Example 2: Denis sent in some homework — a translation of Chinese sentences into English.
His version said: “He only got up after the elephants got up.” Maybe the sentence was about a lazy zoo keeper who liked a lie-in, but the source text was a mainland Chinese publication, which — in my experience — generally didn’t rise to that plane of wackiness.
The original sentence turned out to be: 大家起床了以后他才起床 dàjiā qǐchuáng le yǐhòu tā cái qǐchuáng / He only got up after everyone had got up.
Denis had mis-read 大家 (dàjiā / “big family” / everyone) as 大象 (dàxiàng / “big elephant”).
Quarter of a century on, the recollection still produces a chuckle — and will for another 25 years to come, if my memory is still intact by then.
A much more interesting and memorable perspective than the grain production articles that a particular teacher tried to foist on her students at different places where she put students of Chinese through the mill. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun — and the meow).
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