Welcome To My Home: One Family Four Countries

Shortly after we arrived in China my assistant introduced me to a professor who greeted me in Chinese. Obviously as I did not speak Chinese I had no idea what he had said so my assistant translated saying Welcome to my home. Well that I understood so I responded with Wed love to come--when would be good for you? The man looked surprised and there was a long pause before he said How about if you and your family come to dinner Friday? I said that would be fine and we said goodbye. After we left I asked my assistant what had been wrong why the man had been so surprised when I accepted his invitation. My assistant paused then said Oh nothing he was just thinking about when the best time would be. I wasnt entirely convinced but I accepted his explanation. Months later I learned that Welcome to my home was a standard greeting to people visiting China and meant something like I hope you are enjoying China. It wasnt an invitation to his home any more than my saying Hello how are you doing? would have been an invitation for him to catalogue his ailments and personal problems in detail. Similar situations--in which we assumed we understood meanings just because we understood the meanings of words--plagued us throughout our year in China. We adjusted quickly however to most of the cultural differences and learned to accept even those customs we didnt like but there always remained the inherent possibility that although we acted in good faith we acted incorrectly. We could never be sure that our understanding of what people said to us--even in English--was cultural as well as linguistic.