As many would probably know, Singaporean Mandarin is quite distinct from its counterparts in Mainland China and Taiwan. This is not anything surprising. Language is something created collectively, so it naturally takes on distinct flavours of different regions.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, I\u2019ve been wanting to start a series of articles on the common mistakes we often hear. So here\u2019s the first one!<\/p>\n
I remember when I was young, my aunt who used to take us on shopping trips would tell me to ask for \u201c\u7eb8\u888bzh\u01d0d\u00e0i\u201d(paper bag). And the carriers those days were truly made from paper.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know when paper bags started to become plastic bags. But amazingly, although in English, people seem to differentiate quite well between paper and plastic bags, but in Mandarin, we\u2019re stuck with paper bags. When we go shopping and want to be environmentally friendly, we\u2019d tell the cashier, \u201c\u6211\u4e0d\u8981\u7eb8\u888bw\u01d2 b\u00fay\u00e0o zh\u01d0d\u00e0i\u201d (I don\u2019t want any paper bags). Or when we cannot be environmentally friendly (at that point in time anyway), we\u2019d say, \u201c\u8bf7\u7ed9\u6211\u7eb8\u888bq\u01d0ng g\u011bi w\u01d2 zh\u01d0d\u00e0i\u201d (Please give me a paper bag). But the thing is, nowadays we hardly get any paper bags from cahiers, more often than not they hand out plastic bags, even though the typical customer asks for paper bags!<\/p>\n
The funny thing is, I\u2019ve noticed that some Mainland Chinese have actually assimilated quite well into this \u2018new culture\u2019. Before handing out plastic bags to customers, they might ask, \u201c\u8981\u7eb8\u888b\u5417y\u00e0o zh\u01d0d\u00e0i ma\uff1f\u201d(Would you like a paper bag?). And at the same time, they would place one hand on a stack of plastic bags waiting to dish out one for the customer.<\/p>\n
Ok, so what should the proper term for plastic bags be? It\u2019s \u201c\u5851\u6599\u888bs\u00f9li\u00e0od\u00e0i\u201d.<\/p>\n
I hardly use this term either though. Because I would usually say, \u201c\u6211\u4e0d\u9700\u8981\u888b\u5b50w\u01d2 b\u00f9 x\u016by\u00e0o d\u00e0izi\u201d, meaning, I don\u2019t need any carriers.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s a summary:<\/p>\n
\u888b\u5b50d\u00e0izi\uff1abag\/ carrier \u5851\u6599\u888bs\u00f9li\u00e0od\u00e0i\uff1aplastic bag \u7eb8\u888bzh\u01d0d\u00e0i\uff1apaper bag As many would probably know, Singaporean Mandarin is quite distinct from its counterparts in Mainland China and Taiwan. This is not anything surprising. Language is something created collectively, so it naturally takes on distinct flavours of different...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[293,82,96],"tags":[225,228],"class_list":["post-1462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-mandarin","category-musings","tag-common-mistakes","tag-singaporean-mandarin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n01 daizi<\/a><\/p>\n
\n02 suliaodai<\/a><\/p>\n
\n03 zhidai<\/a><\/p>\n