Taken from “Surely You're Joking, Mr.
Feynman!” Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Phillips Feynman as told to Ralph Leighton edited by
Edward Hutchings
When
I was in Brazil I had struggled to learn the local language, and decided to
give my physics lectures in Portuguese. Soon after I came to Caltech, I was
invited to a party hosted by Professor Bacher. Before I arrived at the party,
Bacher told the guests, “This guy Feynman thinks he’s smart because he learned
a little Portuguese, so let’s fix him good: Mrs. Smith, here (she’s completely
Caucasian), grew up in China. Let’s have her greet Feynman in Chinese.”
I
walk into the party innocently, and Bacher introduces me to all these people:
“Mr. Feynman, this is Mr. So-and-so.”
“Pleased
to meet you, Mr. Feynman.”
“And
this is Mr. Such-and-such.”
“My
pleasure, Mr. Feynman.”
“And
this is Mrs. Smith.”
“Ai, choong, ngong jia! ”
she says, bowing.
This
is such a surprise to me that I figure the only thing to do is to reply in the
same spirit. I bow politely to her, and with complete confidence I say, “Ah ching, jong jien! ”
“Oh,
my God!” she exclaims, losing her own composure. “I knew this would happen—I
speak Mandarin and he speaks Cantonese!”