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

Congratulations on your divorce, my forest is in the lobby

( China Daily ) Updated: 2010-10-27 09:15:11

"Congratulations," I told the newlyweds, "on your divorce!"

The bride appeared bemused and the groom grimaced. Then, they started chuckling, as they realized how I'd conjured such a dumb twist of the tongue.

I had chanced upon a wedding while traveling in Yunnan province and it had been suggested I offer a few felicitous words.

So I did - but not quite in the way my hosts, or I, had intended. It was an honest mistake, as "hunli" means "wedding" and "lihun" means "divorce".

Congratulations on your divorce, my forest is in the lobby

Indeed, the more Chinese I learn, the more words I have at my disposal not only for communication but also for miscommunication.

Most of my Mandarin mix-ups have been more nonsensical than offensive, though one does need to be careful with the Mandarin word for "Internet caf". I was informed of this upon failing to get the tones right and, consequently, saying a very bad word relating to the courtship practices of certain shelled reptiles.

Over the years, I have asked hotels if I could leave my forest (senlin), rather than my luggage (xingli), in the lobby. I have talked about putting clothes in my Xiyouji (the title of the classic novel Journey to the West) rather than in my laundry machine (xiyiji). And rather than say I was born in the Year of the Pig, I used to say, "I am a pig".

But, sometimes, I've found, I can even be speaking my native tongue and have it misinterpreted in Chinese.

I was recently eating at a Sichuan restaurant in Hubei province when a young lad at the table next to ours, who appeared to be about 5, apparently bit into a peppercorn, and started howling and sobbing.

I felt quite bad for the little fire-eater, so I muttered in English, "Poor guy"!

But, perhaps because I'd only been speaking Mandarin up to that point in the meal, my fellow diners instead heard, "Huo gai!" or, "Serves him right"!

My father has been studying Chinese with a tutor in the US and has also been finding his ability to say what he wants is growing with his propensity to say what he doesn't.

The first time I saw this in action was when we were speaking Chinese in Sweden, where he said the women were "pianyi" (cheap). He meant they were piaoliang (pretty).

When relating to his old tutor the story of how I once crashed an electric bike into a rice paddy during a family vacation in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, he said I tumbled into "mifan" (steamed rice).

She laughed so hard that, Dad says, he has never since forgotten "daotian" (the correct word for "rice paddy").

Congratulations on your divorce, my forest is in the lobby

However, that doesn't mean he doesn't still accidentally switch simple words, such as "your" and "my".

That's why Dad recently asked his new tutor, Jared, how Dad's wife liked his tutor's remodeled bedroom.

Dad's experiences also demonstrate the confusion created by the linguistic crossover works both ways. When discussing driving directions, Jared kept talking about making a turn at the "xing" (pronounced "shing").

Both were baffled until my father figured out he was talking about a crossing. The word is written as "Xing" on US traffic signs, and Jared had unwittingly applied the pinyin pronunciation.

But perhaps my father's funniest Mandarin mangling came when he tried to tell a Beijing vendor he already owned what she was trying to sell him. Because he happened to be patting his belly at the moment he said "you le", rather than say, "already got one", he said, "I'm pregnant".

I'm currently starting a new vocabulary list from which I should learn 30 written words a lesson. And I'm looking forward to not only being able to use them but also to not being able to help but sometimes misuse them.

Tags
Editor's Picks
Hot words

Most Popular
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 91亚洲精品一区二区在线观看 | 91日本在线视频 | 99re久久资源最新地址 | 成人午夜在线 | 一级毛片成人免费看免费不卡 | 欧美a大片 | 操欧美美女 | 欧美13一14周岁a在线播放 | 精品99视频 | 欧美激情亚洲一区中文字幕 | 亚洲炮网 | 日本午夜高清视频 | 奇米影视7777久久精品 | 欧美二区视频 | 国产一区日韩二区欧美三 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区在饯 | 亚洲免费视 | 毛片视频在线免费观看 | 伊在人香蕉99久久 | 成人国产在线观看 | 欧美与黑人午夜性猛交久久久 | 日韩在线一区二区 | 成人a区| 欧美一a级做爰 | 欧美精品伊人久久 | 久久久久久国产精品免费 | 国产精品线在线精品 | 国产二区精品 | 免费国产成人高清在线看软件 | 成人国产在线24小时播放视频 | 国产高清在线观看视频手机版 | 亚洲欧洲无码一区二区三区 | 国产一级免费片 | 女人张腿让男桶免费视频网站 | 久久国产三级 | 国产一级做a爱片久久毛片a | 亚洲天堂网在线观看视频 | 久久99精品久久久久久三级 | 毛片视频在线免费观看 | 欧美一及| 欧美日本高清视频在线观看 |