Culture Shock: Mài Dāng Láo, upss… I Mean McD

Familiar with this one? I bet you do! And, I’m sure, everyone who can access the internet, know this cute M .

One day, I spoke with my friends about shopping. “Sogo”, my Belgium friend said. My Taiwanese friend looked totally confused. “Eh?”, she said. “So Go”, he repeated. After couple seconds, “Chóng Guāng!”. “Sogo, you know it, don’t you?”. I joined in that pathetic conversation, “You cannot say Sogo in here, just use the Chinese word for it. Like that!”, I talked to my Belgium friend and asked the Taiwanese to repeat ‘Sogo’ in Chinese. My Belgium could not accept it (kekeuh pisan eta). “No, it’s a brand name! I can say Sogo around the world, like McD, or anything like that!”. “Okay”, I didn’t want to argue him that time.

Couple days ago, I went to McD. I pointed at a number 1 picture and ordered,”Number 1, please!”. I successfully got my BigMac + up-sized large french fries + coke. Gosh, I like McD, they have universal language, BigMac, Double CheeseBurger, and so on! Next day, I went to another McD and I ordered like that. Unfortunately, same as one day before, I just got one sachet of sauce. I told the man, “Please give me more sauce, please!”. “Eh?”, he replied. “Umm, more sauce?”. “????”. “Sauce? Ketchup?”. “???????????”. Argh, it cannot work, okay, I picked up my sauce and show it to him, “More this please!”. Aha!!! Well, I got another bag of that.

A day after, I (almost) believe my friend’s word about brand name. I want to try the power of McD’s magic words. My friend asked me if I want to go to “Mài Dāng Láo”, “You mean McD?”, I replied. “Eh, yeah…”,  he answered unsurely. I asked him to bring me BigMac. “???”, he didn’t know it. “BigMac!”, I repeated. One hour later, I got my Chicken Burger. Actually, I don’t know what happened in McD’s kiosk out there.

Just forget it. I went to the another shop the following day. Yeah, you’re right. I go to McD every day, 5 days a week, isn’t it great? LOL. I ordered, “Triple beef burger, please.” The waitress confused,”Burger?”, she pointed at BigMac. “No, triple beef burger”, I repeated. “Two?”, she pointed at double beef burger. “No, triple! That one!”, I pointed at the middle triple beef burger. “This?”, again, she pointed at BigMac. “No, the middle.”, I waved my pointing finger to the right. “This? Two burger?”, again double beef burger. “Yeah, it’s okay”, I was speechless. Double Beef Burger in my plate and I pathetically failed to get my Triple.

In that time, I realized, brand is nothing. You cannot just tell McD, Carrefour, FamilyMart, or even Sogo in here. And of course, it’s better do not asked for BigMac, Triple Beef Burger, spaghetti, fettuccine, or espresso. They barely understand those things. Use mai dang lao, jia le fu, quan jia, and chong guang, instead. It’s better, much more better! For the menu, or items, or something you want to asked about, just point it! It saves your time.

At the end, yeah, I don’t believe of international brand name. It just didn’t work out.