Chickens or Hookers?

No this is not an Irish bar joke, or a country song but a reference to just how hard it is to learn the Chinese language.   There are 4 tones in the language so you can have one word  but say it with 4 different tones and each tone will make that one word mean something completely different.  The tones  derive from the four phonemic tones of Middle Chinese, and are named even AKA level (平 píng), rising (上 shǎng), going AKA departing (去 qù), and entering AKA checked (入 rù).

So by learning the subtle tone rules you can understand what word is meant  to be said, but all rules are meant to be broken upon occasion and that brings us to  chickens and hookers.   At a Korean bbq dinner the other night one of our translator friends was teaching us different words and we focused the lesson on the food we were eating.    He was teaching me  how to say  chicken  “ ji  “ , but then explained that means live chicken .   If you are going to talk about chicken you are going to eat you say “  jirou  “  which means chicken flesh.  But in the next breath he informs me the exact same word and tone for chicken also means hooker……… at that point I gave up and just ordered another “pijiu” (beer).

 

We have met several ex-pats here in China and some tackle the tones and speak as traditionally as possible, but then others throw the tones out the window, butcher the language a little but don’t stress over it and focus on getting the main point across     I lean towards that version of learning Chinese and have only mastered a few words, but when I am out in public I am starting to hear people  saying words and not just sounds.  For the first time I overheard people talking and due to my rosetta stone lessons I understood they were talking about eating lunch with their children…. it’s a baby step but it’s progress.

Cheers, and next time you are ordering your next Chinese take -out make sure you order chicken …. or you never know what will show up at your door.