Friday, January 14, 2011

Mandarin conversation with granny 6 January 2011


Grandma asked Hui  " Hao le mei you" (hanyin pinyin, means Are you ready?)
Hui replied " Haven't"

Granny mumbled "se mo haven't ?" (what is haven't?)

En who was nearby, translated  " haven't se hai mei you "

Granny asked " hao? " (She meant what is 'ready' in English)
En :  "Hao"  is good

Granny mumbling, good!!!  and asked again " hao le? "
En :  Finished.

When En was younger, she refused to speak in Mandarin. When I spoke to her in Mandarin or Cantonese, she told me to stop communicating to her in Chinese. She added " I am an English, not a Chinese". :)))) Now, she converse in both languages.

1 comment:

Jack Ng said...

Hilarious. I can imagine the heavy English accent in En's Mandarin, while having this conversation.

And I can image how nonchalant Hui's English reply to Granny's Mandarin.

And I totally respect Granny's (my mom-in-law) effort in speaking to En and Hui in Mandarin (although is not her mother-tongue). She recognized the importance of giving the little girls an environment to at least pick up the language.

We are so lucky.