A few months ago, I had written about learning some basic Chinese. Level 1 of the basic level really so stuff like recognizing the four tones and different character strokes, how to say how are you, thank you, you're welcome, I'm sorry, goodbye, my name is -, and more along such lines. Though it was not much, it seems to have opened up a framework to the Chinese language for me. I have learnt very little of the content, but I have got a vague sense of the underlying structure it is sitting on top of. Earlier if there was a Chinese conversation going on around me, it might as well have been just plain sound with no meaning. Now my ear picks up on the odd word such as 'ni' (you), ‘ta’ (she/he), 'shenme' (what), 'zhe ge' (this/that one) etc. I was hearing something like a 'dwei' a lot and found out it's a bit like saying 'yes'. If just the basics of the basics have made this difference, I wonder what more of it will do!

I respond with a 'xie xie' (thank you) when the Didi (Chinese Uber) drops me and I actually understand what the driver means by 'bu ke chi' (you're welcome!). The funny thing is one or two taxi drivers got excited when I said 'xie xie' and launched more words in response. Obviously, I couldn't understand any of those :(

An interesting idea came to me the other day though I might be completely off here. I have a slight Indian accent so instead of pronouncing certain names or words the way a Brit or American would, I might pronounce them a bit differently. Like the name Roger I might pronounce as Rowger instead of Rawger (though I have rehearsed this one enough times now to get it right...hehe!). So I was calling out to a Chinese person by their English name the other day. In spite of me repeating it many times, they just didn't seem to ‘hear’ their name. When finally they realised I was referring to them, they asked me if I was saying <their name in American accent>. This made me wonder. The Chinese language puts a whole lot of emphasis on tones and tones really matter in conveying meaning, for example, ‘maa’ pronounced differently could mean mother or horse! Could it be that because of this learned emphasis on tones the Chinese focus on the tones in other languages too? Like they would think Rawger and Rowger are completely different words? (They could be, but we would recognize potaeto and potaato are the same for example?). Well, I could be offtrack here... but I do find it interesting to think about how a completely different structure of language might orient people in completely different ways...