Comments | elysesewell: hola hovelito

elysesewell

hola hovelito

Feb 19, 2009 01:11

My Hong Kong agency emailed me: "Elyse, we have castings for you, we have jobs for you; we're waiting for you to get your ass down here, thanks." I arrived in Hongers an hour ago; my heart was breaking to leave Shanghai this afternoon, but oh my god, I'd forgotten that Hong Kong has about a million billion charms of its own. I'd been in China for ( Read more... )

Comments 198

Learning Mandarin tradeshowguy February 18 2009, 17:38:11 UTC

I went to a trade show in Shanghai a few years back, and I loved it. I can see why you'd miss it. I didn't get a chance to learn much Mandarin beyond "Xie xie," and "Ni you ming pien ma?" (Do you have a name card?) Both of which proved to be very useful. I discovered that by saying "Xie xie," the guys selling watches on Nanjing East Rd. would leave me alone. I don't know why though. If I said anything in English, they'd chase me for two blocks.

haruhiko February 18 2009, 17:38:28 UTC

Do you prefer speaking/hearing Mandarin or Canto? I'm probably biased due to having had a Taiwanese boyfriend, but I MUCH prefer the sound of Mandarin.

Welcome back to HK!

(The comment has been removed)

haruhiko February 19 2009, 02:08:49 UTC

I just find it a lot more harsh to the ear; Mandarin has a more "twangy" sound but overall I find it more musical/natural.

lol why? haruhiko February 19 2009, 05:49:20 UTC

i think of German, Korean, Eastern European languages when I think of gargling and eating watermelon. obviously, the person you heard that from has not heard cantonese before. Cantonese is very much the epitome of Chinese languages. It actually, believe it or not, predates Mandarin. Just think of the usually chinese sounds of ching chung chong and you get the idea.

But based on my own opinion, Mandarin sounds like plates being dropped on the ground and bells being rung, while Cantonese is that but at a much lower pitch!

--ciao!

Thread 7

twitchthom February 18 2009, 17:39:47 UTC

OT question: are you still planning on medical school?

elysesewell February 18 2009, 17:43:30 UTC

No.

twitchthom February 18 2009, 19:55:41 UTC

Do you think about what you will do after modeling?

Yay! twitchthom February 19 2009, 04:34:31 UTC

You said no.

Thread 13

mognetcentral February 18 2009, 17:40:37 UTC

The 3 guesses shirt is golden. Your pics are always great. Thanks for sharing.

tucker February 18 2009, 17:55:28 UTC

A lot of times it seems like you find things that are inexpensive compared to American prices. What is one of the things that is the opposite and is very expensive in comparison over there?

subjectivism February 19 2009, 02:15:42 UTC

My grandparents once brought ten lobsters to China. I don't know if they're actually overpriced there or if they're just old and delusional.