I think I’ve told some of you before *many moons ago* that we suspected our maid knowing Hokkien. Here’s the continuation…
We caught our maid listening to our Hokkien conversation quite frequently. Sometimes she will laughs at our Hokkien joke and responds to our Hokkien question in Bahasa Melayu even though we’re talking to grandma and not her.
She always denies the truth until one day I got her busted in the car. Pandai leh?
Me: You faham ke? (you understand?)
Maid: Sedikit la (a little)
Me: Mana you belajar? (where did you learn?)
Maid: Ada la, dengar korang cakap (from listening to your conversation)
Wuah my maid is smart man! Either that or she learnt it from her previous employment.
Sometimes she would listen to our conversation until she stops doing what she’s supposed to do.
Grandma: Apa dengar-dengar? Buat kerja oiii
We’ve been a bit careful with our conversation but not quite. She can’t do anything mah, can she?
17 Comments
clever maid, can understand hokkien..then must be more careful when talk in front of her.. n dun talk bad. else.. hehehhee..
I find that foreign workers are quite good in learning languages. Look at those workers in mamak restaurant. The first few weeks, they don’t understand a single word but by the following months, they can take your orders without any problems.
Your main so pandai? :skull:
I mean maid 🙂 :dancing:
she understandslah. next time u pak tor u better b careful o she will blog n tell us all abt it 🙂
Maid is smart ler nowadays.. My neighbour at my hometown, their maid can speak mandarin. I asked her before and she told me that she learnt it from those kids.. Some people really got the potential to learn new languages.. Too bad not me.. :tongue:
Wah liao…
Keng-lor… Like you mentioned, she is observant and smart. So, better becareful as well.
Anyway, I don’t like it when people speak in a different language in front of me. Guess, not good to do it in front of her. But then, she’s very resourceful-lo, able to pick up hokkien!! :laughing:
not surprised… sometimes its easier to learn n understand by being in the environment than reading from textbook. :thinking:
I don’t get it, what’s wrong if she understands you? Wouldn’t that make communication easier? She is a human being after all so yes she can learn another language same as if we were to mix with people speaking other languages we will learn too over time. Look at this as a good and positive outcome, not a bad one. If you have things you don’t her to listen just talk when she’s not around.
eik, dangerous. Be careful with your conversation, who knows…. :devil:
She is Indo or malay maid? Dun simply talk behind her back now… :talkingear:
Lets do a podcast on your maid speaking/cursing in hokkien. 😛
Cbenc12, my grandma still talk bad :laughing:
Hcfoo, oh yes very true. She even know what is pang sai! :tongue:
Neo, should I send her for postgraduate course?
Bengbeng, haha that I’m very scare.
Keeyit, I think Chinese language is easy to learn compared to Hindi or Arab
Angie Tan, any secret talking must becareful lor…
Dreamcatcher, yeah true also.
Wuching, just that if she understands Hokkien it’s abit difficult to speak lo since she will be around all the time. We talk in secret code sometimes. Haha
Saoirse, yealor
Jam, Indon. But my grandma still does!
Jason, :laughing: that would be cool man!
Some people really good at language, they pick up very fast! But, u can terbalik some of the normal talking then she won’t get it! 😀
Monkey Wong, ah ha that’s a good idea…terbalik words.
Susah lah like that, cannot talk bad behind her liao. Need to change dialect liao when talking about things u don’t want her to know ;p. If your family watches Yi Nan Wang on astro AEC maybe she’ll even sit down and watch together LOL!!
Narrowband, actually she watch Hokkien, Cantonese and Mandarin dramas with my grandma. :laughing: