- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
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Hey I’m a Native 普通话 (Mandarin) speaker, why have I been summoned? 👀
But like real talk, I remember kids in school said 你好 to me with the tones all wrong, and it sounds like “nee how” like… it sounds almost sarcastic, like I thought they were mocking me. I remember feeling so anxious. Especially during the beginning when I was new here in the US, I felt so uncomfortable since I didn’t know English at the time.
I mean even after I learned English, people still try to say “nee how” to me as if I didn’t speak English, and like… I just cringe at the incorrect tones. Just use English please, like y’all aren’t ever getting the tones correct and I just cringe, like its uncanny valley territory, know what I mean, the tones are wrrrooong. It felt so awkward… like it sounds like they are mocking the language… felt almost as though when the time they used the slur “ching chong” to me.
Or maybe I just felt insecure and projecting my fears and assumed people were being malicious all the time… idk…
Maybe some of them could’ve been genuinely really interested and had good intentions. Did you ever try to help them learn the correct pronunciation? It can be very hard for native English speakers. I definitely could see how this could’ve been insensitive. There are many poor stereotypes unfortunately as well with growing up as an Asian-American, even from teachers as “jokes.”
I never felt brave enough to just tell them they said it wrong, like… it felt too confrontational, so I just… nervously laughed when they say it.
When I did know English, and they say it, my response was just like: “I can speak English”… and like that’s it…
I feel like it was futile. No westerner is gonna waste time with the tones and it’s… just too much hassle.
Same thing with my name, I just… kinda went along with the westernized pronunciation of the Pinyin, I mean, there are other kids also with Pinyin names, no teacher is gonna learn like 5 names from a few different classes per year.
I never knew what to say when I got asked how to pronounce my name.
What do I even say?
The Cantonese ponunciation which is my actual “real” pronunciation I get called by parents.
Or the Mandarin which is what teachers in China’s schools used, and what the Pinyin is based on.
I just like freeze… lol…
Anyways, that’s history, that part of my life is in the past.
I personally might try to say something like that simply to show that I respect who you are, and am willing to learn if it helps the comfort level between us. But, yeah, unfortunately a lot of people can be jerks for a variety of reasons - and it’s difficult to discern people’s real motivations, so I can appreciate how you feel the need to play it that way. I hope you’re doing okay, considering how far down the shithole this country has gone over the past decade plus. I can’t imagine what you have to put up with.
This is nee how you say it.
No, it’s how you say “hi.” 😜
Orange you glad to learn this?
It’s really easy. Just add a mouth beside a sea.
嗨
You didn’t say it though
No, I said “hi” - why would I say “it?”
For a moment I thought this was loss
