I am Your Sunshine

Ok, so I was reading this book, which surprisingly is getting better and better, where it’s set in the U.K. and one of the character is American. The American said, “… using a cell.” A girl replied with her eyebrow raised “What cell?” “Ok, a mobile, whatever.” I couldn’t but stop and laugh. It instantly reminded me of the first episode of Life on Mars I watched just a few days ago. Sam was in a car accident and woke up 30 years ealier than his time (1974). He told the police officer that he needed to fetch a mobile. “A mobile what?” was the reply, as there were no mobile phone in the era. Bizarre how my mind works? Yes I know one is the difference between the use of word and one the difference fell in technology advancement.

The thing is, the American knew what they call a cell in the U.K. since he’s been there for a while, but he’s still not able/or willing to use the British term when having a conversation with British people. I can picture him in my head rolling his eyes, saying “Ok, a mobile, whatever. ” I see the humor in this kinda thing cos I’m practically living in it. However, the language is not English but Chinese.

Like Britsh English and American English (not to mention Aussie English and maybe other more), we start to experience similar “cultural” shock in our daily lives with Chinese Chinese and Taiwanese Chinese (what the heck…) I’m gonna switch to Chinese here.

剛開始接觸大陸中文時是有很多不太適應的地方. 最常見的我想就是他們常使用我們會覺得不甚雅的”搞”字 (但其實我身邊的同事很少用), 還有像什麼”立刻就立刻, 馬上就馬上, 講什麼立馬” 諸如此類的小差異. 之前 chun 愛講的 “犯睏”, 我雖然不會用, 但仍一聽就懂她的意思, 不過也是有人聽了半天摸不著頭緒. 這其實都只是地區性用詞用字的不同, 沒有誰比較高級誰比較粗俗的, 也沒什麼好拿來取笑. HL 曾說過台灣有些人小鼻子小眼睛的, 我也略有同感. 看他們沒事就愛拿 “滑鼠就滑鼠, 什麼鼠標, 還中標咧!” 來嘲笑他人, 說實在是眼界不廣之下的產物. 但不只台灣人會這樣, 前陣子某位同事因為我說了什麼, 他有點嘲弄意思的丟來一句, “你們叫這個啊!” 我平和地回他一句, “翻譯不同罷了.” 他也沒好意思再多說什麼.

我們同事之間相處其實是非常融洽的, 語言的差異有時也是好玩的聊天話題. 只要確定我講馬鈴署時他們知道我的意思是土豆, 講蕃茄時知道我的意思是西紅柿, 我也會努力記得獼猴桃就是奇異果!

(其實這篇寫太久結果忘記原本要講什麼了 XD)