Sunday, March 28, 2010
Definitely, so.
Spring break is over. Did I use any Mandarin? Definitely, not. Well, ok...definitely not at home. I did on occasion use it with a friend of mine who is Taiwanese, but did I go with my mother's suggestion from a week ago? Nope. It wasn't so much a coincidental thing, or a matter of forgetfulness...I simply chose not to. The first day I saw my mother, she brought up speaking Mandarin. My response was very clear: no. Why? I wanted to speak Cantonese with her. I told her it was just plain hard being in Monterey...but at least I'm taking Mandarin classes, and I speak more Mandarin than I do Cantonese. The opportunity to use my mother-tongue is rather rare, unless I go to San Jose or Los Angeles. I've realized language is not just a function of culture, but also a function of comfort. There is a comforting feeling as well as a nostalgic feeling that comes with speaking and hearing a language. Familiarity provides comfort...and maybe I'm just not familiar enough to Mandarin (comparatively) as I am with Cantonese to find the same amount of ease and solace in it. With time, however? Definitely, so.
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Great to speak Cantonse, but maybe speaking Mandarin to your mom also indicates appreciation toward her mother tongue, just the way you feel comfortable to speak Cantonese. I think it all comes down to the art of understanding. I love Austin's book "How to do things with words". The other day, I was talking to Ena about why we like to learn languages, speak different ones? Why is it? I realized it all comes down to the art of understanding. Maybe our desire to be understood is as important as our willingness to understand and respect others. Whether others do or don't, we choose to understand ~ You are great, Tracy, and I love the "kuilei" example blended in Cantonese, maybe teach me another one next Monday? :-)
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