Do you speak Chinese

For the celebration of Chinese New Year at the end of January 2006, Olivia’s Chinese kindergarten class will perform a traditional song with body gestures called “找朋友 (look for a friend)”.

Olivia is very into singing and dancing, so she’s got this one much faster than any other 儿歌 (children’s song) she learned so far and practiced the gestures with me once in a while at home. Then one day I was so surprised to hear that Evan was singing along with Olivia when he was chasing her around the house.  I have never taught him the song.

So I asked him “Wow, Evan, you know how to sing this Chinese song?”

He proudly answered “Yup!”

 

“Do you know any other Chinese?”

To my surprise, he actually recited the first儿歌 in Olivia’s textbook “小花狗 (little dog)”. Guess he got it from listening to the Chinese tape on the way to daycare. Although he did not get everything right and had this accent, I was so happy to hear it.

I gave him a high five and said “Yeah, Evan can speak Chinese now.”

What I did not expect is that he took the complement literally. Ever since then, you would hear the following conversations.

“Evan, can you speak Chinese?”

“找呀找呀找朋友, 找到一个好朋友…”

......

“What’s duck in Chinese?”

“找呀找呀找朋友, 找到一个好朋友…”

......

“What’s bridge in Chinese?”

“找呀找呀找朋友, 找到一个好朋友…”
……

And if you tell him the correct answer, he will frown his eyebrows and say “No! That’s not right. 找呀找呀找朋友, 找到一个好朋友…” and you can not cut him off, he has to finish the whole song.