Oi! Ha ha ha?

Chinese is tuneful and I enjoy hearing it.  But I can’t always cope!  It’s quite funny – your brain automatically hears English.  I only notice that I’m doing it when I overhear something incredibly shocking!  Honestly, the foul language from the mouths of some children.   I spin around in shock, only to ashamedly realise that it was all in my presumptuous and lively mind.

 

Here’s a typical Chinese phone conversation, heard with an English brain.  Remember that this is always said with a COMPLETELY straight face:

 

(answered) “Oi…ha ha ha…ok…how? why? hubba…bye-bye” (click)

 

To confuse me even more, the Chinese do mix random English into their conversations.  At any moment a word I know is hurled from the background hum of chatter – and I’m startled every time!

 

Of course, I now know why I constantly heard such strange discussions.  ‘Oi’ is actually a greeting and not intended as a disrespectful cry for attention.  ‘Ha ha ha’ is like yeah yeah yeah or ok ok ok – not incredibly sarcastic laughter to an unfunny joke.  Some say Chinese are rude.  I think it is easy to misjudge.  This is the most common phone conversation I hear in China.  …Is it pompous and abrupt?

 

(answered) “Oi?………Ha!” (click)