Yesterday:
Scene- I am
in the Tax Department, standing at the Enquiry counter.
Me: Hello
Madam, I need to file the tax return for my company, should I go to counter 1
or 2.
Lady: Taxi?
Me (switching
to Chinglish): No no! My company. Tax. I file.
Lady:
Aiyya! Taxi ah?
Me: Huh?
Lady: You
go counter 2.
Lesson: If
tax is taxi, taxi is also taxi, Hong Kong is a tax-free country?
Today:
Scene- I am
in a restaurant and food is just served.
Me: Hello,
can I have some more cheese please
Waitress:
Huh?
Me
(switching to Chinglish)- I eat more cheese. Is ok?
Waitress:
Sorry Missy ah, we no have.
Me: I want Cheesy
Waitress (adding
cheese): More?
Me
(smiling): Thanks
Lesson:
Hong Kong is all about cheesy masses.
The challenges you go through as English speaker when you find yourself in some South East Asian countries where English is least used. In Malaysia, I had to learn Manglish, Cambodia wasn't too challenging communicating with some locals, then in Thailand, Thaiglish. Sometimes I have to say the same thing in several different ways before I can get my statement across. These are places where you have to deliberately "murder" your English if you want to be understood. Here are just a few murders of the language:
ReplyDeleteWhere you go? This can stand for:where are you going? Where did you go? Or where will you go?
It is up to you to decipher what the questioner actually means.
You not care me : means you don't care about me.
Someone meets you:
Person: how are you?
Me: I'm good, and you?
Person:Im fine thank you and you?
They think "and you" is a required response so they have to add it even if they first asked "how are you"
Oh and be careful if you want to tell someone "I like you", here it means the same as "I love you"
And if you hear "I lie you" don't worry, it simply means "I like you". Can you find out the meaning of this one? "I not lie lie lie man who honest to me, and not care me" ����