I was at Chinese class on Saturday, and showed my Chinese teacher the picture of Sarah Grace. "This is Si Ya" I told her, and stopped, aware of the look of confusion on her face. I KNOW I say Si Ya wrong, that's one reason Sarah Grace won't be called Si Ya at home- when I was in Taiwan, she didn't even look up when I attempted saying her name, that's how wrong I had it. It's not a name that's easy for American mouths to pronounce. Kai Wei I can say well enough- at any rate, he knew I was talking to him when I used his name- I think the tones in his name are more natural to American pronunciation. What I didn't know was HOW wrong I had Si Ya. So, anyway, back to Chinese class. I fish out the characters for Si Ya, which I happened to have in my Chinese book, and her face lit up. "Oh, that's a beautiful name. You just have to be careful how you pronounce it. That's like. . . a ghost. With teeth (she pantomimes fangs coming out of her mouth)" A vampire? My poor little sister! Here we have been going around telling everyone her name is vampire or something to that effect!
I practiced a few times, and finally did pronounce Si Ya's beautiful name correctly, but unfortunately, I think I'm no longer saying it correctly. I'll have to practice again next time I have Chinese class.
2 comments:
I'd like to hear what it's supposed to sound like. At least she didn't look at you with shock and horror when you kept shouting "vampire" at her when you went to visit!
Oh, wow! Tones are important!! It's good that you got it straightened out at Chinese class and that the teacher knew what it was! :) You wouldn't have wanted to call your sister a vampire when she gets home. LOL ;)
~Staci
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