Knowing the Right Words Can Save Your Life (Part I)

Learning a second language is a great hobby but could it save your life as well? Of course it couldn’t. Or could it? Well, I was having a think the other day about a few serious and a few not so serious situations in which this could be the case. Here are some of the cases in which I think that not knowing the right words could land you in hot water.

Food Allergies in Chinese

I was diagnosed with a few different food allergies a few years ago after a bottle of sparkling wine caused my upper lip to swell up like a small pink zeppelin. It was nothing serious and my Mick Jagger impersonation only lasted a few months but I was given about 30 sheets of paper with details of products I should avoid like the plague. I didn’t even understand half of the words in English so I don’t know how I would have got on abroad if these had been really serious life threatening addictions. If you are thinking of going to China and have a serious allergy I would suggest practising the right words in the Chinese lessons London offers rather than taking any risks.