Blog
“Mother punishes horses” and other adventures in Chinese Language.
Written by Jimmy
The global road show continues and I’m in Hong Kong. The ‘good thing’ is I was here for the weekend and took a city tour. Funny guide with lots of funny stories whenever we were stuck in traffic. She talked to us a lot about the Mandarin language and the importance of the four ‘tones.’ Each syllable can have one of four tones, and these tones can change the meaning of the word. The four tones in Mandarin are:
- high level – first tone
- rising – second tone
- falling rising – third tone
- falling – fourth tone
So with ‘ma’, the meaning chances significantly with each tone. I’m quoting from a website here: “Here is the word ‘ma’ with tone marks:
- First tone: ma1 or mā
- Second tone: ma2 or má
- Third tone: ma3 or mǎ
- Fourth tone: ma4 or mà
The tones are used to determine the meaning of a Mandarin word. So mǎ (horse) is very different from mā (mother).” Another meaning of ma at a different tone (not sure if third or fourth) is punish.
Our guide went through all this and then sang a song where Horses punish mother and then mother punishes horses. To those not fluent in Mandarin, the song went like this: Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma.
So, give all this, a song about Mama, about punishment and about horses:
1. Mama told me not to come
2. Goodbye Horses