One of the first things you notice arriving in a strange, new city is the little things. Odd looking signs, different cars, different people, their clothes and the language that sounds so...foreign. Attempting to get by on the pocketbook Mandarin I'm travelling with is not really going to cut it. As bad as I am with languages I'm determined to expand my vocabulary beyond hello, goodbye, thank you and please. Maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew.
Mandarin sounds completely alien. For me, the most distinguishing feature of Mandarin is the "shooshy" sound to everything. So before you even attempt to speak, it's a good idea to work up a healthy mouthful of saliva. "Sho you should shtart shounding like a shlightly intoxshicated shailor". To compliment the sound (noise) that's emitted one also needs to conjure some deep, animalistic qualities, not unlike a low, growling feline. Finally, add a rollercoaster range of octaves adding tones that suggest shock, contemplation, excitement and doubt and...that's it!
Put it all together, and if you appear to be speaking like a drunken, bemused, schizophrenic tomcat...you're doing it right!
May-gwan-she!
Mandarin sounds completely alien. For me, the most distinguishing feature of Mandarin is the "shooshy" sound to everything. So before you even attempt to speak, it's a good idea to work up a healthy mouthful of saliva. "Sho you should shtart shounding like a shlightly intoxshicated shailor". To compliment the sound (noise) that's emitted one also needs to conjure some deep, animalistic qualities, not unlike a low, growling feline. Finally, add a rollercoaster range of octaves adding tones that suggest shock, contemplation, excitement and doubt and...that's it!
Put it all together, and if you appear to be speaking like a drunken, bemused, schizophrenic tomcat...you're doing it right!
May-gwan-she!
2 comments:
You're being way too nice! Mandarin sounds like a bunch of drunken monkeys yelling with flam in their mouth!
have you tried out the phases I taught you?
It's ok to diss the lingo, just not the government.
I look forward to reading your entry on political protests and the torch being extinguished*
+by the spitting from the Chinese.
that shounds like a deshcription of shomeone shpeaking shcottish to me, or shean connery shcottish at leasht
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