lated to my identity as it may seem, I had little idea of what the teachers were teaching about the country. In one lesson, students were asked to create their own Terracotta Army( 兵⾺俑) out of clay. The children were overjoyed, constantly asking me for help. What they didn’ t know was that I had no clue about how to make their soldier seem like a real terracotta warrior. I simply gave a little squeeze to their soldiers and told the children,“ See? It looks identical to the real one!” However, if you were me, you would be amazed. Some students truly had artistic talent – – talent that not even a 20-year-old could replicate. On the other hand, there were those who were less artistically inclined. Understandably, not all students excel at arts.
Then I heard,“ That’ s not bad.” At the moment, I thought,“ Yeah, I know some pieces of art are bad. You teachers did a great job in protecting the children’ s esteem.” But, when I turned and looked, I saw an unbelievably beautiful clay soldier made by a 6-year-old. Was my standard too low?
Not until I saw the picture did I realise the teacher was saying the soldier was good. In the English sense,“ not bad” means“ good”. On the contrary, it does not mean,“ I know you’ ve tried. Just forget how bad it is,” in the Chinese sense. In my opinion, the fact that“ not bad” means good is probably related to the positivity in English people too. The way they talk is more about complimenting than comforting.
“ You must come for dinner.”( Or, in my case, for the movie.) What others understand:“ I will get an invitation soon.” What the British mean:“ It’ s not an invitation, I’ m just being polite.”
After school, the students went home and the class teacher stayed to finish some minor work. We chatted about what we would do over the weekend and talked about movies. She said she was going to watch Passengers, a blockbuster featuring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Having been trained to be positive and engaging all the time since my arrival to England, I responded,“ Have a great time watching Passengers. Remember to tell me how good it is.” Out of the blue, she said,“ You must come for the movie with me at the weekend!”
A million dollar question arose: I already said I wanted to watch Passengers, but our relationship was not so close that the two of us could hang out. Plus, we had a three-decade generation gap! So, what could I say to reject her? As I was coming up with an excuse, in that millisecond, the edge of her lips raised an inch to form an intimidating smile.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary,“ must” means“ to show that it is necessary or very important that something happens in the present or future”. Most English-as-second-language( ESL) in Hong Kong, including me, learnt“ must” in this way, as in,“ You must do that.” In that situation, turning down the invitation was like disrespecting the teacher and making her lose face. I, therefore, tried extra hard to work out a strong excuse to dodge such a determined invitation. For I am not a tactful liar, my excuse was studying for my upcoming IELTS exam. Again, not until I saw the chart did I learn that the instinct of asking people to go to an event is in English people’ s blood. Most of the times, the“ must-go” invitation means no harm and can be regarded as a ordinary invitation, rather than command.
The above sayings are simply part of how Brits communicate. Before learning their speaking habits, I must have looked strange when casually commenting on how the lesson was and mentioning how much weight my foreign friends seemed to have gained.( Notice:“ must” here means“ very likely”.)
Ida, my Hong Kong aunt, helped me understand English culture during my trip. I can imagine how hard it was for her when she got married and moved to England alone with Ian, a proper Englishman.
However, Ida and Ian could not seem to stop their bickering. In the coffee shop, Ian wanted to tip the shop one pound, but Ida argued that one pound was too much for a three-pound-fifty hot chocolate. When inviting a friend, Ida wanted to treat him to a quick and easy meal, but Ian argued that they should have a proper meal, including a main course, a drink, and a dessert. It was as though one person’ s way of thinking was a 180 degree reversal of the other’ s.
JANUARY 2018 14