Thu 22 Jan 2009
Frustration
Posted by 馬先生 under Cantonese
The other day I went to MacDonald’s and ordered the usual Double Cheese Burger and Strawberry Milkshake. The 40 or so year old man took down the order and spoke Cantonese. Though after that he proceeded to say in English “Your Cantonese is bad, don’t speak it”. This suddenly shocked me and probably it is the first time in years to have someone say this to me taking me back to the very early days.
I suddenly blasted attacks in Cantonese which actually made me just as bad as he was. I lied and told the manager he said 死鬼佬 sei2 gwai2 lou2, all I wanted was the burger and he discriminated against me etc.
Now I’m feeling depressed and unhappy about what I have achieved. I used to think I was pretty good, but after watching other non-Chinese Cantonese speakers such as Michael below; I realise my vocabulary is way too elementary. Even though I can understand what’s on TV without much problems at all now, I listened to Michael’s speech and immediately needed to look up 10 sentences or phrases. If this was a real conversation, I would be incredibly annoying to the speaker for not understanding.
So seriously this year, its time to pick up my game and learn Cantonese. I’ll put up an MP3 of my current Cantonese within the next day or so. What I can say now is that I promise to master Cantonese no matter what it takes!
Hong Kong
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:33 am
Milan,
I like the way you’ve turned a kick in the teeth into a spur to improve.
How was the fellow’s English?. If your Cantonese was better than his English it could have afforded the opportunity to turn the tables on him and say so,then insist on him using Cantonese.
Best regards,
Neil
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I reckon that bloke might have thought your Cantonese was perfectly Ok but just wanted to have a dig at you. Maybe he doesn’t like Cantonese and thinks you should learn Mandarin. Maybe he just wanted to show that he can speak English to make himself feel superior. Don’t know though, just guessing. Anyway, take no notice mate. Constructive critisism is fair enough but not that.
Good luck with your studies!
Jim
January 22nd, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I had a punch in the stomach today too. I went for dim sum and the lady just could not understand much of what I said.
I’ve read all your blog and I know how good your Cantonese is. Actually, I find it a bit dubious that he would say something like that. I kind of agree with Jim above.
Anyway, let’s work hard on Cantonese in 2009.
James
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
By the way, this is a bit of a plug but it might be useful to you both seeing as there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of Cantonese learning resources on the net(and it is totally free). My website/app ( www.mylanguagenotebook.com ) has a good Cantonese lesson from a native speaker. The app (MLN), which you can download from the site is a language notebook with audio. People can make notes (with audio) and then share them with others via the site. There is a fairly good Cantonese project already on the site, that you could download and open with the MLN app. Just double click on a sentence to hear the audio. It is good for ‘listen and repeat’ stuff.
Of course, you can use MLN to make your own notes as well.
I hope it is useful to you.
Cheers,
Jim
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I really can’t understand people like that. They think that you’re not good at something so you should just give up? Doesn’t make sense.
Anyway, 加油! Look forward to hearing your recording!
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:31 pm
It’s good to see that your blog is back.
I’m looking forward to listening to your recording. I’m no expert in Cantonese, but i can make a quick judgement : Your Cantonese is not impressive as Ho Kwok Wing’s or that other white dude from TVB soap operas… But it isn’t bad either. He was probably just pissed off at life. After all, working in McDonalds isn’t exactly the greatest job on earth.Especially when you’re already 40 something years old.His life didn’t turn out as he expected. Think about that.
Marcelo
January 26th, 2009 at 11:46 am
You *lied* to his manager and told them that he flung a racial slur at you because you were ashamed of his rudeness?
Wow.
Huh. If there’s anything to feed badly about… that’d be it. I wouldn’t worry too much about the Cantonese.
I’m sure it won’t happen again… but dang.
This wouldn’t be much different than if we had lunch at this Mexican place (which we did) and the guy didn’t like the way we poorly ordered our meals in Spanish (which we did) and he told us our Spanish was crappy (which he didn’t, but sure gave us some funny looks), and then we asked to see his manager and told them that he called my Chinese husband a “loco Chino”.
Boggles my mind.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:57 am
I am learning Cantonese as well. Reading about someone such as yourself trying so hard to learn is EXTREMELY motivating. My family did speak some Cantonese to me as a child but I grew up speaking English. My parents mostly speak to me in English. I grew up in an area where there were very few Chinese people. Part of the motivation for me to learn Cantonese is to recover a cultural identity for myself and the other part is the constant guilt and regret I feel for not being able to speak the language. Frankly, I feel depressed about it on a daily basis but that doesn’t stop me from pushing forward. Best of luck in Hong Kong!! I look forward to reading more of your entries.
February 24th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Hey Marcelo
I wouldn’t get too hung up on this MacDonald’s guy. As a Chinese person I know how discriminatory chinese people are. I don’t know if it’s a trait inherit in Hong Kong people or not but I have found it to be so. They make too many assumptions. I was born in HK and lived there with my folks until I was 9. After which I spent the past 30 odd years in the UK. Whenever I go back to HK I will speak Cantonese or English whenever I think it would be advantageous or easier for me. What I’m trying to say is don’t focus on “your Cantonese” so much and what the native speak thinks of it but do it as it pleases you. I would say it wasn’t your pronouncation of Cantonese but the fact you spoke it that threw the MacDonald’s guy. I can still say after all these years in the UK (and I have a local accent!)occasionally I get people speaking to me funny as though I’d just stepped of the boat or still wearing my hair in a long pigtail. I would say if it wasn’t your Cantonese it will be something else.
Keep up the effort anyway Marcelo and good luck
March 11th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Hey mate
I’m new to your website, I’m an Aussie too or to be precise I’m an Aussie born chinese(an ABC). I understand your frustrations, my cantonese is far from perfect and I have had friends and family literally laugh at my cantonese and put me down. All I can say is to not feel bad by their negativity and don’t ever give up because of them! Just remember that you are not a native speaker like they are and you are still learning the language. These type of people are not worth your time so don’t ever let them discourage you instead use it as a motivation to get better so that one day you can show em your skillz!
March 25th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
G’day,
Just stumbled on your website. I have been learning Cantonese for several months and am still very basic in the words I know and what I can say/understand. But I enjoy it. Especially being able to understand (some of) what my gf’s family are talking about when they are trying to be not be understood by the gwai lou’s!
If its any consolation I bet working at maccas doesn’t gain him any face.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:50 am
Don’t beat yourself up. You can’t compare yourself to some guy that has been studying the language for 13 YEARS!!!
As for that ass in McDonalds, it is probably best to just ignore people like that. Especially when he has probably been studying English for 16 years, and can’t even say “Hamburger” correctly.