‘[Spoken] foreign language capacity comes in waves.’ This mantra, repeated daily, is one of the keys to living and studying abroad. There are times when one feels fluent in Mandarin; and carries on discussions about politics, religion, and reasonably complex economics.

Then there are days where one barely finds oneself able to communicate, and is met with slow, “DO-YOU-UNDERSTAND-WHAT-I’M-SAYING?” as you blurt out, what must sound like (approximate with a thick Russian accent):

“To having the time; help me a little! Horse your rice. Indeed, I am to search for to projected electrics!” when the goal was to simply inquire, “Excuse me, I don’t mean to be a bother – do you know where the movie theater is?”

Perhaps it’s not quite that bad. Still, those of us who would laugh at Ching/Engrish should be aware of how very amusing we probably sound.