IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S A MAN WITH CHUEN JOY CHU YI DIK CHIU LEUI!

I have to find someone who can tutor me in Cantonese. My pronunciation is awful.
I realized this when I asked what 番石榴 was in English. I had not seen anything quite like them.
It wasn't till the woman saw where I was pointing that she understood.
As usual, context made clear what my tonal errors hid.


番石榴, 英文叫乜耶呀?
FAN SEK LAU, YINGMAN KIU MAT YEH AH?


Apparently they are guavas (we confirmed this with another person, who knew the English word).
Which I should have realized, having been exposed to such things before. But there are fruits available in C'town now that previously were hard to find on these shores, such as rambutan (紅毛丹), longan (龍眼), and dragon fruit (火龍果). To name but a few. Including strange guavatic cultivars.

The point is that I should not always rely entirely on contextual luck.  Correct tones will improve comprehension immensely, and give me greater conversational range.

Most of my Cantonese exchanges involve bland politenesses and discussions of food. And in the latter case, the Chinese written word is usually right in front of us.
As it was in this instance.


What if, hypothetically speaking, I needed to discuss a German art film?

Without correct tones, my pronunciation of chuen joy chu-yi dik chiu-leui would inevitably be so far off as to leave my listeners baffled. Frankly, I do not relish the thought of explaining what that ('chuen joy chu-yi dik chiu-leui') is, given that I would have used the term purely with snarky intent, and then have them exclaim "嘩, 存在主義的焦慮, 即係 existential angst, mmm?"

存在主義的焦慮 is indeed 'existential angst'.
Chuen joy chu-yi dik chiu-leui.
You know, what Germans have.

With my pronunciation, I doubt that I will ever be able to use it.
Unless I get help.

Chuen joy chu-yi dik chiu-leui.

Even if there is never a need to discuss 'existential angst' in Chinese, I still need much more non-food related conversational practise.



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