Originally Posted by
BanffJasper
A language is used in context and a dictionary is not a solution for all situations. It's a miscommunication for sure. When the agent said "watch your luggage" she took your response as understanding what she meant, which was why she asked you later "Why didn't you watch your luggage (through the machine)?"
+1
Originally Posted by
percysmith
- even a fluent (PRC-trained) Mandarin speaker and ex-emigrant and overseas student like me...
Originally Posted by
percysmith
...Mandarin learnt in Australia, using a Mainland syllabus and having passed the HSK Intermediate. Mainland background further reinforced by having worked there for at least fourteen months...
(underline mine)
Even Mandarin is spoken in both China and Taiwan, the same simple term can mean something totally differently. While "土豆" is potato in China, you won't get potato if you try to order or buy "土豆" in Taiwan. "土豆" will only get you peanut in Taiwan.
Back in school, I used to have a roommate from Shandong, China. We had no problem communicating in Mandarin. But, from time to time, I did have to ask her what she meant or was talking about. Our daily vocabularies are distinctively different, just like Americans don't speak the same English as the British.
So much drama could have been spared simply by asking the agent, "what do you mean by 看行李?" at the very beginning.
BTW, "blind person feels the elephant" is a very common Chinese idiom: 盲人摸象. The story behind it is right
here.