My team is was composed of people from four different races – Singaporean, Malay, Indian, Filipino. So you can imagine how language (and accents) can be a barrier sometimes. Most of the time we understand each other, though. Or at least, think we do. I could not help but laugh at this conversation this morning:
Rowie: how bout my ifop hk Preeti?
Pree: pai ser…doing
Rowie: hehehe..pai ser.u know the meaning?
Pree: i believe its take it easy or be patient?
Ei: no la
Pree: :O
Me: whoops
Rowie: difficult to translate
Rowie: something like doing something else..
Ei: no la
Rowie: like a busy body..heheh
Ei: hahha
Me: so what does it really mean?
Ei: is something like an impression for embarrassment
And all this time I thought it meant sorry! 😮