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si posted:Another fun one - the non-Mandarin Chinese languages absolutely confound me. I don't know how they survived as a culture, because they can't even understand each other most of the time. My girlfriend's family speaks a fairly small/far away dialect of Cantonese. The entire extended family can easily spend an hour debating the proper word for something in their dialect, possibly never coming to a consensus. My wife's family speaks Cantonese. I have tried to learn it, but holy hell is it brain-breaking. I don't think I'll ever figure out how to speak any of the various tones or inflections properly. si posted:Then, there's the superstitions. Colors, numbers, fruits, oh my. For anyone in a relationship with a Chinese partner, make sure you understand these if they matter to them, especially around Chinese New Year. Should you unwittingly decide to hand them a pear, your relationship may be over. Never give clocks, never give knives, etc. I eventually got in the habit of asking her other family members if something would be an appropriate gift.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:56
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si posted:And I would say Cantonese is entirely workable/understandable compared to her dialect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teochew_dialect Oh, forget it. I wouldn't even try. Her family is from Guangzhou, but she was born in the States, so I also get to translate a Brooklyn accent... 
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Feb 18, 2014 17:08
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ookuwagata posted:The main exception to this is Hawaii, which was untouched by World War II's discriminatory policy of resettlement (the military was level headed enough to realize that crippling the local economy for racist purposes was extremely stupid). Colorado is an another exception. During WWII, Colorado's governor - Ralph Carr - was an outspoken opponent of the internment of Japanese Americans. While other states were rounding up Japanese immigrants and shipping them off to desolate internment camps for the duration of the war, Carr told the War Relocation Authority to take a hike, fully knowing that doing so would ruin any chance of seeking a higher office. Many Japanese-Americans fled California and relocated to Colorado; in response he told the people of his state to welcome them as friends and neighbors. He said: "If you harm them, you must harm me. I was brought up in a small town where I knew the shame and dishonor of race hatred. I grew to despise it because it threatened the happiness of you, and you, and you." As a result, many Japanese folks remembered that they had family members in Colorado and relocated here.
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Feb 22, 2014 18:10
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