Old vegetable seller who could speak Mandarin

I still could remember an old woman who sold vegetables in the market in Jerantut, a small town in Pahang. My wife and I would buy fish, meat and vegetables in the market at weekends for cooking. I did not take my wife there every day because I was teaching in the morning session then.

What surprised me was an old lady selling vegetables being able to speak Mandarin - the language we used to talk to her as my wife could not speak Cantonese. Although I could speak some Cantonese, I was more at home with Mandarin.

This incident shows that when there is a need to learn a language to communicate with others to do business, anyone is motivated to do so. If an old lady could do it, young people should have no problem doing so at all.