Finally, Someone Critical About My Chinese
July 5th, 2006 by MarkOne thing I’ve often wished for, was to meet people who were more critical of my Chinese skills. I’m pretty sure that a Chinese person in the US, whose English was as good as my Chinese is, would get very few language related compliments. With their vastly lower expectations, however, Taiwanese people I meet invariably make a fuss about how good my Chinese is.
Today, I finally met someone really critical of my language skills- John’s Ayi! Since everybody else was out, and I was staying there, I let the Ayi in this afternoon. After I explained that I was a friend visiting Shanghai for the week, and the initial shock that I wasn’t John or Lennet wore off, I started talking with her about work. She cut me off pretty abruptly and said…
Your Chinese isn’t that good. It’s not as good as John’s, or as that… that… that other guy who lives here. His Chinese is better than yours is, too. I don’t completely understand what you’re trying to say. Can people understand you in Taiwan?
Ouch.
:
July 16th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Damn that is harsh.
July 16th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
[...] Your Chinese isn’t that good…. I don’t completely understand what you’re trying to say. Can people understand you in Taiwan? [source] [...]
July 16th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
I find northern Chinese pretty critical of the Taiwanese or southern ’si’ instead of ’shirrr’. I’m assuming you used ’si’ a lot which just destroys your Chinese to her ear. Conversely sometimes people around here (southern China) often cannot comprehend me if I don’t switch my ’shrrs’ to ’si’. That said, refreshing isn’t it.
July 17th, 2006 at 10:00 am
it makes sense if they can’t completely understand you. Mandarin accent will be different in difference area in China. Taiwanese accent goes deeper and mainland accent has more R and L sounds, I can’t explain it clear though..
July 18th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Interesting blog you have here. Having been sent to Taiwanese run Chinese schools in Los Angeles in childhood (due to the lack of Cantonese schools), I learned the Taiwanese sounds of “si” vs. “shi”, “qi vs. chi”, “zi vs. zhi”… fast forward 14 years later, while I’m making serious efforts to learn Chinese… I go to the local JC where Putonghua is taught…. after 2 classes, I frantically run to my coworkers and friends, why is it “lao shi” and not “lao si”? It’s “wo shi” nad not “wo si” WTF? I’m an ABC, but I’m damn sure my pronunciation is correct. Only in the coming weeks do I actually realize that I’ve learned Taiwanese / Southern Mandarin and had to relearn many words for the class. For Southern ears, those “shi” that need that bit of tongue curling can be painful.
Some of the American students laugh at me because of the visible creases that appear in my face when certain northern sounds are heard…. such as “nar”.
on the “shrrr” note… my putonghua stinks, but while on an Air China from Beijing back to LA, the steward kept asking ppl “ni huar ma?”… which for the life of me couldn’t understand. which I finally deduced to be 你喝嗎？ (ni he ma)…
July 18th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I’m rambling on…. in the States… or at least in California (where the majority are from the south, Guangzhou, HK, TW, Fuzhou, and even Shanghai) when Chinese see a foreigner that has gone to China and has mastered Chinese, that alone is impressive and is requitted by numerous “oohhss ahhss” and “hen li hai” and jaw dropping amazement.
One might think there is no pinnacle that can top that, but there is! What seems to fascinate even more is the ability to have learned Chinese so well, they have even picked up the Beijing accent! Preferrably, the stronger the accent, the more impressive. That truly is the complete package!
Cheers
July 18th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Mark,
Why don’t you put up some audio samples of your Chinese, and have readers/listeners vote about their quality?
July 18th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Tian, have you watched the video of me doing a spelling drill with my first semester students this spring? I spoke a bit of Chinese in that.
As for having everybody vote, that would be scary. I’ve spent my whole time in Taiwan as an English teacher, and I know my language acquisition lags far behind that of most foreigners who’ve spent nearly four years in the US. People would rip on my Chinese and rightfully so. I’m also pretty sure a lot of other people would take it the wrong way and think I was trying to show off or something like that.
October 5th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
LOL, such a big difference in reaction isn’t it?
–> “No, don’t know what you are talking about..”
vs.
–> ” Awwwww….. you speak Mandarin!”
I think that lady may have exaggerated a bit :p .. probably not used to your accent…
So, which kind of reaction would you prefer when you are practising chinese?
October 6th, 2006 at 12:03 am
Good question, Amy. Obviously the ideal reaction would be polite criticism. If I had to pick between blunt criticism and none at all, though, I’d go with John’s ayi anytime.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Ha! I had a similar experience in Beijing. My family is originally from southern China. I was told my southern mandarin with a slight english accent (all my chinese family friends say I speak like a native) was “incomprehensible”. LOL It was hard to learn and pick up at first. I spent 4 months in Beijing, and I can proudly say that I have mastered the northern mandarin accent! I think that in order to speak a language like a native it is almost impossible if you haven’t had the opportunity to immerse yourself in the right surroundings.