祝。。。
外公百岁生日快乐！！
10 minutes worth of calling back to Taiwan to speak to my grandpa, but it sounded more like a chicken talking to a duck instead, even though we were all speaking Mandarin. Honestly from young til now I could never understand my grandfather's accent. When I was a little girl my mom had to be my interpreter whenever we talk. Even up til now I am almost hitting my 30s I still found difficulties understanding him no matter how hard I strained my ears and listened hard. It amazes me why I could even understand the PRC's many different accented Mandarin, but failed to understand my grandfather's un-Taiwanese Taiwanese accent. I never had a problem with Taiwanese accent because I am able to speak with the Taiwanese accent (if I want to since I got the accent from my mom, but since I grew up in Singapore, and studied Chinese in Singapore, I may be more comfortable with the Singaporean accent), and can always understand my other relatives perfectly. SIGH. I wanted to talk to my grandpa for a lot longer but it was really difficult to go on without my "interpreter".
I could tell grandpa was really happy to hear my voice, even though I know he was also struggling to communicate with me because I was like "huh?" or "外公你说什么?" He had to ask me 5 times before I understood that he was asking me if I've gotten married. Honestly I felt ashamed of myself. Perhaps this is a sign that I should call back more often to talk to my grandfather....
Grandpa is a century old now. Hopefully I can be back to visit him soon. I miss him and everyone in Kaohsiung....
10 minutes worth of calling back to Taiwan to speak to my grandpa, but it sounded more like a chicken talking to a duck instead, even though we were all speaking Mandarin. Honestly from young til now I could never understand my grandfather's accent. When I was a little girl my mom had to be my interpreter whenever we talk. Even up til now I am almost hitting my 30s I still found difficulties understanding him no matter how hard I strained my ears and listened hard. It amazes me why I could even understand the PRC's many different accented Mandarin, but failed to understand my grandfather's un-Taiwanese Taiwanese accent. I never had a problem with Taiwanese accent because I am able to speak with the Taiwanese accent (if I want to since I got the accent from my mom, but since I grew up in Singapore, and studied Chinese in Singapore, I may be more comfortable with the Singaporean accent), and can always understand my other relatives perfectly. SIGH. I wanted to talk to my grandpa for a lot longer but it was really difficult to go on without my "interpreter".
I could tell grandpa was really happy to hear my voice, even though I know he was also struggling to communicate with me because I was like "huh?" or "外公你说什么?" He had to ask me 5 times before I understood that he was asking me if I've gotten married. Honestly I felt ashamed of myself. Perhaps this is a sign that I should call back more often to talk to my grandfather....
Grandpa is a century old now. Hopefully I can be back to visit him soon. I miss him and everyone in Kaohsiung....
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