So, I’m in meetings this week with other Yahoo! employees all over the world, including employees from India, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Kind of like the United Nations of nerds. Now, communicating with team members from Taiwan is awkward – I do speak a minimal amount of Mandarin, but for communication purposes, I respond in English so I don’t sound like a retard when I say technically savvy Chinese phrases such as “Yahoo! 360 allows you to have something to do that with your friends.”
And I when I say “that,” there’s usually a pointing motion and grunting sound that goes with it. You know, that. (Points to a Word document full of technical specifications)
As a result, I asked the members of Yahoo! Taiwan to speak to me in Mandarin so I can get more familiar with the language. I kind of got schooled at lunch though. Mandarin in Italics, of course. And slightly exaggerated. (Hey, when do I not?)
Ernie: So, I hear you’re going to Sunnyvale next week.
Y!Taiwan Manager: What?
Ernie: What are you going to Sunnyvale for?
Y!Taiwan Manager: Huh?
Ernie: What are you going to Sunnyvale for?
Y!Taiwan Manager: What on earth did he say?
Y!Taiwan Engineer: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO SUNNYVALE FOR?
Y!Taiwan Manager: Oh. MEETINGS.
Ernie: Oh, I see. (Ernie drinks his lemonade from his cup) What the hell is this I’m drinking?
Bangalore Engineer: Chaas. That’s buttermilk.
Ernie: Oh.
Wow! Are you sure you don’t speak Polish too? That conversation sounds awfully familar to my Polish ones.
Hehe…United Nations of Nerds.
I bet if you just brought out a bunch of techno-gadgets, y’all could transcend words.
oh awesome that you’re in Bangalore! I went for a business trip too (in Oct). I stayed at the Leela Palace – it was awesome. There was one really good restaraunt called “China” something also if you make it out to Mysore, the zoo is awesome… you’re thinking “how can a zoo be so good?” but they have tigers, apes, cobras, … very insteresting.
Chaas isn’t lemonade. That’s yogurt mixed with water and often served with ice cubes… a fake milk of sorts. Sometimes doused with pepper (like salt and pepper, pepper). Is that what you had?
Don’t know about Taiwan, but on the Mainland, all the IT people I know just insert English terms into their Chinese sentences. When I was translating, I mostly ran up against things like “magnesium” and “neutrino” — but then, I was translating bad screenplays.
Have really similar experiences when I run into Mandarin speakers in Germany… except I listen to them talk, understand all the structure of the sentences, but there are these gaps where I just don’t know what the phrases mean. Phrases of course, that I can’t reproduce or infer.