Quanto? Quando? T or d?

Language: English | 中文

Few days ago, during the Italian class, a student (Italian: studentessa) from Mainland asked our teacher, Cecilia, "Excuse me, what's the meaning of Quan[t]o?"

I knew she wanted to ask quando. But the problem is, she couldn't produce the d sound. You know, in Mandarin, there is no d sound. Or, in other words, they don't know what d is. So, what they do is just substitute the d sound with the unaspirated t sound, or, more precisely, they think the unaspirated t sound is d.

Anyway, Ceci replied, "Quanto? Hom much. Or how many."

Then, the girl asked again. This time, she tried it harder, "No, quan[t]o! Quan[t]o!" (Ironic, though, that the harder she tried, the clearer that the sound was a t! Yes, yes, it was unaspirated, but, sadly, it was a t, no matter how hard you tried!)

"Quanto?"

"No. Q-U-A-N-[T]i-O."

"Oh, QUANDO! That means when!"

Well, I never had supposed this would happen. It's quite fun, though. It just shows that Italian has good ear to distinguish voiced and voiceless consonants, and that many Chinese don't know the difference. (Actually, I never really awared of the difference between voiced and voiceless consonants, until I was 19 or 20. Even so, I still think I am very lucky.)

前幾天，在上義大利文課的時候，一個大陸來的女學生問老師："Excuse me, what is quan[t]o?"

我知道她想問 quando，可是問題是，她不知道什麼是 d。我想這不能怪她，畢竟，普通話、廣東話等這些漢語裡，都沒有 d 這個音。所以，大部份以這些語言當母語的人，都會以為 d 代表的是一個不送氣的 t 音。

嗯，然後老師就說："Quanto? It means how much, or how many."

女學生說："No. Quan[t]o. Quan[t]o!"

嘿嘿，真的是太有趣了。她越是用力去那邊發那個不送氣的 t (國語裡的ㄉ)，就越是展現出她在發的是個 t，而不是 d。

所以，老師就疑慮地問："Quanto?"

這次，這位女學生就乾脆拼出來了："No. Q-U-A-N-[T]i-O."

老師這才了解："Oh, QUANDO! It means when!"

哈，這實在是太有趣了，一個能夠輕易辨別出 voiced 跟 voiceless 子音的義大利人，碰上一位不會發 d 的、以中文為母語的學生，竟然會發生這種事情！我應該早就想到了啦！我怎麼沒有想過這種事情呢？

Few days ago, during the Italian class, a student (Italian: studentessa) from Mainland asked our teacher, Cecilia, "Excuse me, what's the meaning of Quan[t]o?"

I knew she wanted to ask quando. But the problem is, she couldn't produce the d sound. You know, in Mandarin, there is no d sound. Or, in other words, they don't know what d is. So, what they do is just substitute the d sound with the unaspirated t sound, or, more precisely, they think the unaspirated t sound is d.

Anyway, Ceci replied, "Quanto? Hom much. Or how many."

Then, the girl asked again. This time, she tried it harder, "No, quan[t]o! Quan[t]o!" (Ironic, though, that the harder she tried, the clearer that the sound was a t! Yes, yes, it was unaspirated, but, sadly, it was a t, no matter how hard you tried!)

"Quanto?"

"No. Q-U-A-N-[T]i-O."

"Oh, QUANDO! That means when!"

Well, I never had supposed this would happen. It's quite fun, though. It just shows that Italian has good ear to distinguish voiced and voiceless consonants, and that many Chinese don't know the difference. (Actually, I never really awared of the difference between voiced and voiceless consonants, until I was 19 or 20. Even so, I still think I am very lucky.)

Righty? Lefty? | 左撇？右撇？

Language: English | 中文

Monday, during the football class, when I was practicing kicking long ball, something happened. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't make the ball fly. Maybe just ten to fifteen meters, then the ball started falling, hitting the ground, then it began bouncing and rolling.

I couldn't believe it. It was my right foot! How come? And what was more, my right foot didn't feel right. It started aching, its ankle. Oh, my my...

So, I tried it with my left foot. At first, I just kept kicking it wide. But after few tries, well, suprisingly, I started to do it well. As if it was just a piece of cake! I just learnt how to kick the ball to the sky, all of a sudden, and by myself.

That was really odd. I am supposed to be a righty, although I use left foot to jump and left hand to bat and to use fork (and I occasionally use chopsticks with my left hand).

So, this afternoon, I told my friend about this. He said, well, you are a lefty. No, I'm not, and this is really full of it. I am having a test about kicking long ball and shooting penalty and something this Thursday. I only can hope my right foot will cure itself by that day. I don't know how to shoot penalty with my left foot...

星期一，上足球課的時候，發生了一件事。那時我在練大腳長傳，可是，不管怎麼踢，球就是踢不太起來 (右腳)。而且，更慘的是，我的右腳開始疼起來了……腳踝那邊……踢的時候就覺得不大對勁，沒想到一路下來，就真的傷到了。

逼於無奈，只好用左腳啦。

一開始，都踢歪掉，踢到右邊去；不過後來，試了幾次後，橋好站位，然後，隨便踢，球就隨便飛，輕鬆得很……感覺就像不用學就會了一樣……

怎麼會這樣呢？我明明是右撇子，雖然我是左打，跳遠都用左腳，叉子都用左手，有時候還會用左手拿筷子……這真的很奇怪啊……

今天我就跟我朋友提到這件事。他說：「呵呵，你是左撇子。」我不是吧。

不過真的，挫賽了，要是禮拜四腳還沒有好的話……禮拜四要考試呢，除了考長傳，還要考十二碼射門，有的沒的。我的左腳可還沒學會怎麼射點球啊……

Monday, during the football class, when I was practicing kicking long ball, something happened. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't make the ball fly. Maybe just ten to fifteen meters, then the ball started falling, hitting the ground, then it began bouncing and rolling.

I couldn't believe it. It was my right foot! How come? And what was more, my right foot didn't feel right. It started aching, its ankle. Oh, my my...

So, I tried it with my left foot. At first, I just kept kicking it wide. But after few tries, well, suprisingly, I started to do it well. As if it was just a piece of cake! I just learnt how to kick the ball to the sky, all of a sudden, and by myself.

That was really odd. I am supposed to be a righty, although I use left foot to jump and left hand to bat and to use fork (and I occasionally use chopsticks with my left hand).

So, this afternoon, I told my friend about this. He said, well, you are a lefty. No, I'm not, and this is really full of it. I am having a test about kicking long ball and shooting penalty and something this Thursday. I only can hope my right foot will cure itself by that day. I don't know how to shoot penalty with my left foot...

Class Skipping | 翹課

Language: English | 中文

Recently, skipping classes has become one of my daily practices. Well, I am not the kind of people that skip a lot of classes or work. I only skip with good reasons. Like yesterday, I skipped the afternoon's class to see a movie. And today, I skipped because I wanted to stay home and finish my homework. They were all with good reasons.

最近課越翹越多了……不過，我必須澄清，我不是愛翹課的小孩喔。我都是有理由才翹課的。

像是昨天，我翹課是因為我要去看電影；今天，我翹課，因為我想待在家裡，順便把功課寫完！

我絕對是很用功的那種小孩喔！

Recently, skipping classes has become one of my daily practices. Well, I am not the kind of people that skip a lot of classes or work. I only skip with good reasons. Like yesterday, I skipped the afternoon's class to see a movie. And today, I skipped because I wanted to stay home and finish my homework. They were all with good reasons.

Met Two New Friends

Language: English | 中文

Last Friday, during the training session of the softball team, I met two new friends. One of them is Japanese, an exchange student, Masa, and the other one, Harvey, is Taiwanese. Both of them came from the States, though Harvey now studies here, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

I enjoyed practicing English with a foreigner very much, but speaking Mandarin (with Taiwanese accent) with someone of Taiwanese origin is even more delightful.

星期五練球的時候，認識到兩位新同學。一位是日本人，Masa，另一位是台灣人，叫 Harvey；都是從美國那邊過來的。那位日本人是交換生，只交換一個學期，而 Harvey 則是在中文大學念書的。

隊裡的學長 Ting (香港人) 在跟 Harvey 說，我們很「九唔搭八」(廣東話)，Harvey 聽不是很明白，Ting 就叫我跟 Harvey 解釋什麼是「九唔搭八」... 後來 Ting 不知道跟 Harvey 說了些啥，Harvey 就說了聲「靠杯」。本來以為他是大陸人，問了問，才知道 Harvey 是台灣人，不過是從美國那邊來的，英文頂瓜瓜！

Last Friday, during the training session of the softball team, I met two new friends. One of them is Japanese, an exchange student, and the other one, Harvey, is Taiwanese. Both of them came from the States, though Harvey now studies here, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

I enjoyed practicing English with a foreigner very much, but speaking Mandarin (with Taiwanese accent) with someone of Taiwanese origin is even more delightful.