Confusing communication — Chinese (China)

Marsha had wanted to go to China, mainly for visiting museums for their ceramics and porcelain ware, but couldn’t find anyone to go with her.  

I was going to Singapore, Fujian province and Guangdong province with my brother, so I invited her along, as she’d have free accommodation in Singapore and, with the help of our contacts in China, free or very cheap accommodation in China.  

The area in Guangdong province we were going to is also a porcelain-producing area, making vases, tea sets and bowls, which I thought would at least compensate Marsha, in some way, for missing out on the big museums in Beijing and Shanghai.

The trip to Guangdong province was to visit my father’s village, which my brother had been to before, a few times, and to see my paternal aunts and cousins, whom I’d never met.  

It’s an area that speaks the 潮州 / Cháozhōu (Teochew) dialect, which — being closer geographically to Fujian province — is closer linguistically to the 福建 / Fujian (Hokkien) dialect across the border than to the 广东 / Guangdong (Cantonese) dialect, none of which bears much phonetic resemblance to Mandarin, the lingua franca in China.

I’ve always taught my students to be effective with their use of language, especially in real life, by using the easiest formulae because there’s not enough time to search for the most appropriate expression for a particular occasion, so they won’t run the risk of losing the interest of their listener(s) waiting too long for the right word to be found.  

One such one-size-fits-all formula is “好 / hăo” (good / fine / well / OK / all right), especially when expressing agreement.  This I’d teach right from the beginner level, and reinforce throughout the year and upward progression through the grades.

One day, Marsha asked me, “Why do the local stallholders look surprised every time I make payment for an item I’m buying from them?”  

I asked her to run through the whole procedure, step by step.

She said, “I’d go up to a stall, point at an item I want, and ask [in Mandarin], ‘多少钱 / duōshăo qián? / How much money?’  They’d tell me, and I’d say [in Mandarin], ‘我买 / wŏ măi / I buy’, and take out my money, which is when they’d look surprised.”  

It so happens that “我买 / wŏ măi / I buy” in Mandarin sounds very similar to the sounds “wà măi / I don’t-want” in the 潮州 Cháozhōu (Teochew) dialect. 

No wonder those stallholders in Cháozhōu reacted the way they did:  this woman had just proclaimed she was not interested, then proceeded to hand over her money.

What I do not understand to this day, though, is why Marsha had chosen not to use the easier, more effective way of expressing agreement, taught from beginner’s level, which is: 好 / hăo.  No wonder teachers despair...

(Event happened 1997)



PS:  Haha, I've just realised, after posting this account, that it is just like the other blog about confusing communication (see Confusing communication — Czech), which also involves a woman (me) saying one thing and doing another.  No wonder they say women often mean yes when they say no.  So Marsha and I have both contributed to this myth!  哎呀 aiya.