Chinese New Year is Sneaking Up on You

[Gary Soup]

Thanks, guys. It's good to know that not all "lo wah kius" don't evolve into bananas (at least not in Canada).

Now for Part 2: Do either of you happen to know the literal Mandarin (in PinYin) or can you display the (embedded) characters so I can look it up? With all the dialects and transcription schemes the only way I can compile and remember this stuff is hooking it into Guoyu.

[Dejah]

I am hopeless with Guoyu (Mandarin/putungqua)...and characters. That one term of studying with my prof from Nanjing didn't stick

That term "banana" is so funny. My Canadian born neices are all bananas. The one named Anna gets the brunt of teasing...Anna Banana

Ben> I'm not doing a good job of conveying nuance here

I thought you did very well, lo wah kui

[jo-mel]

Now for Part 2: Do either of you happen to know the literal Mandarin (in PinYin) or can you display the (embedded) characters so I can look it up?  With all the dialects and transcription schemes the only way I can compile and remember this stuff is hooking it into Guoyu.

I wish I knew how to transpose characters!

At any rate the literal translation for the Tang Yuan is "soup" and "round/circular". I guess because they are served in a syrupy broth or in hot water (soup) and not for the 'tang' meaning 'sweet'.

If you go here:

http://www.ok88.com/go/svc/ecdict.html

---and type in SOUP - click on 'translate', the first character of the 2 that come up is the traditional character for 'tang' meaning 'soup'.

Since they can't handle more than one word, you have to do 'circular' by itself. The first of the 2 characters is 'yuan' meaning circular/round.

Have I totally confused you?

I just tried another language site, and came up with: 汤圆, but it is so small! It shows the simplified charracters. The other site is large and bold.

Now, I'm going to add this reply, and cross my fingers that the characters won't change into 'computerese'!

[Gary Soup]

Jo-Mel, I have no problem with "Tang Yuan". It's the Mandarin for the characters pronounced "tee doi" in Taishan dialect that I'm trying to figure out.

[Ben Hong]

Guys, this "lo wah kiu" almost became "banana-ized", for there were years when I did not speak Chinese, for reasons of opportunity or choice. In mid life, I tried to catch up and recoup what I had lost. I will always feel indebted to my uncle (sook) and mother for their infinite patience in putting up with an adult asking childish questions. Sadly, I lost both of them a couple of years ago. But, I am still learning.

I have never been called a banana, as I don't think that anyone would have dared to, given my former persona, even in jest. But I have been called "jook sing" as a matter of course by my grand uncles and other old farts.

[Gary Soup]

I am hopeless with Guoyu (Mandarin/putungqua)...and characters. That one term of studying with my prof from Nanjing didn't stick

When I was working in Hong Kong, I often went to lunch with a Canadian Chinese who could speak Cantonese quite well but could not read Chinese, even a menu, and a Shanghainese who could speak no Cantonese. The Shanghainese guy would translate the menu to English, we'd decide what we wanted, and the Canadian would order in Cantonese.

[Ben Hong]

Gary, I didn't know that you were there with us . That's exactly what some of my Mandarin speaking friends and I use to do!

[herbacidal]

I am hopeless with Guoyu (Mandarin/putungqua)...and characters. That one term of studying with my prof from Nanjing didn't stick

When I was working in Hong Kong, I often went to lunch with a Canadian Chinese who could speak Cantonese quite well but could not read Chinese, even a menu, and a Shanghainese who could speak no Cantonese. The Shanghainese guy would translate the menu to English, we'd decide what we wanted, and the Canadian would order in Cantonese.

That sounds like my future.

Everything old is new again.

[herbacidal]

I have to admit, I've never heard the term banana.

I'm also interested in the conclusion of "tee doi", as I can't figure it out.

Too bad there isn't a picture.

[Dejah]

herbacidal> I'm also interested in the conclusion of "tee doi", as I can't figure it out.

Too bad there isn't a picture.

To me, "tee doi" is group name for small sweet pastries, like the ones decribed by Ben and myself...mainly for special occaisions like New Years.

I am going to ask one of my students for a Mandarin translation today.

I have never been called banana, but certainly "jook sang" and CBC.

I think they might have called Ben, Yes Sir! Banana behind his back in the days of his former persona

[trillium]

I have to admit, I've never heard the term banana.

It's a derogatory term used to describe people that are Asian, grew up in a Western country and are illiterate in their parents' original tongue (the judgement of illiteracy ranges from a lack of speaking to an inability to write). Asians describing other Asians usually use it. Similar to ABC or CBC but in the context I've heard it in, a little meaner, the implication being that you've lost your Asian "soul" and are white inside.

The ironic part is that there are several countries in East Asia (with a large diaspora of ethnic Chinese) who have several official languages, English being one of them. So someone ethnically Chinese can grow up in an Asian country but speak English as a first language...this means they get hassled by mainlanders in the US or Canada about not speaking well or writing, and hassled by other people in that country who constantly express surprise that their English is "so good" since they come from an Asian country.

regards,

trillium

[sassybat]

another term i've heard with the same connotation is "twinkie"... yellow on the outside, white on the inside. i can say this, because i'm one of those people who could be considered a "banana" or a "twinkie". i used to get a lot of flak from my cousins (from china) and grandparents for not being able to express myself fully in chinese.