聊一聊英语不好引起的误会

聊一聊英语不好引起的误会

小河沟， 2013-4-5

 

今天在温哥华船厂（Marine Yard）上班时， 碰上一当地白人特懒。 当我们把货物一箱箱顺着跳板往驳船（Barge）上搬时，他可能是累了，就把啤酒箱扔到同伴手中。当时，春寒料峭，下着小雨，他的同伴手滑， 不小心把啤酒掉在地上，就急了，冲他大喊，“don't throw!", 看他没有反应，特着急。

笔者找个机会，悄悄告诉他，“the guy who was talking to you is a manager, he doesn't wanna you throw, cuz he is gonna fall." 那知这个白人反而扔得更快了。换成别人，肯定会发火， 这家伙明知故犯。一般的中国人都会发火，因为华人大都没有学过比较语言学，不明白，中国人发“TH {ɵ]”发不好，常发成“S”，自己还不知道。殊不知温哥华的本地人对“TH [ɵ]”特敏感。笔者在温哥华观察过多次，当地人爱说“let me get through, please."(请借光）， 但华人要这样讲，当地人通常干登眼，一副不明白的样子，就是华人的“TH [ɵ]”音发得不准确，常发成“srough", 当地人肯定不明白。

笔者当时马上明白过来了，他是把我说的“throw”听成“slow”，以为大家让他做再快些，险些造成误会。赶紧直言不讳地告诉他，“we thought you're much faster than everyone of us," 把舌尖轻轻放在上下门牙中间再喷气， “we just don't wanna you throw.” 他一下就明白了， 误会消除。

其实"th"的发音有两种，一是发声(voiced)，声带振动(ð)(e.g. weather, the, them)，第二个是声带不振动 (θ)(unvoiced)(thin, thank, thief)，在温哥华，很多广东人把think，smith，through ，thank you 读成'fink" "smif" “srough ”"fank you "，所以当地很多白人不喜欢听广东人讲英文，因为他们在这些细节上不太注意。口音对日常交往满重要的。

 英文发音造成工作上的不便很多，只要多注意，就可以避免。

 （20分钟写完）


One example of misunderstanding caused by English

Danny Li, 2013-4-5

A white guy was very lazy today in the marine yard, he might be exhausted when we're loading the beer boxes onto the barge, and threw the boxes to his co-worker's hands. It was drizzling, his co-worker accidentally fell the beer box, and yelled to him , "don't throw!", but this guy was standing there doing nothing.

I found a chance and talked it over with him, “the guy who was talking to you is a manager, he doesn't wanna you throw, cuz he is gonna fall.", the strange thing was that, this white guy was working even faster. Other people  normally had been very mad at him, because it is hard for the Chinese guys to master the consonant of “TH {ɵ]”, usually sounds like "s". The locals in Vancouver were very sensitive to “TH {ɵ]”. I have observed many times, the locals normally say “let me get through, please." and do not understand the Chinese guys if they say so, because they usually pronounce "srough" instead of "through".

I immediately understood the reason, he interpreted my "throw" as "slow", supposed that we wanted him to work faster. and told him right away, “we thought you're much faster than everyone of us," put my tip of tongue between the front teeth and breathed, “we just don't wanna you throw.”He understood and got the work done.

There are two kinds of "TH" sound, voiced ， vocal-cord vibration (ð)(e.g. weather, the, them) and unvoiced, (θ)(unvoiced)(thin, thank, thief). The Cantonese people's English isn't popular in Vancouver due to the details of their accents.

Well, English accent is very important in the normal working environment, the misunderstanding can be avoided if we pay more attention to it.

(20 minutes translation)