Chinese Talk

I was on the phone with a friend as Hon and I were driving to pick up some stuff from his parent's house.  A mélange of what's new? and why are we so busy? with a, sadly negative, verbal RSVP.  As we discussed a promised visit this winter, I added, "When you do, we will take you to restaurant."

No, there's no typo up there.  I read it twice to be sure.

Thus the realization: I am beginning to speak like a Chinese person.

Yes, I joked about this out loud.  Yes, Hon swatted me for it.

But the truth of the matter is that prepositions and articles are somewhat lacking in the future in-laws vocabulary.  As Second Language Learners, this is understandable.  I, on the other hand, not only have a masters degree, but am an educator.  That makes me a savant, if you will.  And thus, I should have a pedantic obsession with these terse, indispensable words.  I should be the first to encourage the expansion their vocabulary to include such, too often overlooked, words.

But, I have discovered a leak.  My articles are slowly slipping through the cracks forming between my native tongue and my latest linguistic endeavor.  Never before has a new language accomplished anything but abet my understanding of the first.  French taught me of Verb-Tenses-That-Must-Not-Be-Named, helped me grasp my latin roots and expanded my vocabulary to include ephemeral, gauche, and petits fours.  Cantonese has not produced a similar ameliorating effect.

Every once in a while, during a tête à tête with the Old Man, I find myself imitating his choppy English statements.  "Old Man!  You cheap guy."

But a slip is not the end of the road.  I do still catch little mistakes like "May-can, what restaurant you eat?" and mentally reply with an adroit bon mots: Well, tonight I wanted something light, so I consumed a mere bakery instead of full fledge restaurant.

This is merely a warning sign that my mellifluousness (it's okay, I had to look this one up, too) is en route to a grammatical débâcle.  The time has come to be en guarde.  And to refresh my French.

On a related note.  Read this and call it Motivation.

Oh and brownie points to those who catch at least part of the cache of French words I snuck into this.