Friends in Unexpected Places
Spanish was the first foreign language that I ever studied. I don't know if studied is exactly the right word. I had this movie called Muzzy about some clock-eating monster who came to earth and met a princess and fun times ensued. It wasn't until I was a teenager trying to rewatch the movie out of nostalgia that I realized that Muzzy was all in Spanish. I somehow missed that small detail during my entire childhood.
Maybe the unconscious exposure helped me later in high school Spanish class, which I did happen to enjoy and find pretty easy (although admittedly the bar was set pretty low...). Anyway, Romance languages give English-speakers a lot of help when they are learning because of the many similar words. Like in Spanish, "futuristic" is futurista. That took me all of five seconds to learn. And then "possible" is posible. Of course you do have to change the pronunciation a bit, but it's still pretty easy to remember. And when in doubt, just add an "o" to an English word (ok, don't really do that).
Cantonese, at first glance, gives no such vocabulary help. It uses characters instead of an alphabet. It has tones in the individual words while English uses tones to convey a feeling in the general sentences. Most vocabulary is totally different. Until. Until. UNTIL.
Until you realize that Cantonese has a lot of English words in it! English is sneaky like that. Some of them, like the "hallo" that most people use in greeting, are quite obvious. Others are much more removed from their English counterparts, which can cause serendipitous moments when I'm studying.
Some of the more obvious words are things like lunch, book (like "book a table"), and weekend. Many eager students want to know the "proper" Chinese word, but at least in Hong Kong, some English words are just used more than the Chinese word. I've come to enjoy that aspect, since it does makes things easier on my end as well as being interesting. Now I've gotten used to the more popular English words. Now if I want to ask a friend to have lunch, I'll say, "Lei5 gei1 see4 dak1 hahn6 sik6 lunch?" 你幾時得閒食lunch ?
Then there are the words that don't always sound like English but are. One such word is con. When I first heard the word, I really had no clue what it was, until I noticed my friend gesturing to my eyes. Contacts! I also find it hilarious when they take an English word but apply Cantonese grammar to it. A personal favorite which I try to use as often as possible is "are you ok?" Lei5 O m4 OK ah3? 你o唔ok呀 ?
I can see how it happens. You start learning a language and gradually it starts creeping into your other language. A word here, a sentence there. It's a slippery slope!
Of course not me. I'd never let my English be affected like that. But we'll talk more about this later since I need to 走 to the 啦 !
Maybe the unconscious exposure helped me later in high school Spanish class, which I did happen to enjoy and find pretty easy (although admittedly the bar was set pretty low...). Anyway, Romance languages give English-speakers a lot of help when they are learning because of the many similar words. Like in Spanish, "futuristic" is futurista. That took me all of five seconds to learn. And then "possible" is posible. Of course you do have to change the pronunciation a bit, but it's still pretty easy to remember. And when in doubt, just add an "o" to an English word (ok, don't really do that).
Cantonese, at first glance, gives no such vocabulary help. It uses characters instead of an alphabet. It has tones in the individual words while English uses tones to convey a feeling in the general sentences. Most vocabulary is totally different. Until. Until. UNTIL.
Until you realize that Cantonese has a lot of English words in it! English is sneaky like that. Some of them, like the "hallo" that most people use in greeting, are quite obvious. Others are much more removed from their English counterparts, which can cause serendipitous moments when I'm studying.
Some of the more obvious words are things like lunch, book (like "book a table"), and weekend. Many eager students want to know the "proper" Chinese word, but at least in Hong Kong, some English words are just used more than the Chinese word. I've come to enjoy that aspect, since it does makes things easier on my end as well as being interesting. Now I've gotten used to the more popular English words. Now if I want to ask a friend to have lunch, I'll say, "Lei5 gei1 see4 dak1 hahn6 sik6 lunch?" 你幾時得閒食lunch ?
Then there are the words that don't always sound like English but are. One such word is con. When I first heard the word, I really had no clue what it was, until I noticed my friend gesturing to my eyes. Contacts! I also find it hilarious when they take an English word but apply Cantonese grammar to it. A personal favorite which I try to use as often as possible is "are you ok?" Lei5 O m4 OK ah3? 你o唔ok呀 ?
I can see how it happens. You start learning a language and gradually it starts creeping into your other language. A word here, a sentence there. It's a slippery slope!
Of course not me. I'd never let my English be affected like that. But we'll talk more about this later since I need to 走 to the 啦 !
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