Which Chinese words are more natural for you than native words?

Well, purposefully doing it might be pretentious to some folks, but my question is which Chinese words just sort of fall out of your mouth without even thinking about them. That is, when you intend to speak English, French, German, Swahili, machine language or whatever your native tongue is, do you accidentally speak some Mandarin?

I sure don’t intend to spout off Chinese to my parents, but I still do occasionally. :? Does that make me stupid for getting confused or smart for learning a foreign word “too” well?

It really does happen, that when you’re living abroad and you’re speaking any other language than your mother tongue most of the time, in this case Chinese, that you out of a sudden use a Chinese word, when finally speaking your mother tongue again. Some Chinese words are just more useful i certain situations…

like aiyooooo, gan ma? or paise…and many others

[quote=“cyberN8”]I’ve studied a few languages (not a master of any of them), and with every one, a few words have been lodged so effectively that they come to mind faster than comparable words of my native tongue.

The top 3 for me:

  1. aiyou (when I’m frustrated, shocked or overly irritated)
  2. wei shen me (why?)
  3. hao a ([sounds] good!)

Anyone else?[/quote]

Englisssh is my 2nd language.

I love you, yeeah, yeeeeaeh, yeeah
shit
fuck
We all live in a yellow submarine…

[quote=“X3M”]Englisssh is my 2nd language.

I love you, yeeah, yeeeeaeh, yeeah
shit
fuck
We all live in a yellow submarine…[/quote]

I have a hard time believing that all of the times I hear Taiwanese people saying “xue-te” (mangled Taiwanese pronunciation of the word ‘shit’), mostly after noticing presence of me or any other foreign-looking person in the vicinity, are cases where “it just slipped out”. It’s just ‘fashion English’ people use with their friends to show off or impress some foreigner they see on the street. It ranks right up there with the fake foreign-accented Chinese (done mostly by putting all the words in the fourth tone except for the last one) on my list of Highly Irritating Things.

Poagao wrote:

Lordy I’m with you on that one. Hope this hasn’t been covered elsewhere but what’s the best strategy for dealing with it?

I tend to respond in mangled Englishee and judging by the hurt looks that I’m met with am starting to think that they just might not be taking the piss. Yet I don’t get the feeling its a shared joke. Anyone know the source of this because it appears to have arrived fairly suddenly and rather uniformly? I’m thinking that wanker, Jacky, or some other game show flunky may have kicked it off.

HG

It really irritates me to so hear native speaker of english who speaks with swear words all thru the way. It may be a bad habit, but it shows lack of manners which also means lack of respect for other and self. The impact gets doubled when I hear speaker of english as second language imitates this.

Puxe!

Ben Dan.

That’s what sprang to mind first.

“guanxi” – often enough to explain something that would otherwise take 1,000 words.

I swear solely in Chinese and Taiwanese. Bad habit that I need to break.

Gan
Li Kwa Xia xiao
Gong xia xiao
Ooo zhen ei lang jiu bwei gen xiao.

Ai oh
Tian ah

I guess swearing in a foreign language is a little trick that people use to make themself believe that they are actually not that rude and boorish.

As a non-native English speaker I would never say words as fuck you…shit…or similar stuff in my mother tongue. It’s just too disgusting. In English these words sound less rude to my ears at least.

It is also quite funny to see my boyfriends face when I say things like gan ni niang. For him it is terrible to hear this coming out of my mouth, for me it’s just words. But I would never say this in my mother tongue.

What the fuck are you on about Ax?

But most Taiwanese sound stupid swearing in English, which is why I’ve made no effort to learn Chinese or Taiwanese swear words (beyond the obvious). It probably works both ways.

Brian

What the fuck are you on about Ax?
Brian[/quote]
:laughing:

@SirDB
am I not being clear? I think eff words is rude and boorish! what the eff you’re still effing back with all your effifacy?

ax

[quote=“mesheel”]I guess swearing in a foreign language is a little trick that people use to make themself believe that they are actually not that rude and boorish.

As a non-native English speaker I would never say words as fuck you…shit…or similar stuff in my mother tongue. It’s just too disgusting. In English these words sound less rude to my ears at least.

It is also quite funny to see my boyfriends face when I say things like gan ni niang. For him it is terrible to hear this coming out of my mouth, for me it’s just words. But I would never say this in my mother tongue.[/quote]

That’s right, in another language it’s just words.
I hate hearing it in my own language.

Sir Don gave the response I very nearly gave too Ax.

Sorry you have such a problem with swearing but it is part of the language and can actually be used in an interesting and intelligent manner. Think of the multitude of ways “fuck” can be used for example.

I no longer see Taiwanese swearing as just words. Too many hits to the ribs from the wife!

HG

Often swear words can be used for effect, or even humour if done right. Other times, when a normal word would do just as well, it is just plain offensive and childish. If you won’t say those words in Chinese, why say them in English ? or vice versa

dou fu - to fu
ke wu - explicitive (abominable, shit)
dao jiao - Taoism
wang ba dan - bastard