An Indian salesman went viral online after speaking fluent Mandarin and Hokkien selling mops. (Screengrab from Zeng Li Ren/Facebook)

【看CP學英文】今日擁有雙語能力或許不像曾經如此稀有，然而近期一位印度裔男子因為以流利的中文和閩南語叫賣，引起網友熱議。

Being bilingual is nothing to gawk about nowadays, but when a man appearing to be of Indian descent was heard hawking his wares in a mix of Chinese dialects more fluently than most locals, everyone stopped and stared.

週日，30歲的黃姓推銷員被拍到在市場中央以流利的中文、閩南語大力介紹拖把多麽好用。

A video of the 30-year-old salesman was shared on Facebook on Sunday (Feb 21), showing him effortlessly switching between Mandarin and Hokkien as he demonstrated how to use his mop.

「我們的母親通常會先掃地再拖地。買我的拖把，把它帶回家。在家中打開像一朵花，放在有水的地方，掃和拖一次完成。」

“Our mothers used to sweep before mopping. Buy my mop, bring it home, open it up, it looks like a flower. Put it on the floor, sweep and mop, do them both at once,” he repeated throughout his sales pitch.

他還幽默的表示，老舊的拖把已經在市場上販賣50幾年了。「50幾年前印度人還不會說中文，但社會在變，你的拖把也應該跟上時代！」

He went on to say, tongue-in-cheek: “This old style of mops has been around for 50 years. Fifty years ago, Indians couldn’t speak Mandarin but now we can. Society has changed! Your mop should too!”

許多網友在看到此影片也大力讚賞他的語言能力，然而他與外國媒體訪談中透露自己其實還會更多語言。

While many netizens have praised him for his linguistic prowess, the salesman revealed in an interview with Lianhe Wanbao that he has more to his arsenal.

除了中文和閩南語以外，黃先生表示他還會廣東話、客家語、潮州方言、泰語、越南語、坦米爾語、英文和馬來西亞語。

Apart from Mandarin and Hokkien, he is also fluent in Cantonese, Hakka, Hock Chew, Teochew, Thai, Vietnamese, Tamil, English and Malay — a total of 11 languages and dialects.

他表示自己其實是中印混血兒，小時候在新加坡爺爺奶奶的照顧下長大，學會說閩南語和潮州話。13歲時，他和妹妹一起搬到中國，也是在當地讓他學會了中文和廣東話。

The man, who’s actually of Chinese-Indian descent, said he grew up under the care of his grandparents in Singapore and spoke to them in Hokkien and Teochew. When he was 13, he moved with his sister to China where he picked up Mandarin and Cantonese.

他坦承，雖然新加坡的學校有教中文，但他一向對這個語言沒什麼興趣，直到他搬到中國他才意識到中文多重要。

Though he was taught Chinese as part of his education in Singapore, he confessed that he had no interest in learning it until he went abroad.

在中國的七年期間，他慢慢學會了各地方言，隨後搬到了泰國和越南，在兩國各待兩年的時間下學會當地語言。

He picked up other Chinese dialects over the next seven years in China, before he moved to stay in Thailand and Vietnam for two years each, learning the local languages as he did so.

受訪時，他表示：「要學一個語言最好要在那個國家。疫情結束後，我希望可以去台灣或是日本學更多語言。」

“It’s best to learn a language when you’re in a country. After the pandemic, I plan on going to Taiwan and Japan to pick up more languages,” he shared with the Chinese evening daily.

他透露對於目前現況感到很滿足，而相較於在網路上爆紅，他更喜歡逗樂社區的婆婆媽媽和伯伯們。

For now, he’s contented selling mops at his pop-up booths. Instead of aiming to be viral, the salesman said he enjoys entertaining the aunties and uncles in the neighborhoods.

有些人甚至還會上前詢問他要不要當乾兒子讓他覺得非常好笑。

In fact, some of them have even approached him asking if he could be their god-son, much to his amusement.

「我超愛我的工作！它讓我可以同時開玩笑和賺錢！」

“I love this job! I can crack jokes and earn money at the same time doing this!”