[Australia] Hamish Spark, Western Sydney University
My Chinese name is He Ruizhi, which literally means how wise and smart I am. How great it is! I like my Chinese name.
I like Chinese idioms and proverbs, such as tianxiayijia, which means the world is one family. Human communication mainly depends on the lingual communication and exchange. If the world is going to speak one language, let’s speak Chinese only. I decided to learn Chinese after entering the university. Everyone knows that Chinese language is very difficult to learn, however, I love challenges. I have experienced sweetness, bitterness and struggling of learning Chinese. There are lots of fun in learning Chinese and beautiful encounters and memories during my stay in China.
Chinese is a language with four tones. The same pronunciation with different tones may mean differently. Awkwardness happens if we use wrong tones. I once asked for directions in Beijing. I asked a girl passing by me, “Hi, fair lady, wo keyi wen ni ma? (Will you do me a favor?)” The girl flushed and ignored me. I did not know why and thought she did not hear me clearly. I repeated, “Fair Lady, wo keyi wen ni ma?” The girl stared at me fiercely and walked away.
I was confused. Later, I realized that I used the wrong tone. When wen in the fourth tone it means ask; however, when I was asking for a favor, I pronounced it in the third tone, which means kiss. Therefore, when I was asking for a favor for directions, because of the wrong tone used, it turned into “Can I kiss you?” It’s so important to learn Chinese well!
When I first came to China, one of the words I used most frequently was zhege (means “this one”). There were too many Chinese words, and I could only say zhege to express myself. For example, I came to a shop for a scarf. I pointed to one scarf and said to the shop assistant, “zhege.” It would soon be taken to my hands. I especially love a dish called “garlic shrimps with thin noodles”, however I did not know how to say it in restaurants.
Therefore I would find the picture on the menu and said, “zhege.” It would be served very soon and I then could enjoy it with gratification. There were awkward moments too. I once went to a restaurant with one of my foreigner friends whose Chinese was even worse than mine.
He was very awkward when we were going to order dishes. I told him it was fine because I knew how to order dishes with my clever tricks. I said to the waiter, “zhege, two, thanks.” The waiter smiled and asked, “Do you mean it? zhege, em, henla (very spicy).” I knew what “zhege” meant, however, I did not know what he meant by henla. I pretended that I knew what I ordered and nodded with confidence and smile.
The waiter said, “You might regret this in your whole life if you order this.” I still smiled like an idiot and kept nodding. The dish was finally served to our table. Only one bite made my face red and I sweated immediately. However I had to pretend that this was my dish and I wanted people to know that I loved this spicy dish and it could be spicier. The chef peeked at me behind the kitchen door and could not stop laughing.
However I now came to love the “spicy” culture more and more. An old Chinese saying goes that “sweet south, salty north, spicy east and sour west”. I know that people in Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan provinces love peppers a lot. People in Sichuan do not fear spicy food, those in Hunan fear not a least any spicy food, while those in Hubei fear that their food are not spicy enough. Now I love both spicy food and also “hot girls” (In Chinese, la can be used to describe both spicy food and hot girls).
I also learned how to bargain. You need first get yourself familiar with Chinese numbers before you can bargain well. No matter how adept sellers are at quoting, I keep cool and composed. After several rounds of back-and-forth bargaining, I usually can get what I wanted at a half of the original price. I once asked a shop keeper how much this was. He smiled and said, “250 (It is a number used to tease people in Chinese).” I smiled back and responded, “You are 250!” the shop keeper was amused by my reply and agreed a very low price.
If you are careful enough, please tell me how many Chinese idioms I have used in this article. Where there is a will there is a way. Nothing is impossible to a willing mind! I look forward to be an envoy for China-Australia diplomatic and cultural exchanges.
Encountering Chinese and China are the most beautiful encounters in my life.
The story is from "My Beautiful Encounter with China" Essay Competition organized by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchanges (CSCSE).
