I’ve Created a Fun-ster
Here is my victim ah-Dak holding forth for a captive audience in a backstreet in Guangzhou. It moved my FUNdaMENTAList heart, I can tell you that. I was especially chuffed to hear him say (about me:) 佢中文講得好好 Keui jungman gong dak hou hou (she speaks Chinese very well.) No, not because he said that! Because he used the 得 (dak) to change the adjective 好 (good) into the adverb 好(well)!
And he said it with such elegance, such nonchalance that I almost cried. Almost, OK! But after years and years of hearing students, right in front of my face, ordering for example a cup of tea in English from the Chinese waiter after months of talking Chinese with me; well, you can imagine my feeling.
Here is ah-Dak again, getting a 3 yuan haircut while chatting away animatedly and with little fear. It’s so easy to be a man. Just sit down, adjust the clipper and zoom away. 3 yuan, five minutes and big success, both morally and linguistically! And how fun it was to watch.
You too can be like ah-Dak, saving money on haircuts and chatting effortlessly with locals in Cantonese. Start lessons with Happy Jellyfish Language Bureau today! You live abroad? No problem. We’ll do it on SKYPE.