Chronic Blogger

Lost in the Translation

I'm in a relationship where the primary language of both parties is not English. It's Chinese, cept we speak different dialects of Chinese, Hokkien for me, Cantonese for him.

But I can't learn it. It's not that I don't want to but dammit, it's really hard! I can't get the tones of the words right (my tone-deaf ears are part of the problem but..). In Chinese that's a big no-no. You can say something in like, 4- 8 different tones and they all mean different things.

It's like a big fat boulder sitting in the middle of the road leading to eternal bliss, happiness and yes, love. I can't get around it. I can't get over it. I can't ignore it. It must be dealt with. My current weapon of choice is a dusty CD and cassette tape called 'Learn Cantonese'. I'd really like it to be a working stint in HK for a year or 2 so that I'm more motivated to learn it. Overseas living motivates you to do that sort of thing, kinda like you-will-starve-and-be-conned-by-others motivation - it's not always a bad thing :)

posted by chronicblogger @ 12:15 AM