Say What? (part 1)

Annika and Elise are both taking Mandarin in school. They are learning how to both speak and understand it. Be careful of your inflection, because ma can mean either mother or horse.

You wouldn’t want to accidentally call your mother a horse now would you? Mandarin actually has four tones, so depending on your inflection ma could also mean flax or to scold.

A&E are also learning how to read and write those fancy Chinese characters. Fortunately, the Chinese implemented a simplified version of the characters about fifty years ago. None-the-less, some of characters can be pretty elaborate. The other night when she was doing her homework, I said to Elise “At least you’re working with the simplified versions, eh?” She replied “These are the simplified version!? I sure would hate to see the complicated version!”

There really is no language called Chinese. There is Cantonese, Mandarin, and so on. When most people refer to Chinese, they are generally talking about Mandarin which is the official language of China and is required in all schools. This creates a conundrum for me, because, Cantonese – not Mandarin- is the language spoken here in Hong Kong. And it’s what is most commonly spoken by Chinese-Americans, so it would be most useful back in the States.

So, do I study Mandarin, or try to pick up a little Cantonese while I’m here?

Of course, there is always option “c” where I do none of the above and be the ugly American who makes little effort to pick up the local language and stumbles along with English.

Anybody want to take bets on which way this is going to go?

-Jack

The other day –out of habit- I dismissed my class by saying “Adios.”

My classroom full of Chinese students all just stared at me.

Oops.

About the Picture: Chinese characters for Hong Kong.