Mo Tonal Blues

You know, as far as expats in Taiwan speaking Chinese go, I think my ability is comparatively good. Not nearly as good as the serious old-timers, but good enough to wince in agony when I hear the twenty-something Canadian who's been here for three years speak Chinese while trying to pick up a girl at FM. It's a shame that I read the language at kindergarten level, and write it about as well as your average three year old.

Confident or not in my speaking abilities, I still make mistakes. Usually vocabulary, but tonal butcheries still arise as well. The weird thing is that I can still screw up the tone for words that I've known and said correctly for years. I blame the liberal media.

Today's screw up involved walking into the purchasing department and telling them that I needed monster water. When they replied with blank stares, I elaborated: "For my printer. I need both black and multi-colored monster water."

They figured it out eventually, and gently corrected me. Stupid tones.