I had an epiphany today about humor. Whenever I have talked to someone who isn't a native English speaker, I have felt like we were lacking some fundamental connection. Today, I realize that it's because we can't joke with each other. I realized that humor is probably the most efficient way to really get to know someone, but when you don't speak the language, humor isn't an option because it often depends on either cultural understanding or word play. For me, sarcasm is my go-to mode of expression, but I don't know how to be sarcastic in Chinese. Because it's a tonal language, you don't seem to have much choice about how you emphasize words. For example, in English, I could say that the traffic was "just WONDERFUL" and everyone would know I meant it was awful. But here, if I put the wrong emphasis on the word, it means something else entirely. Instead of saying "just wonderful" I might end up saying "I saw your mom on the street corner yesterday"... So it's limiting.
I still haven't figured out how Chinese people are sarcastic, but they have had 5,000 years to figure it out, so I am sure they can do it just fine. But for me, it remains a mystery.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Wow, that's fascinating. (Not sarcastic.) I don't know how well I'd cope in a tonal language. It seems like that would affect your humor, your poetry, and your music. Also, it would be a lot harder to be angry efficiently if you couldn't just yell everything in the same tone of voice.
Most Chinese people I know (not that I know all that many) are extremely polite and not "jokey", but there was a very funny, very sarcastic young guy from China in my department back when I still had a job. His English was pretty good, and the sarcasm when he was speaking English was done the usual way, with tone of voice and the occasional eye roll. I'm sure his personality was the same when he was speaking his native language (I think he spoke Mandarin). I have no idea how he accomplished sarcasm in Mandarin but I have no doubt that he used it. I'd hear a group of Chinese people laughing at work, and there would be Chang in the middle of it. Probably making fun of Americans, now that I think about it. I don't know how he managed before he learned to speak English well enough to be sarcastic in it, but I'm sure it wasn't easy for him!
Post a Comment