Chinese Language Barrier in Houston

This past weekend, my trip to Houston Chinatown was an interesting trip. I decided to visit Hunan Plus Chinese Restaurant for lunch and they have the cheapest full meal lunch in all of Houston. After eating, I decided to visit a gift shop in Houston Chinatown so I went to a shop inside Diho Square. I was asking about a Chinese CD, Amei, when the owner comes up to me and started talking in Taiwanese. Ok, I know I should understand my own language, however, I do understand my own language, Mandarin that is. You see, in Taiwan, Mandarin is like a second language and Taiwanese is the main language. Chinese language is complicated enough as is and now the Taiwanese is the dialect most people speak. So after figuring out what he was talking about with a lot of hand gestures and pointings, he was trying to help me decide on which cd to buy. I figure, it must be time to learn Taiwanese language because if I ever go back to Taiwan and visit, I will be embarrased if I did not understand my own language!