"Happy Chinese New Year!" (Part 1--Something About Language)

...so Vin Simbulan called and greeted me over the phone this morning, just before noon. Vin is the author of "Wail Of The Sun" from PGS1, and he has another high-fantasy story set in the same world of Forlorn due out in PGS4.

"Kung Hei Fat Choi!" he said. "You're at work!"

"Thanks," I said. "The same to you! Yes, I am at work. The Philippines isn't like Singapore, Hong Kong, or China. It's pretty much a regular day here, but today is as big as Christmas in the Philippines in those other places."

"Did I say it right?"

"Say what right?"

"'Kung Hei Fat Choi.'"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"What do you mean you 'suppose so'? Don't you know?"

"Well, 'Kung Hei Fat Choi' is Cantonese, the dialect in Hong Kong. I don't know any Cantonese."

"Oh. But everyone here says it."

"Yeah, I know." (here's an article that might shed some light on the subject)

"So what's the dialect here? How do you say it?"

"The dialect is Hokkien. Kiong Hee Huat Tsai."

"Kiong Hee Huat Tsai."

"Yeah, you just have to say it right, but I don't feel right teaching you 'coz my English is far better than my Hokkien, Mandarin, or even my Tagalog."

"So Hokkien here, Cantonese in Hong Kong, and Mandarin in China, right?"

"Yeah, but even Mandarin can change depending on where you are in China. The expressions and pronounciations can difffer from place to place. The Mandarin in Shanghai or Beijing can sound different from that in Taipei."

"Would you know?"

"Sadly, no. I do have to brush up. I'm missing out on a lot of great books, TV shows and movies."

"Do you think you can still learn?"

"With intensive training over a few months, I think I'll get by. I'll never be mistaken for a native speaker, but I don't think I'll go hungry if you plop me in downtown Beijing. I know how to ask for food. And directions, especially to the bathroom. But I'll probably freeze to death. The winter there's terrible right now. My brother, who's in Guangzhou, says it's so cold his hair's frozen over. Depending on the length of his hair, if he flicks a strand he can play all the notes on the musical scale."

"Haha. So Mandarin's not uniform like English."

"Well, I wouldn't say English is completely uniform. Our English here is heavily influenced by America, and English in the Philippines has developed its own nuances and expressions. I'm sure our English will be fine in most of the U.S.A., but say, go to the deep south and there will be differences. Go to Harlem and the gap may be wider. Go to England and it'll be the same. I find it hard to follow cockney. Go to the Australian outback, or India, ditto. You can actually establish setting through the way a language is used, say, in a story: choice of words, choice of expressions, choice of how to translate, etc."

"Hmm. Well, I learned something new today, about 'Kung Hei Fat Choi' and 'Kiong Hee Huat Tsai.' How will you spend your New Year's?"

"The family ate out last night, New Year's Eve, at a Chinese restaurant. Ten-course meal. Yum. Eating. That's one thing that doesn't need any translating."

(to be continued...)