Sling the Cantonese slang, la!
At the Division contest last week, I listened intently to all speakers from both Divisions! I laughed, I evaluated and I puzzled.
You see, I think my English is pretty good. So, I was puzzled at three points that afternoon when speakers, seemingly delivering speeches in English, switched to Cantonese slang.
o靚模
One speaker dwelled on the phenomenon surrounding the book-fair this year, the lan/leng mo [o靚模]. The what?!! Now, if you understand Cantonese, you’re OK. But this was a speech in English! I could just about fathom what he meant as I’d followed the whole story, but his repetition of this word that I didn’t understand throughout the whole speech was distracting, to say the least. The English press came up with a new term - ‘pseudo-model’ – to describe these young girls (which was met with some criticism).
The speaker didn’t place.
等到頸都長
This phrase popped up in the winner’s speech – just once. Apparently, it can be translated as ‘waiting for a very long time’. It was delivered as ‘My neck is getting longer and longer’. I had to ask.
As a non-Cantonese speaker, this phrase jarred with me. And while I was puzzling over what it meant, I wasn’t listening to the speech. My brain can’t puzzle and listen at the same time.
This was an isolated insertion of another Cantonese slang expression. Other than that, it was great speech. Humourous and well deserving of the win.
So what?
It’s a very unusual situation in Hong Kong where we have Cantonese speakers delivering speeches in English to mostly other Cantonese speakers. Nevertheless, I’d remind all speakers to sling the Cantonese slang for the following reasons:
It’s important to know the audience. And the judges. That includes knowing who/how many members of the audience will not get your joke(s).
If the speech wins in Hong Kong, it’ll be necessary to do an awful lot of rewriting to make the speech work outside of Hong Kong. Even mainland Chinese culture and language differs from that in Hong Kong.
You see, I think my English is pretty good. So, I was puzzled at three points that afternoon when speakers, seemingly delivering speeches in English, switched to Cantonese slang.
o靚模
One speaker dwelled on the phenomenon surrounding the book-fair this year, the lan/leng mo [o靚模]. The what?!! Now, if you understand Cantonese, you’re OK. But this was a speech in English! I could just about fathom what he meant as I’d followed the whole story, but his repetition of this word that I didn’t understand throughout the whole speech was distracting, to say the least. The English press came up with a new term - ‘pseudo-model’ – to describe these young girls (which was met with some criticism).The speaker didn’t place.
等到頸都長
This phrase popped up in the winner’s speech – just once. Apparently, it can be translated as ‘waiting for a very long time’. It was delivered as ‘My neck is getting longer and longer’. I had to ask.
As a non-Cantonese speaker, this phrase jarred with me. And while I was puzzling over what it meant, I wasn’t listening to the speech. My brain can’t puzzle and listen at the same time.
This was an isolated insertion of another Cantonese slang expression. Other than that, it was great speech. Humourous and well deserving of the win.
So what?
It’s a very unusual situation in Hong Kong where we have Cantonese speakers delivering speeches in English to mostly other Cantonese speakers. Nevertheless, I’d remind all speakers to sling the Cantonese slang for the following reasons:
It’s important to know the audience. And the judges. That includes knowing who/how many members of the audience will not get your joke(s).
If the speech wins in Hong Kong, it’ll be necessary to do an awful lot of rewriting to make the speech work outside of Hong Kong. Even mainland Chinese culture and language differs from that in Hong Kong.
The other phrase that I hear/read often is 'Add oil'.
I've now figured out what it means after reading so many FB comments. I still don't recommend using it in a speech.
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Девушкм хвастается подруге:
- вчера такого парян встретилоа! ! ! ! У него такой член, такой член! !К меня даже в голове не укалбывается!
Я 7 часов булждала по сетир, пока нен выешла нра ваш форум! умаю, я здесь останусь надолог!
прошу прощения за опечатки.... очень маленькая клавиатура у PDA!
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У нас в жж за такой пост бы закидали какашками в каментах:)
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Хорошая статья. Действительно было интересно почитать. Не часто такое и встречается та.Наверное стоит подписаться на ваше RSS