Learning German and teaching Chinese in Florida
Apart from being pranked, my other remarkable experience in Florida was to teach Chinese and learn German. My friend Marcus is an Austrian who is a native German speaker. We are both interested in learning the new language from each other.
Instead of teaching some simple greeting phrases, I taught Marcus how to say his name in Chinese. His German full name is Marcus Konrath. I didn’t translate the name homophonically but rather turn it into a meaningful Chinese name. After thinking for 15 minutes, I came up with the name 孔立士 (Kong Li Shi). Kong Li is pronounced similar to Konrath that Kong is the surname of the most influential Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius (孔子). It matches Marcus’ major in education. Shi has a similar pronunciation as the last syllable of Marcus. It refers to the gentry scholar who is the most respectable occupation among the traditional Chinese social class structure (士農工商). Li means a strong willingness so Li Shi means a great determination to be a gentry scholar which fits Marcus’ future career in the school as a teacher.
Marcus then taught me a simple German Christmas greeting quote in return. Frohe Weihnachten means Merry Christmas. Although it has been a while since I learnt it, I still remember how to pronounce it. I recall the pronunciation by using a non-sense story. Frohe Weihnachten is pronounced similar to “Fluid Finite Tongue”. Every year’s Christmas, Austrian gathers together to count the finite amount of tongues flowing in the fluid in each other’s mouth. Although it doesn’t make any sense, an absurd story can stay in our brain for a longer time!
