language

One of the things that had me most excited about going to Hong Kong was the chance to learn Cantonese. It feels like a language I can claim (my grandparents speak it, although it wasn't their local dialect), "sensible" people don't want to learn it (since putonghua is rapidly catching up even here, where Canto has long been both a colloquial and official language), and it's challenging. Basically, it has all of the obscurity and difficulty that made Hungarian a fun language to learn, plus I can answer those pro-Mandarin haters with a claim of birthright.

I'm sufficiently incompetent with the language that the most basic conversational exchange is still beyond me. Ordering lunch (even at mcdonalds, where the meals are numbered), receiving directions, explaining that I'm teaching english and from the USA, all require me to slip back into English to convey any real meaning. But. I can usually say the words that initiate a conversation in Canto, and I do, to practice. Examples: "Yat hou" (at mcdonalds), "Bin dou sai sau gun a?" (where is the bathroom?), "Lok wai" (we need seating for six), "Siu siu a" (I can speak a little). On the basis of as few as two words, people immediately assume my level is good enough to complete the conversation in Canto, so they respond with a lengthy question (or statement, depending) which goes completely over my head. I guess it's only fair; I think it might be worse if my speaking was SO so bad that I was answered in English. But that doesn't seem to mean that anyone speaks any more slowly, even though the two words I said were slow and as halting as a single sentence can be, or more clearly, although I still don't have a good ear for the language and would be hard-pressed to pick words out of even well-enunciated speech. At any rate, I'm frequently embarrassed by the utter lack of comprehension I have, even as I'm mildly flattered that anyone would think, even for a second, that I actually speak Canto well. Unless their question is, "That was so bad, you have no idea what I'm saying to you, do you?" Then, I guess, my dumb stare in reply is entirely appropriate.