English as a First Language - Part III

Maybe I should title this one, "English as an ONLY Language." I speak a teensy bit of French, and a few odd words of other languages that would do me not one ounce of good anywhere! It's too bad, because I'm sure this comment was meant to encourage me... even lift my spirits. If only I could read it!

(Chinese text removed)


If you'll notice, there are a few English letters in the context of the note... Mostly jibberish, except for that one three-letter word. I hope it's just a coincidence and the comment is not objectionable. If it is, I hope some dear reader will inform me so that I may remove it from my blog!


This particular reader left me a comment on another post...


(Chinese text removed)


Not a clue...

It amazes me that this person read my post. I am in awe of the numbers of different countries listed on my visitor map. Blogville is truly a global community. Too bad there isn't a global language.

Now, I am not posting this to poke fun at an earnest commenter. I seriously cannot read it! It is a sad state of affairs, I agree; but the fact is that most Americans are NOT bilingual. On a world scale, we're illiterate. I don't even know anyone that can read this. I'm quite sure that I've crossed paths with people that could. At my former job, on occasion, I passed through the design offices where some brilliant minds were on the telephone, speaking a language unfamiliar to me. That is as close as I've come to being bilingual.

I do not dare print the comments out and take them to our local Chinese carryout. I'm sure I would offend someone by assuming they could read it. They'd likely accuse me of bigotry for not realizing that not all Asians speak the same language. Of course I know that. What I don't know is... uh... (shh.... what language is it?)

If anyone reading this post can clue me in... please do!