So I’ve said it many times before- most of Hohhot doesn’t speak English. There are still people in the city that have never seen a foreigner before. After 11 months here, I still experience people stopping dead in their tracks and going “Whoa’. But to say that they don’t speak any English would not be true. According to a Chinese friend, there are certain words that all Chinese people know in English. Namely, ‘hello’ and ‘bye bye”. Interestingly enough, the Chinese rarely say the Chinese word for goodbye; maybe they think that “bye bye” is Chinese? Almost everyday we walk down the street and some teenagers shout “Hello!” and run away giggling. Yea, it’s a blast. Usually we respond in Chinese, or ignore them.
The other words all Chinese people know? Weird versions of the ABC song and the Birthday Song, and several swear words. They probably don’t know what they mean, but thanks to us, they use em.