When traveling, its not always about who speaks English.

I’ve seen this a number of times usually while traveling. Two Japanese people laboring to speak English to one another not realizing that

they are both Japanese.

It happened again yesterday.  This time, after I stumbled into an ridiculously delicious Chinese restaurant in Den Den Town. The young, corn-fed waitress greeted me in heavily accented Japanese. It was obvious she was from the Mainland and probably hadn’t been in Japan very long. Moments later, 3 Asians guys walked in who struck me as being Chinese as well. I noticed them and the waitress struggling badly to patch together their broken Japanese to get their orders in . 

“Maybe I should go over there and smack them on the back.” I said to myself. 

Just then I heard roaring laughter coming from their table followed by the cackling clamour of Chinese. 

They finally got it. 

It sort of reminded me of when folks who looked like me approached me in Holland and started rattling off in Dutch, and the French folks trying to strike up a conversation with me in French. Not quite the same thing, I admit. But I guess when you’re traveling, everybody has to mind their assumptions about who is who, and more importantly, who speaks what!