www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Lifestyle

Cantonese tongue twisters turn into plot-twisters

By Gus Tate ( China Daily ) Updated: 2010-05-13 09:40:01

Standing on the peak of Taishan, holding a camera for a newlywed couple from Shenzhen, I heard the woman suddenly yell to me in Cantonese.

"Excuse me?" I shouted over the wind. We had been chatting for several minutes already, but only in Mandarin.

"So, you don't understand Cantonese, then?" The woman looked unimpressed as she took the camera and put it back in her purse. "I thought you said you lived in Guangzhou!"

Cantonese tongue twisters turn into plot-twisters

I was unprepared for this response. Chinese people are usually flabbergasted that I can speak even a word of Mandarin. I managed a meager excuse about it being too difficult, but the couple had already turned to leave.

Cantonese is infamous among foreigners for its inscrutability. Judging from cadence alone, an overheard conversation in Cantonese could easily be construed as a heated and potentially violent argument.

Cantonese slang is also notoriously prolific and idiomatic. And the tones - are there six, eight, or nine? How am I supposed to learn a language whose native speakers can't even agree on the number of tones?

Still, the woman's remark was an unpleasant reminder of how little I had learned during my first year in Guangzhou, so I enlisted my roommate as a study buddy. We found a tutor, bought a textbook, and our journey began.

As it turns out, Cantonese is hard. Barrels of fun, but mentally exhausting. Despite the noble efforts of our teacher, we've only succeeded in internalizing a few fun-to-say but way-too-specific sentences and structures.

My roommate, for instance, is an expert at assuming an air of exasperation while asking: "How can you say such a thing here?!" (Lei hai dou gong maai di gam ge je?!)

I, meanwhile, have mastered the frivolous outburst of a restaurant patron when asked if he would mind sharing a table: "Sitting with others? No way!" (Tung jan dei maa toi aa? Ngo dei m dzai gaa!)

Problem is, the opportunities to use these phrases in the presence of native Cantonese speakers are relatively rare. It wasn't until my dad came to visit that I finally had a perfect opportunity to flex my skills.

After meeting my father at the Hong Kong airport, we decided to grab a quick dim sum before taking our train to Guangzhou. The restaurant was full, so we took a number, nervously checking our watches as we waited. The hostess called our number. I leapt toward the desk. She gestured toward a large table already occupied by several diners.

Cantonese tongue twisters turn into plot-twisters

"Li dou dak m dak aa?" ("Is this table alright?")

I was torn. Of course we didn't mind sharing a table. Besides, we were in a rush and couldn't afford to be picky. But every fiber of my consciousness wanted to blurt out the phrase I had already honed to perfection. I couldn't help myself, so I sang out, practically exploding with false indignation:

"Tung jan dei maa toi aa?!" ("Sitting with other people?!")

The hostess blinked.

"Super!" I chirped merrily, sitting down in a huff, motioning frantically for my father to join me before the hostess had time to consider what a weird, bipolar customer I was. Like I said, barrels of fun.

In all seriousness, I don't regret spending hours filling my head with Cantonese. At the very least, it has taken this dialect that I hear on the streets and transformed it from mere static obstructing my Chinese education into music enhancing it. I highly recommend studying the local dialect, at least casually, especially for those looking to expose themselves to a whole new dimension of embarrassment.

?

Tags
Editor's Picks
Hot words

Most Popular
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久狠狠色狠狠色综合 | 免费成年人在线观看视频 | 色拍自拍亚洲综合在线 | 国产一级做a爰片久久毛片99 | 18videosex性欧美69超高清 | 国产精品亚洲一区二区三区在线观看 | 99久国产 | 欧美日本高清视频在线观看 | 国产又粗又黄又湿又大 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区不卡 | 黑人边吃奶边扎下面激情视频 | 91精品国产一区二区三区左线 | 看性过程三级视频在线观看 | 精品国产欧美一区二区五十路 | 日本a级毛片免费观看 | 黄.www | 亚洲人的天堂男人爽爽爽 | 国产一区二区免费播放 | 日韩精品视频在线 | 久热久草| 成人性动漫高清免费观看网址 | 亚洲 欧美 成人 | 国产高清在线看免费视频观 | 中文字幕在线观看一区二区三区 | 在线男人的天堂 | a三级黄色片 | 国内精品久久久久久久星辰影视 | 日本一区二区三区高清福利视频 | 欧美一区二区三区在线视频 | 乱人伦中文视频在线 | 亚洲国产一区二区a毛片日本 | 国产欧美在线观看 | 国产成人做受免费视频 | 在线亚洲精品视频 | 中国国产一国产一级毛片视频 | 91精品国产免费久久久久久青草 | 免费毛片全部不收费的 | 亚欧色视频在线观看免费 | 在线观看欧美亚洲日本专区 | 久久在线视频 | 国产精品视频久久久久 |