中国的方言太多了

　　在中国教学的第一个学期，我和一位美国朋友一起利用周末坐火车北上，到中国的首都北京游玩了一趟。我们只买到了站票，当时想当然地认为旅途不会有多疲劳。然而，我们错了。当我们坐了12个小时的火车到达北京后，我们真是又兴奋又疲劳。

　　当置身于北京街头时，我们却惊讶地发现自己几乎听不懂身边的北京人所讲的话。即使是最简单的交流，比如问路和到餐馆点菜，也无法与当地人沟通。慢慢地，我发现，讲话很快的北京人都带有明显的儿话音。当我们告诉出租车司机，带我们去预先定好的旅馆时，我们费了好大的劲，他还是听不懂，换来的只是他的白眼。最后，我们找到了窍门，就是在讲话时要多带儿话音。这样，出租车司机一下子听懂了我们的话。

　　当然了，从那以后，我也发觉北京方言根本不是只加上儿话音那么简单，现在，我又来到了北京，呆了有将近一个月的时间了，却觉得北京话越来越难懂。事实上，北京话还是非常标准的，非常接近中国的普通话。

　　在中国，书面语言非常标准，在不同地区，汉字表达的意思都相同，但读音却千差万别。很多读者可能已经知道，汉语的口语由好多种方言组成，每种方言之间都很难听懂。即使中国人到不同地区旅游时，他们经常遇到的难题，也是很难与只讲当地方言的人进行交流和沟通。

　　去年，我返回美国后，我发现自己还是听不懂在唐人街中餐馆里吃饭的人所讲的汉语，当时感觉非常失望。在美国的很多中国人讲的是中国南方地区的方言，大部分是广东话（粤语）和

　　我在武汉所教的学生经常说方言来为难室友。一个学生曾告诉我，她的室友讲的方言听起来就像是外语，和听法语和德语一样让人摸不着头脑。

　　中国的官方语言是普通话。现在，普通话已在中国的各个地方得到了推广和普及。在中国，从幼儿园到大学的所有学校都用普通话教学。

　　幸运的是，武汉方言与标准的普通话之间的差距还不是非常大，所以我在北京与北京人交流时遇到的障碍还不算太大。我每周上课为24小时，但是我真正的课堂是在北京的街头巷尾。餐馆、商店、公交车、

　　（本文作者曾在武汉和北京进行过为期一年的教学和学习）

　　本版英语原文

　　To talk the talk in China you have to know where you areByMeganPantherDuring the first semester I taught in China (Fall of2003),an Americanfriend and I took advantage of a three-day weekendbyheading north toBeijing. We arrived excited and exhausted fromthe12-hour train trip(we wrongly assumed that ourstanding-room-onlytickets wouldnt be toouncomfortable), only torealize that wecould hardly understand theconversations swirlingaround us in thenations capitol. Even minorinteractions, such asasking fordirections or ordering food, were confusingand at first,all Icould pick out of the Beijingers rapid sentenceswas apredominaterrr sound.When we gave a taxi driver directions to thehostel weplanned to stayin, our best attempts at Chinese were metwith blankstares ... untilwe learned the secret. All we had to dotocommunicate was add an rrrsound at the end of most of ourwords.We were amazed at how quicklythe driver understood the wordforgate, men, when we pronounced it asmer.Of course, Ivesincelearned that the Beijing accent is a lot morecomplicatedthansimply adding an r at the end of random words, but manywordsdoend with the heavy rrr sound. Ive been here nearly amonthnow,and the Beijing dialect is becoming increasinglycomprehensible.Infact, as I have now learned, the Beijing language,Beijinghua,isvery standard, quite similar to the main Chinesedialect,Mandarin.The written language is fairly standard throughoutChina,withcharacters possessing the same meanings anddifferentpronunciations indifferent parts of the country. But, asmanyreaders probably already know,the Chinese spoken language ismadeup of a wide range of regionaldialects, many incomprehensibletoeach other. When Chinese travel todifferent parts of thecountry,they frequently have difficulty communicatingwith peoplewho onlyspeak the local dialects. After returning to theStates lastyear, Iwas extremely disappointed to discover that Icouldntunderstandthe Chinese spoken in most Chinese restaurants or onthestreet inChinatown. Many Chinese in the United States speaksouthernChinesedialects, most often Cantonese (Chinas second mostcommondialect,spoken in southern China and Hong Kong) or Fujianhua,adialectspoken on Chinas east coast.My students in Wuhanoftentried to baffle their roommates by speakingto each other inlocaldialects, attempting to guess the meanings ofdifferent soundsarewords. One student told me that her roommates localdialectsoundedas foreign to her as French or German.Chinas official,language,Mandarin, is becoming more common in allparts of China. Itis usedin schools, from kindergartens touniversities, all acrossChina.Additionally, all college freshmen are required topass anexam instandard Mandarin. Students from southern and easternChinaoftenworry a great deal about the exam, preparing for monthsinadvancein order to pass the difficult oral portion of thetest.Certainmarks are required on the exam in order to beconsidered forcertainoccupations such as television broadcasters,teachers, andotherprofessional careers whose communication skillsare of greatimportance.Fortunately, the Wuhan dialect wasntextremelydifferent from standardMandarin, so I havent had too muchtroublecommunicating here inBeijing. Im in class 24 hours a week,but myreal classroom is Beijing. Myinteractions in restaurants, inshops,on busses, in taxis, and on thestreet are beginning to washaway myWuhan accent and are graduallyinstalling the rrr soundthat sointimidated me during my first triphere.Megan Panther, a1999 GHSgraduate, is a graduate student at theUniversity of Chicagodoinglanguage study and research in Beijing for oneyear.

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