Attended a 讲华语 (普通话) work lunch. I was so stiff. Petrified, more like it. I don't handle the 讲华语 portfolio. So I've no residual nor experiential knowledge of what's going on. I know next to nothing about the Chinese province or its 13 cities. I do know more than a smattering of its history.
I've only been to 2 of its cities and the water village of 周庄. This province is so vast. If I haven't been to its many sights and sounds, it's going to be very difficult for me to carry on a conversation with next to nothing. This isn't going to be a lunch that I can just attend and wing it. Over the weekend before the lunch, I read and read. Digested huge chunks of information. All in English. It would have been ideal for me to read in it Chinese. Too bad.
As I chatted with with the visitors, I struggled to translate my recent learnings from English to Mandarin. Ugh. I wouldn't have to do that if I had sufficient prep time to read the stuff in Chinese. I hope I sounded passably intelligent.
Half of these visitors are young, possess strong views of global politics, economy and social trends. They are, I cannot stress this enough, cosmopolitan. Then I look at the other half of the visitors. Again, I'm reminded of how quick the face of China is evolving. Through our conversation, I'm still amazed at how this younger generation of Chinese live a similar lifestyle to Singaporeans.
Wah. Luckily there wasn't any alcohol served at lunch. It was “以茶代酒”. With all those “我敬你，你敬我”，“失礼了，客气了” phrases, I would have been magnificently plastered by 2.30pm. Instead, I only had an insane need to pee.
Oh. On a fluffy note, among the visitors, there was a pretty cute, tall and dark guy who I thought resembled this HK actor. (I don't know the name!) Lalala. :)
I've only been to 2 of its cities and the water village of 周庄. This province is so vast. If I haven't been to its many sights and sounds, it's going to be very difficult for me to carry on a conversation with next to nothing. This isn't going to be a lunch that I can just attend and wing it. Over the weekend before the lunch, I read and read. Digested huge chunks of information. All in English. It would have been ideal for me to read in it Chinese. Too bad.
As I chatted with with the visitors, I struggled to translate my recent learnings from English to Mandarin. Ugh. I wouldn't have to do that if I had sufficient prep time to read the stuff in Chinese. I hope I sounded passably intelligent.
Half of these visitors are young, possess strong views of global politics, economy and social trends. They are, I cannot stress this enough, cosmopolitan. Then I look at the other half of the visitors. Again, I'm reminded of how quick the face of China is evolving. Through our conversation, I'm still amazed at how this younger generation of Chinese live a similar lifestyle to Singaporeans.
Wah. Luckily there wasn't any alcohol served at lunch. It was “以茶代酒”. With all those “我敬你，你敬我”，“失礼了，客气了” phrases, I would have been magnificently plastered by 2.30pm. Instead, I only had an insane need to pee.
Oh. On a fluffy note, among the visitors, there was a pretty cute, tall and dark guy who I thought resembled this HK actor. (I don't know the name!) Lalala. :)
16 comments:
quick! give me a medal! i don't "talk chinese"! but i know which province you're referring to WITHOUT googling!!!
cute guy! hehe...
me in a town near boston now... hehe..
苏州 ah?
CUTE?! really ah. like who ah?? go browse photos and tell me leh!
You seem to have handled it pretty well still! :) Reminds me of the first meeting conducted entirely in Chinese that I had to attend and take meeting minutes! I was so stressed!
你也到过周庄玩啊？
周庄的船夫，如果你要他为你唱歌，还需要加钱呢呐！
讨厌！！！
the country itself is vast. there're so many good things about it. but we don't see that side often. unfortunately we see alot of the uncouth side of it.
andrew: so clever!!!
kuroshironeko: heheheheh. oh! i is envious! have fun you!
JM: yes! suzhou is one of the 13 cities.
opal: aiyah! why don't you send me the link then i tell you!
karma C: i haven't had to do that yet. it sounds scary too! i think i'll just faint!
miss loi: 有。去了一趟。挺商业化的。说旅游拍照吧-我不要只拍风景。喜欢拍人和事。连拍这类的照都要添碎银子。真的有点现实。
fern: yup. am trying to see the good of it somehow.
errr...how horrible is it that i can only read the words "you", "me" and "tea" in chinese? then again, that might just suffice in China? :)
geesmo: never mind. can draw pictures. :)
so scary!!!! =P
I lost my ability to communicate effectively in Mandarin already. A few months back home has done that to me :(
corsage: wah. no lah. listen to chinese songs lor. or do some mini chinese tuition classes thingy?
haven't been to china for a long time. my last impression was, many are trying hard to pickup english.
met one University student in Beijing, when he knew i was from SG, he tried hard to continue the rest of conversation in English, even when i try to converse back in mandarin.
hmmm ... on the flip-side, perhaps it's just my standard of mandarin, totally incomprehensible LOLz
they may be advancing rapidly, but many are still left behind. this widen the rich-poor gap, don't think it's a good thing in long run. hmmm ....
My boys forgot their Mandarin already. *cry*
Re chicken skin, you're *just* like #2.
this is interesting, nvm, next time i guess u will put in more effort in reading all the materials in chinese, hahahh , guess my boy will has the same reaction as yours if he were to attend the "chinese lunch" =p
findingmrlazy: i realize that the chinese are more open to conversing in english with me if they realize that my mandarin cannot make it. maybe it's not applicable to all, but at least for the businessmen, yes. the rich-poor gap is AMAZINGLY wide.
kachunknorge: then i'm sure #2 can say chicken skin in mandarin and not make it sound like a swear word. ;p
elaine: haizz. my reading speed for chinese script is so slow!!
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