On an early winter morning 16 years ago, I entered my office in a former school building in the north-central part of Beijing and said hello to our secretary. Jenny was a recent graduate, a proud Xinjiang native and a free spirit of sorts. Although she certainly didn’t want to be a secretary, she was happy to be employed. On this particular morning, she showed up to work at 8am. When I commended her for her early arrival, she gave me my first lesson in cultural interpretation.

“Good morning, Jenny,” I said cheerfully. “It’s great to see you here so early. You know, ‘The early bird gets the worm.’” Jenny looked at me blankly, tipped her head to the left and quipped: “I would rather be the late worm, who misses the early bird. I am here because I have a lot of work today, but don’t expect this every day.”

Part of the fun of learning Chinese is being made fun of. That’s my view, anyway.

Being tone-deaf with a Midwestern drawl in a tonal language does not help. More than once I have found myself short of patience when I say a simple thank you – "xiexie ni" – only to have the taxi driver respond, "Eh"?

"Xiexie ni," I repeat. ("Thank you.")

"Ting bu dong," he responds. ("I have no idea what you're saying.")

Expats can breathe a sigh of relief. The list of performers for tonight's CCTV Spring Festival Gala has been announced, and Dashan is not among them. 

If you own a TV, like to watch Mandarin teaching shows and/or have spent any time at all in China, it is very unlikely that you've never come across the name Dashan (the name means “Big Mountain” in Chinese). The Canadian became an instant hit back in 1988 when he first showcased his Mandarin fluency during the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. Since then, he's become such a sensation that most can't imagine him having a real name. (By the way, he does – it's Mark Roswell.)

Dashan is adored by the Chinese but hated by many Chinese-language learners. Let’s take a second to remind ourselves why:

A new edition of the Xinhua or New China Dictionary shows how the Chinese language has grown and changed due largely to social and technological factors. Not only are words coming in but some are getting kicked out after falling behind the times.

… kaifan 开饭
This imperative sentence sounds even more succinct than its English equivalent, “Let’s eat!” It could be a call from a loving mother, ready to serve dinner, or a call to arms for starving students rushing to the school cafeteria as soon as the bell rings.