One evening in September 2013, I take a motorcycle cab back to my place. The driver asks me where I need to go. I tell him the name of the closest bus stop (which is also what I would usually tell cab drivers) and get on the motorcycle. While driving, he asks: “What’s the name […]
Tag Archives: Mandarin Chinese
If I miss my fiancé, I’ll often text him, telling him directly that I miss him. He, on the other hand, usually doesn’t tell me that he misses me in such a direct way. More often than not, he’ll ask me instead: “Did you miss me? (想我了吗? Xiǎng wǒ le ma?)” At first, whenever someone […]
Sometimes people in China will hear me tell Y: “Go die, idiot!” What the hell? Who talks like that to her husband, you might wonder. Let me explain. Actually, what people hear in Chinese is not what I tell Y in reality. So what do I say? Ever since one of my colleagues asked me […]
What’s the toughest part of learning Chinese for someone with a mother tongue like German (it probably also applies to people with other mother tongues)? After having studied Mandarin Chinese at university for 4 years and after having lived in China for 2 years, I consider myself to be kind of fluent in Mandarin Chinese. […]
Many of my friends from Northeast China tell me: “We don’t really have a dialect, we do speak a very intelligible Mandarin. Maybe there are some words that are different, but that’s about it.” Oh, the beloved “er” Northerners use in any possible way one can imagine! Having learned Chinese in Austria and in Kunming […]
About one and a half years ago, I get a message from a Chinese friend’s friend, the latter of which is an acquaintance of mine. He asks me a simple question and ends the text message with a “good night”. It’s already quite late, so I reply with a “good night”, not thinking too much […]
I took a cab to get to my new flat the other day. Cab driver: “Where are you from?” I: “Austria, and you?” Cd: “I’m Chinese!” I: “But where are you from in China?” Cd: “Hubei. How old are you? Twenty-something?” I: “Yes, I’m 25. How about you?” Cd: “I’m 32.” I: “You look younger […]
China elevator stories 