The Art of Miscommunication
It’s not an uncommon situation. Being in a foreign country, clumsily trying to navigate the native language, and receiving blank stares – or, scowls – in return.
That’s exactly what Deborah Fallows – wife of famed journalist James Fallows – describes in her recent interview on NPR and writes about in her new book Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language. When Fallows accompanied her husband to China, she had taken a few semesters of Mandarin. But when they arrived, she found it a real challenge to communicate. Read