to buy a phone accessory.
Instead of being happy to serve her, the staff were apparently more eager to close up shop and go home. They openly grumbled to each other in Mandarin, assuming that Farah, who is Malay, would not understand.
To their shock, Farah knew everything they were saying and responded to them in fluent Mandarin.
Speaking in a mix of Malay and Mandarin, Farah recalled going to the store to look for an iPhone cable.
The store was about to close, but she expected the purchase to take less than five minutes as she already knew what she wanted.
Still, the two Chinese staff members at the store weren’t pleased.
One turned to the other and said in Mandarin, “Walaoweh, this Malay woman, the shop is about to close and she still wants to buy something. Tell her we are closing. It’s not worth waiting for her to buy a S$6.50 (RM20) item.”
Upon hearing this, Farah kept quiet and smiled. She looked around and saw that there were others behind her, which means she wasn’t the last customer.
When she was told by the staff – in Malay – to come back the next day, she replied in Mandarin, “What did your friend tell you just now? It’s not that I can’t speak Mandarin, I understood what you were saying.”
The staff was stunned and asked Farah if she could speak Mandarin.
Farah said, “Of course!” and explained that she attended a Chinese independent high school.
Embarrassed, the staff offered to give the cable to Farah free of charge, but Farah refused to accept it.
She then told the staff,
Next time, if you want to talk bad about someone, you must make sure no one understands what you’re saying.
The phrase, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, is one of the most widely known idioms out there, but not everyone remembers to live by it.
In this case, the mobile store staff were wrong to assume that Farah could not understand Mandarin just because she is Malay, especially in a multicultural country like Malaysia.
Still, it would be wise not to badmouth somebody right in front of them, no matter what language you use.
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Featured image adapted from TikTok.
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