I liked the code mixing between English, Mandarin and Taiwanese in this sign announcing construction work by the Hydraulic Engineering Office in the riverside park:
The Taiwanese reads: 「咱ㄟ卡緊呢」 lánēkākínne which means “We will speed up” or character for character:
咱 (我們) we ㄟ (會) will 卡 (加以) more 緊 (快) quickly/hurriedly 呢 (呀) exclamatory particle
The code mixing (as well as the PowerPoint style 3D characters at the bottom) are clearly aimed at softening the message of the sign which is an inconvenience to park users. The Taiwanese sounds much more down to earth and colloquial than the more formal 「造成您的不便，敬請見諒」 at the bottom.
It’s always interesting to me to see which Taiwanese words people choose to use in otherwise Mandarin sentences, and it’s fun to speculate on the possible reasons behind the choice to switch, whether it’s humour, an attempt to sound down-to-earth or because the person being cited isTaiwanese.
I’ve become a regular listener to 台灣通勤第一品牌 (Commute For Me), and the largely Mandarin-speaking hosts used Taiwanese words and phrases from time to time.
Context: 我媽都說我們是很 好命hó-miā 了，不過我看到其他同學他們是更 好命hó-miā。你們這些 好命囝 hó-miā-kiáⁿ 齁。其實 好命囝hó-miā-kiáⁿ 是一個很負面的詞。 對對對，是在批評人家，酸的時候才講。 ( – My mum always said we were born with silver spoons in our mouths, but looking at my other classmates, they were even more like that. All you kids born with silver spoons in your mouths. Actually that term is quite a negative one. – Yes, yes, it’s critical of others, you only say it when you’re bitter. Listen here from 37:50
They’ve also been having fun with the Studio Ghibli movie stills on their Facebook Page (and in the comments section):
It’s time to start talking about sex
See the full post here:
There were a few other Taiwanese phrases peppered in there as well, but got blank stares when I tried to repeat them to my colleagues:
44:12 我信心put-tit – I didn’t have the confidence?
我媽有一陣子這樣子問我…….不一樣的事，還是問得我很煩。一直問我說，真的沒交女朋友？真的沒交齁？ màikāma-mapiáneh。問到有一年我跟她說我陽痿了。 (For a while my mum kept asking me… about something different, and she got me really annoyed because she kept asking. She kept asking, “Have you really not got a girlfriend? You really haven’t? Don’t lie to your mother now. She asked me so much I told her one year that I was impotent.) Listen from 45:26 – there were some Taiwanese interjections I didn’t catch just after this point, so appreciate any help.
A picture of Chen Shui-bian on his release from prison with the caption “Chen Shui-bian gets out of prison and waves to his supporters to show his gratitude to them”; Source
In a discussion between panelists from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Kuomintang (KMT) and media commentators on whether former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is too healthy to remain on medical parole from jail on TVBS’s ‘Situation Room’, the former DPP legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄） broke into Taiwanese to try and cut through some of the political bullshit being spouted by both sides. The gist of his point was that nobody in the studio really believes that Chen Shui-bian will go back to prison during the four years the DPP are in power, so there’s no point in arguing over this or that medical report. He also says that given Chen Shui-bian is on medical parole for political reasons, then he should be less provocative about it and not argue with people. This is in reference to his argument with a street pedlar selling bread in a Kaohsiung park who filmed Chen Shui-bian walking in the park. Chen and his friend approached and threatened him with a lawsuit and an “anonymous” tip-off later caused the bread seller to get in trouble with the government. You can get a sense of the effect of Shen using Taiwanese in the middle of a conversation being conducted in Mandarin from the wry smiles of the other panelists. Use of Taiwanese in Taiwan is generally more direct and emotive than Mandarin, so it’s often used when politicians want to convey sincerity (or forthrightness). I’ve indicated the code-switching between Mandarin and Taiwanese below:
Taiwanese: 免安呢假心 biánán-níké-sim ( 不用那麼假惺惺 / Let’s not pretend )
Mandarin: 也不用定期有醫療報告 (And we don’t need regular medical reports)
Mandarin: 我們大家也不要在這裡吵來吵去 (And we don’t need all of us sitting here arguing back and forth)
Mandarin: 因為這個都是一種表態而已 (Because it only serves to show where we personally stand on the issue)
Taiwanese: 我ê感覺是按呢góaêkám-kaksīán-ní (Mandarin: 我的感覺是這樣子 / English: My feeling is)
