Me In ChinkyLand - Whats in a name?

What would you call your mobile phone in “day-to-day” Hindi?

Come on, try guessing. Scroll down for the answer
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Mobile!! (PJ???)

Now, those of you who know Kannada, what do you call your mobile phone in Kannada?

At least, guess this one,

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Mobile (again :()

Now, lets try it in Tamil …. Nah!! Chuck it. I think in most of the Indian languages (AFAIK), a mobile phone is called a mobile phone. But in China, everything has an English name and a Chinese name!!! English Names are rarely used. Chinese names are the more widely used. So, the Chinese name of mobile phone is “yí dòng shì” (and there are many variants too). If you don’t believe me, you can go here and search for “mobile”. “yí dòng shì” literally means, “Movable Small Machine”. Just imagine calling your mobile phone, “Chalta Phirta Chota Yantra” in Hindi!!! (I remember Shaktimaan tele-serial:D). Similarly, they had Chinese names for technical terms like computer, folders, video games etc!!!

I am not trying to demean Chinese people and their culture. I just found this strange. I was from a different land, and their way of life was unknown to me. I felt it strange because this is not the norm in India. If Indians used their local languages for some gadgets, I would not have found this different and would not have written this post. We are so accustomed to and cozy in our comfort zone, that any thing outside this draws attention, interest and unfortunately ridicule too.

There are pros, cons and perceptions attached to every approach. Pros of the Chinese approach are that they can preserve their language and heritage for many more years to come. In India, try talking for about 5 minutes in your native language without using any other language words. At least, I will struggle. I think a huge section of the urban world will struggle. Apart from preserving our own culture, we need to adopt some positives (only) of every other culture. That’s how we get to be more accommodating. I think India is very enterprising this way. I read some funny mail some time back which said why India is safe in the IT world compared to China. It said acronyms rule the IT world, like FYI, FYA, AFAIK, PFA, IMHO, ASAP etc. Mandarin, the official Chinese language uses phrases and not alphabets. So, acronyms cannot be used and hence Chinese IT industry will see a setback. LOL. ROTFL ;D. Again, the entire discussion above is my perception.

Let me give you a little history, about why I chose the word “mobile” for setting the context for this post. I was on an onsite assignment in China to work for a Chinese giant in “Mobile phones” (You get their products in India too now – I cannot give further clues about this company :D ). So, to go to office I had to take cab and I had to mention XYZ “yí dòng”(short form for “yí dòng shì”) to let the cab driver know my destination. An English word like “mobile” would never work. It was not just cab drivers, but even highest executives of the client company could converse only in very basic English.

The most common English sentences I have heard in my short stint in China are:

a) “Just a moment please” – This was used by the staff of the hotel where I checked in. This “moment” was used to catch hold of a person who knew better English than them. There was only one person, Winnie, in that 4-star hotel !!!

b)“How do you do” – Seeing me, anybody could make out that I was a foreigner. So, whenever I walked by, young boys and girls used to wish me with a “How do you do”. The glee in their eyes when I reacted with a smile or “Hello” was out of the world. I never knew that even such a small gesture could make someone totally unknown so happy.

I quickly learnt some words to help me with some simple daily activities. Here they go,

a) "nǐ hǎo" – Hello. A broad smile with a little bend in your body would do too :D. I always used to say nǐ hǎo" coz one of my Chinese colleagues said my Chinese pronunciation was spot on and of course I wanted to flaunt that.

b) "xiè xiè" (X is pronounced as “Sh”) – Thank you. Chinese are very courteous. You would always hear them saying "xiè xiè". So, I thought I better be courteous, after all I was at client site :D

c) "mǐ fàn” – Cooked rice. The rice in China is excellent. Unlike the Indianised Chinese Fried Rice, the fried rice there was oil-less. Extremely tasty. My colleagues there used to tease me that this rice might be cooked in pork stock or something like that. On enquiring, I got to know that it is covered with spinach while steaming it. I tried this in India and it was a huge flop. The spinach got charred. Still donno how it happened. Anyway, it is better not to bet on my culinary skills.

d) I learnt the numbers, to help me get a telephone number etc.

I too taught some Hindi to my Chinese colleagues (They wanted to know some sentences to be used during a conference call). Examples are:

a) “Namaskar” – This was practiced during every conference call with the Indian team :D I hardly wish somebody with a “Namaskar” in India :(

b) “Kaise hain aap?”

c) “Ek minute wait kijiye” – Here they were confused how this could be Hindi as there are two English words here. Silently, I changed it to “Thoda samay intezaar kijiye” (Doesn’t that sound like lyrics of some “Mujhra” :D)

d) “Isi samay, Isi din, agle haphthe” (TV anchor ishtyle :D) – To ensure that we had the conference call same time the coming week.

These Hindi lessons were a laugh riot. I used to laugh my heart out seeing the competition among my colleagues to pronounce it the right way and the mutual practice sessions. I felt like being mischievous and teach something wrong like Revathi teaches in the Tamil movie Mouna Raagam. But then, what if they are in a tit-for-tat mood :D

In spite of all this fun I had, I still found this whole Chinese name stuff very cumbersome. How would you feel, when you had to say "kě kǒu kě lè” if you had to order a coke? Mind it; those tiny strokes above the letters have impact on your pronunciation. A slight variation means something else. What if it means something rude or obnoxious?

Nevertheless, it was fascinating to know the origin of some phrases and their meaning. For a Sanskrit buff like me, it was very interesting to note the common ground on which these two languages have evolved. I felt I was on a cultural exchange program rather than a technical assignment!! Thanks to all my Chinese colleagues out there who used to speak so passionately about their language and culture during our long lunch breaks. Mostly, I will never see them again in my life time, but they will remain dear to my heart forever.

Signing off!!

Name of the Moment: Wenglina – That’s my Chinese name. Yes!! Even people have two names. As my name is pretty rare, I have heard people calling me Vandana, Vanitha, Nanditha, Vanaja etc. Not surprised, to add one more to the cart.

Next to Come: Tryst with Timma