Finding Shirley was no easy task. Jim Rogers put an ad in the China Press and at first got responses only from people who spoke no English or were illegal immigrants. Then, before hiring Shirley, he had friends (Rogers travels to China frequently) test her Mandarin to find out “whether she speaks gutter Mandarin or a queen’s Mandarin.”
“I don’t want my daughter to grow up and suddenly start talking like a tramp at age 9,” he says. Shirley now lives in the family’s Upper West Side home, and Rogers is feeling good about his investment: “Even if my little girl weren’t very smart, she’s always going to get a job because she’ll be totally fluent in Chinese.”
She will always be able to land a waitressing job or working in Starbucks. All she will need for the latter is a nose ring.
That is the joke of all times...and the point of the day. Mandarin doesn't qualify one to do JACK other than talk.
If you are an idiot financial analyst, Mandarin won't help you. You will be an idiot in two languages.
There HAS to be another set of skills there somewhere.
I am speaking from experience.
In all reality though there is enough gutter Chinese to last a lifetime...I know all I want to know of it, but it does help one get around a bit.
Its kind of like going to the ghetto and hearing some jive talk..."why you front'n homey"...Every city in China has its own BS teenager jive talk like that.