Listen Up

Looking for Kerosine for your camping stove in Lhasa? Take notes below, and try out this tongue twisting conversation that I had with a shopowner the other day:

Me: you mei you mei you?

Him: mei you? mei you mei you.

Me: Hmmm, na'er you?

Him: Hmmm, na'er you.

(Translation: I want kerosine. He doesn't have it. But he tells me where to get it.)

Look like mish-mash to you? It would certainly seem so were it not for the crazy little things called tones that you have to add to almost every word in Chinese. Since the word for kerosine and the word to have are homonyms, this makes for a very singsongy, tongue-twisting challenge. (For those interested, the first phrase should be read "you3 mei2 you3 mei2 you2" with number corresponding to these different tones, 2 being a rising tone and 3 being a low falling-rising tone).

It's a hard phenomenon to get used to for those beginning the study of Chinese. Though it grows on you after a while. I'll leave you with one of my favorites: forty four lions eat forty four persimmons. (Si shi si zhi shi zi chi si shi si ge shi zi).