Vent: The old woman at the Guangzhou wet market who corrected my Cantonese

I was buying fresh ginger at a stall in Guangzhou's Liwan district last month, and the vendor laughed at how I said 'lao jiang' with the wrong tone. She spent 10 minutes patiently drilling the right pronunciation into me while her daughter bagged my veggies. Has anyone else had a random local teacher you something small but unforgettable?.

2 comments

2 Comments

dakota_singh3924d ago

Oh man, that's such a classic Guangzhou experience. I've had old ladies at the Qingping market correct my pronunciation of gao (cake) so many times I lost count. My advice is to lean into it hard - those aunties are basically free language tutors if you play your cards right. Just smile, nod, and repeat whatever they say even if you think you're saying it right the first time. Your mileage may vary but I've gotten better deals on produce just by showing them I'm trying to learn. Also pro tip - write down the corrected pronunciation in your phone notes or you'll forget it by the next day, trust me.

taylor8224d ago

did you see that viral video of the auntie teaching a foreigner how to say 'yum cha' like, ten times in a row?