Chinese Convention in NY
We went to the Chinese convention in New York (actually the area of Queens) and realized two things. First, driving in New York is horrible! Don't do it!
Second: We don't understand a word (not even one) in Cantonese.
Yes, Cantonese is a widely spoken dialect in mainland China. Cantonese is part of what's considered "Chinese" just like Mandarin. They both share the same writing, but the pronunciation is completely different.
Half of the convention was in Cantonese and half in Mandarin. Then we realized that there was a translation from one to the other in a radio frequency, but we didn't have a radio nor headphones.
We shall be better prepared for next time.
Now, even the Mandarin parts were hard to understand, specially those that were given by native speakers. There were a few americans who gave parts in chinese and we were able to understand more words. Notice, I said "words". We are too early in the stage of learning to comprehend what the talk is about. Probably the best part of the convention was the Watchtower study, as we could follow (by reading the Bible verses) more than other talks.
After the convention was over, we took a few rides here and there and so here are some pictures.
Or see the slide show