One of the biggest
challenges I faced after feeling called to serve among the Chinese in Hong Kong
was the challenge of learning the Chinese language-and specifically the
Cantonese dialect of that language. Chinese is spoken by some 1.2 billion
people around the world. In its written from it does not have an alphabet but
uses “characters”-each character being only one syllable. In its spoken form,
it is tonal which means that the single character has a different meaning depending
upon which tone is used. Cantonese has nine tones ranging from high to middle
to low. Thus, the word “sic” can mean know or eat or color or thorn etc.
depending upon which tone is used in its pronunciation.
There is good news
and bad news about my efforts to learn the language. The good news is that I
had wonderful teachers. The second good news is that the Chinese were very
forgiving of my very poor Chinese language skills. For example, it was only
many years after I did it that a teacher told me that in one of my early
attempts to use Cantonese at a faculty meeting I had opened the meeting by
calling the attendees “old rats” when I had meant to call them “honorable
scholars” I had used the wrong tones. The bad news is simply that in spite of
my good efforts I spoke Cantonese very poorly. My wife Jane did much better. She
has a good ear for music and so her tomes were right on.
My problem was
especially bad when I tried to speak Cantonese over the phone. The person on
the other end of the line heard my mixed-up tones, assumed I was a native Mandarin
speaker trying to speak Cantonese so would switch to Mandarin which left me
more in the dark than ever.
Because the
never--ceasing efforts of my teachers and the forbearance of my colleagues I
finally was able to read the basic information on report cards, carry on a
simple conversation, and memorised The Lord’s Prayer, The Apostles Creed, and
the Ten Commandments.
Jane and I studied
Chinese at HK University, but much more important was the tutoring from Mr.
Hung Chiu Sing. He was a wonderful scholar, a devout Christian and a very
patient teacher. The name “Hung” is the Chinese version of what in English was
translated “Con” as in Confucius. He was a direct descendant of Master Confucius.
Thus, he taught us not only the language but also the customs, the special
analects and, most importantly, proper Chinese manners. He was wonderful. And
unbelievably patient.
Of equal importance
were the marvelous interpreters who empowered and assisted me. Without them I
would have been a complete failure. My first interpreter was Isaac Ma. He
interpreted for me at the classes I taught both for Lutheran teachers and at
Hong Kong College. I learned later that if I said something that didn’t make
sense to him he just made up his own message. And it worked. Dr. Andrew Chui was
invaluable in interpreting for me when I taught at the Bible Institute and
Concordia Seminary. He had memorised almost the entire Bible and could always
quote scripture absolutely accurately. Rev. Daniel Lee was unbelievable. He was
especially helpful in assisting me when I taught (in Chinese) a course in General
Psychology at the Lutheran Seminary in Dou Fung Shan. Daniel worked with me
hour after hour helping me out because all the Chinese texts in psychology were
translations from the Russian, pure behaviorism and thus not suitable for what
I
wanted to teach. Those
seminary students bore with me, never laughed at me, and while they had, I am
sure, plenty of comments out of class, they survived (thanks especially to
Daniel). Slowly my own high school students became my interpreters, especially
John and James Chu and then also Margaret Wong who was especially helpful in my
office.
Now years later I
dare to try my Cantonese very, very rarely. I can still recite in Cantonese The
Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles Creed and sing the common doxology. And an
interesting sidelight: Our youngest son John was only a year old when we left
HK but he is the one who developed a keen interest in all things Chinese. He
now reads and writes Chinese as easily in Chinese English. His wife (a native
of Spain) who graduated from Beijing University and their two children
regularly speak Mandarin with each other. And I continue to feel a bit ashamed
that 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese every day-but I am not
numbered among them.
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