Quote 4
"It’s not showoff." She said the two soups were almost the same, chabudwo. Or maybe she said butong, not the same thing at all. It was one of those Chinese expressions that means the better half of mixed intentions. I can never remember things I didn’t understand in the first place. (I.1.6)
Jing-mei doesn’t understand her mother, and therefore cannot remember her mother’s intended meanings of some conversations.
Quote 5
These kinds of explanations made me feel my mother and I spoke two different languages, which we did. I talked to her in English, she answered back in Chinese. (I.1.84)
Is the largest problem here that they are literally speaking different languages or that they just don’t understand each other, maybe because of cultural barriers?
Quote 6
But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once again: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other’s meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more. (I.1.109)
OK, that quote is pretty self-explanatory. It’s just one of the many reasons Jing-mei feels like she doesn’t know her mother.