Little Translator

In my previous post, I mentioned that Hannah can converse in both English and Mandarin and she knows how to segregate to whom she speaks both languages to. Recently, she has also become my "translator". I don't speak Mandarin fluently, but I am able to understand everyday conversations in Mandarin. However, now with Hannah, she can tell me what people are saying :)

Example 1:

At New World Park for lunch the other day, she was eating her chicken rice and listening to the conversation on the other table (not kaypo, okay, she is observant :p). The old lady was scolding a little boy (probably her grandson) in Mandarin because he was climbing up and down. Hannah turned to me and said "The aunty scold the boy bu yao pa - she said cannot climb".

Example 2:

We were in our apartment lift and it stopped. A little boy and his mother got into the lift and they were conversing in Mandarin. He was asking his mother about an umbrella. When they got off the lift, Hannah asked me "Mummy, where is kor-kor's (big brother's) umbrella?"

Example 3:

We went to have dinner together with my in-laws at a coffee shop and there was a pile of sand nearby. She excitedly went to step in the sand when I came back from ordering the food, she was happily telling her grandparents "wo wan sa!". When she saw me, she told me "Mummy, I play sand!"

English and Mandarin aside, she has recently taken a liking to the childrens' programme "Dora the Explorer", and I think the show teaches the kids some Spanish words too. So the other day, she asked me, "Mummy I want to watch Dora say (some random Spanish word which I have no idea what it means)". Looks like I am going to have a little senorita on my hands :)

We once went to a restaurant and the waitress said that Hannah looks like Dora. Can you see the resemblance??