Marc Lim almost gets categorised as a terror threat in Beijing.

In Beijing

THE world is a much smaller place than it used to be. The invention of air travel, the telephone and television have ensured that.  So it's not uncommon to see different cultures and races embracing each other's languages and practices.

Yet when you have 21,600 journalists, 10,500 athletes, 10,000 officials and thousands more fans from 205 countries and territories in one area, there is bound to be some miscommunication.

Although French is the official language of the Olympic Games - as a tribute to Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Olympic movement - it is primarily Chinese and English which will get you by this time round. But narrowing communication down to two main languages won't ensure clear signals.

Xiang Jian Min has been a Beijing taxi driver for over 20 years. Yet throughout his career, he has never been made to speak English to passengers - until this year. Beijing made it mandatory for taxi drivers to sit for an English test.

So it is not surprising that Xiang recently took a passenger to a Beijing hospital, when the passenger said Beijing Hotel.

"That's one thing I keep mixing up," the affable driver told me while on a trip in his cab.

"It's too confusing for me because I don't speak the language."

Indeed, even getting a taxi can be difficult.

Overheard in the media village was a foreign journalist asking for a taxi. A helpful volunteer scurried around like a busy bee, while every now and then updating the journalist that help was on the way. Meanwhile, the puzzled journalist looked on a taxi after taxi passed the media village's main gate.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, a supervisor emerged beaming and handed the journalist a can of Pepsi.

Said the proud volunteer: "Difficult to get because Coca Cola is Olympic sponsor. But you enjoy."

Personally, I suggest not being too clever with languages. If you're not 100 per cent sure, don't bother is my policy.

At breakfast one morning, I nearly had the Beijing secret police and army on my back.

On offer were only scrambled and half-boiled eggs. I wanted a fried egg. So I search my memory for the word.

"Hmm, if fried chicken is zha ji, then fried egg should be... aha!"

"Wo yao zha dan," I said proudly, not knowing that "zha dan" in hanyu pinyin means bomb. What I should have said was "jian dan".

Fortunately, the service staff were able to see the lighter side of the incident. Me? I was just thankful there were no cops around.

For the rest of the Games, I'm sticking to English and just simple Chinese words.