Yu Shuhong: Skimming the tone

Skimming the tone

Author | Yu Shuhong

I used to live in the countryside and always spoke in dialects, never thought of learning to speak Mandarin, and the Mandarin I spoke was limited to the words in the textbooks I learned.

Later went north to work, at the beginning of speaking Mandarin is not adaptable, more shy, feel that can not say the same, more importantly is to speak is not standard, so try to speak as little as possible, but always can not not speak, so in the awkward slowly let go of the guts, do not know when to speak Mandarin smoothly.

Wait until the New Year's festival, or holidays, rest can go back to the hometown, and unconsciously speak Into Mandarin, so was laughed at, you see this child, only a few days out of the mouth to pull the tune, they are full of rejection dislike, they are very anxious, so every time they speak try to think about how this dialect is expressed, in order to try to fit in.

At the beginning, it was still not so fast to change, although I was working hard, but there were often times when I made mistakes, and when I made mistakes, I didn't complain, I let others say it, and indeed sometimes I forgot how to change back.

After three or two years, finally, the language has changed more freely, and the conversation with others has become much smoother. There are relatives who have not been seen for a few years, accidentally met, praised and said hmm, you see this child go out for a few years has not changed, or say what we say here, it is really a pawn child (probably the meaning of a child of duty).

In the eyes of relatives and friends in my hometown, it seems that no matter where people go, they should not change their tone, and changing their tone seems to be that people have changed, that is, they have broken away from the organization, or they have broken out of the group on their own...

I don't dare, I can't, I won't break the relationship, it's too late to repair, how can it break out on its own, so I have to try to restore myself to the factory settings...

Later, I met a colleague who also had a similar situation, and after the exchange, I unexpectedly agreed with hahaha. People on the road, hahaha, the same can also work together...

Later, I read that the linguist Mr. Zhao Yuanren was a low-key and talented language speaker, not only spoke the dialect of his hometown well, spoken 33 Chinese dialects, but also proficient in 8 kinds of foreign Chinese dialects, not only was mistaken by many Chinese people as a local hometown, sometimes even by foreigners also mistaken for a hometown! The key is that this is not counted, Mr. Zhao Yuanren is not only good at liberal arts, but also has a very proficient science subject, which can be described as a rare all-round scholar.

There is no surplus compared to the top, and there is no surplus than the bottom...

Now with the evolution of urbanization, many people have become new residents of the city, and they have gradually given up their dialects for the convenience of communication. Some scholars have begun to advocate that while speaking Mandarin, it is also necessary to protect the dialect, otherwise some dialects will not be restored if they disappear. Well, try your best.

Yu Shuhong, female, literature lover.