A year ago I was at an Indonesian restaurant in Shanghai to celebrate a friends birthday. The guy sitting next to me was visiting some friends of mine, this was his first time in China. We decided we wanted to enjoy the sweet nectar of some cigarettes, but none of us had any. I, eager to show off my Chinese skills, shouted for the waiter.
(Conversation in Chinese)
Me: Do you have cigarettes?
Waiter: We do.
New friend in English: Oh, ask for Chinese cigarettes, I want to try them out.
Me to waiter again in Chinese: Oh, we want Chinese cigarettes!
The waiter looked quite confused by this, but shuffled off. Five minutes later he returned with a big bowl filled with salt and proudly exclaimed to me: Chinese salt!
Salt and cigarettes have the same syllable, but different tones. Salt is 盐 yán, while cigarette is 烟 yān. I had obviously mispronounced it. No wonder the waiter was confused when I specifically requested that we wanted Chinese salt. I looked like quite the douche with my big bowl of salt...
He burst out laughing when I clarified what I really wanted. I did manage to get my hands on a pack of cigarettes (he had to run out to a store to buy them, good service!) so it worked out well.
Final summation: Pay attention to those tones, or you'll end up with a big bowl of China's finest salt!
2 comments:
I guess if you'd asked for one packet of yan you'd have been OK.
Measure words- useful sometimes.
(although I've forgotten the one for a pack of cigs)
Mime, point to other smokers.... mime.
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