While I was cooking for Mrs Ting, she took a call. It was from a prospective part-time carer, from Singapore, recommended by a friend of hers. I heard Mrs Ting giving her directions to get to her place: go to XX Tube station on the Northern line.
Mrs Ting’s English is extremely rudimentary (even after 50 years in London), and her pronunciation of English words/names doesn’t always match the original. Her Chinese (be it Mandarin, Cantonese, or the Teochew dialect) is also not always comprehensible, being a mixture of all three at times.
After saying it over and over again to the caller, Mrs Ting passed the phone to me, for me to tell the caller.
This is the exchange that took place.
Me: Take the Tube to XX station on the Northern line. Turn right when you leave the station, and walk towards …
Caller: What’s her house number?
Me: Let me finish the directions first. Turn right when you leave XX station, walk about 100 metres down the road towards YY supermarket. She lives in a block opposite the supermarket. The block is called ZZ Court. (I then spelt out ZZ Court slowly for her.) Her flat number is AA.
Caller: Her flat number is AA.
Me: That’s right, flat number AA.
Caller: What’s her flat number?
Me: I’ve already told you, you’ve read it back to me, and I’ve confirmed that it’s correct.
Caller: Oh, the phone line is not very clear.
Me: But you did hear it correctly, because you repeated it back to me correctly, and I’d also said it was correct.
I passed the phone back to Mrs Ting, who then went on to arrange a time for the caller to come along for the interview, and I went back to my cooking.
A minute later, the phone rang again. This time, it was the friend who’d recommended the prospective carer. The friend asked for the flat number again, with the same reason: the prospective carer’s phone line wasn’t clear.
(London, 2018)
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