Apparently I sound like I'm from China.
This is the latest most amusing discovery.
The first time this happened was when I was throwing the trash at my workplace at Takashimaya. I met a China man there and he spoke to me. Then he asked me if I was from China. I was shocked and said no and that I was local. I thought that was strange. Do I not look Singaporean?
The second time this happened was while I was conversing with a rich Indonesian Chinese customer who is quite widely travelled. He spent $300 on a birthday bouquet for his girlfriend (probably half his age) and another $150 on his girlfriend's sister who happens to share her birthday. The guy is so rich, he took cash out of his shirt pocket like they were loose change. Tsk. Tsk.
So anyhow, he asked me if I was from China. Again. I wondered why... but it did not occur to me that it could even be remotely possible that people think I was from China from the way I spoke. I started asking my colleagues and they just had no idea.
The third time this happened was when I attended a Christmas party at a friend's place and she had invited 5 young men from China who were her colleagues. I took that opportunity to ask them all if they thought I spoke like I was from China.
Lo and behold, they all agreed vehemently saying I sounded really like a Chinese Chinese! I was quite pleased actually. I think it's pretty impressive that I could fool even a Chinese national that I was a fellow Chinese national. More importantly, I, a person who speaks really poor Mandarin and can't even follow the Chinese subtitles on TV, can actually sound like I speak with a Chinese accent!
My friends poked fun at me and said I probably sounded like the Chinese with the inaccurate accents from the countryside. So I probed further and asked the Chinese guys which part of China my 'accent' made me sound like I was from. They said Shandong. And I asked is that good or bad Mandarin. They all said Shandong people has the best/most accurate Mandarin.
I felt so proud of myself. Though I sometimes 'lao hong' in my Mandarin, I actually sounded pretty good! Not gang dang Mandarin anymore.... ! Hah!
The first time this happened was when I was throwing the trash at my workplace at Takashimaya. I met a China man there and he spoke to me. Then he asked me if I was from China. I was shocked and said no and that I was local. I thought that was strange. Do I not look Singaporean?
The second time this happened was while I was conversing with a rich Indonesian Chinese customer who is quite widely travelled. He spent $300 on a birthday bouquet for his girlfriend (probably half his age) and another $150 on his girlfriend's sister who happens to share her birthday. The guy is so rich, he took cash out of his shirt pocket like they were loose change. Tsk. Tsk.
So anyhow, he asked me if I was from China. Again. I wondered why... but it did not occur to me that it could even be remotely possible that people think I was from China from the way I spoke. I started asking my colleagues and they just had no idea.
The third time this happened was when I attended a Christmas party at a friend's place and she had invited 5 young men from China who were her colleagues. I took that opportunity to ask them all if they thought I spoke like I was from China.
Lo and behold, they all agreed vehemently saying I sounded really like a Chinese Chinese! I was quite pleased actually. I think it's pretty impressive that I could fool even a Chinese national that I was a fellow Chinese national. More importantly, I, a person who speaks really poor Mandarin and can't even follow the Chinese subtitles on TV, can actually sound like I speak with a Chinese accent!
My friends poked fun at me and said I probably sounded like the Chinese with the inaccurate accents from the countryside. So I probed further and asked the Chinese guys which part of China my 'accent' made me sound like I was from. They said Shandong. And I asked is that good or bad Mandarin. They all said Shandong people has the best/most accurate Mandarin.
I felt so proud of myself. Though I sometimes 'lao hong' in my Mandarin, I actually sounded pretty good! Not gang dang Mandarin anymore.... ! Hah!
posted by jumbosstar | 11:16 PM
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