00:11
It's hot, isn't it?
Yeah, it's hot.
暑すぎる which is one of my favorite phrases, I think, while I'm here.
Oh, good. Like, ブラブラすぎる is super useful slang that's going around nowadays.
Yeah.
And makes a lot of grandma nazis very angry.
Oh, really?
For instance, like, when you're describing someone,
頭が良すぎる or, like, 美しすぎる.
Like, what does that mean?
Like, what does it mean?
What do you mean, too smart, too beautiful?
Because that implies that there's, like, a negative consequences of being too smart or too beautiful, right?
Yeah.
Well, in English, it does.
What's the meaning in Japanese?
It's the same in Japanese.
If you look at the technical sort of way of how it's been used.
Right.
But, like, nowadays, everyone and including the mainstream media also are using ブラブラすぎる.
They 〇〇すぎる as a way to, like, describe both something that is negative and positive connotation.
So, but 〇〇すぎる is always, always correct.
So, right.
That one's fine.
That one makes sense.
Yeah.
Especially well into maybe, like, September, you can still continue to use 〇〇すぎる.
Yeah.
Well, I will admit I probably use it more than maybe people who are used to living in Tokyo use it.
So, guess what?
It's completely legal to do that because it's entirely up to your own comfort level
and whether it's too hot for that.
True.
Yes, you're absolutely right.
I am not at risk of getting a fine for my use of 〇〇すぎる maybe in December.
Just be like 〇〇すぎるね。
And then I'll just, I don't have to say anything.
I'm covered in 〇〇すぎる.
Like, I'm just, I'm always...
Yeah, you just say.
You're just stating a comment, a fact, an observation and people can say 〇〇すぎるね。
Or they can be like 〇〇すぎるね。
Yeah.
It's too much work, right, to respond in that heat, just 〇〇すぎるね。
I should learn how to say that in Cantonese.
Because whenever I enter the building, I always say
早餐 in the morning, which is good morning to the securities.
03:03
But I, for instance, don't know how to say if I come in
back from lunch, like midday, you know, when it's no longer morning.
Or what to say when I'm leaving.
There is like a set phrase that you can use in Cantonese.
Okay.
It directly translates to, like, I'm leaving first, kind of.
Like, I'll leave first.
Like, I'm leaving before you.
And that's why I'm saying this phrase to you, kind of thing.
But that can be used when you are going to return?
Or only when you're, like, leaving for the day?
Yeah, when you're leaving for the day, I think you say.
Like, it's kind of like お疲れ様 in Japanese.
Well, that's what I was thinking, right?
This sort of お疲れ様 or the...
But, like, お疲れ様, the technical sort of, like, word-to-word translation means, like,
thanks for the good work type of stuff, right?
Or, like, it's not that.
It literally means I'm leaving before you.
Yeah, but there's the literal one, which is お先に失礼します.
Which is, like, the literal.
So there's that.
But you're saying in Cantonese there is a similar phrase.
Like, I'm just going to leave before you.
Yeah, お先に失礼しますと同じフレーズがあるらしい。
Well, okay, makes sense.
So you need to learn whatever that phrase is.
Whatever that would be.
Yeah, given that I typically leave earlier than, like, half of the people in the department,
like, I should say that.
You should just walk out and go, peace, and then leave.
That's the slang from the U.S.
I don't know if that's...
I'm not sure what region of the U.S. that comes from.
That's not formal language for anyone listening.
A lot of greeting phrases, though, are, like, the best to learn when you're picking up a language.
Because, like, you encounter that situation to say that on a daily.
And you don't have to continue a conversation.
You just say that.
And, like, that's it, right?
Yep, that's something I've noticed after slowly doing this for two and a half years.
The phrases like that are much easier to just say without there being a lot of overhead.
Yeah, it tests it out, right?
Yeah, and, like, just...
This is not easy.
There's a whole separate discussion, which we've hinted at and talked about a couple of times,
06:00
about, like, the barriers to speaking, right?
But to do those phrases and to just use them even when they sound strange, right?
Like, you can tell that your accent's not in the right spot.
Yeah.
Tones.
Or, like, the sounds, right?
It's...
If I think back to the very beginning, and I imagine...
Well, maybe for the listeners, this would be a little different because they had maybe some English, right?
Within school.
Whereas I had no Japanese until, like, university.
Even something like konnichiwa as, like, a set of sounds
can be hard to almost accept that that does a similar job to good afternoon, right?
Like, that it's somehow...
What?
It's...
Well, like, think about it.
Somebody told you, like, here is the words that you say to say hello to people.
And they're like, you can also say these words.
And it's like, what do you mean I can also say those words?
Nobody says those words.
How am I supposed to...
There's the broken separation, right?
Where I think I struggled with that a lot.
Maybe nobody else does.
But, like, I knew that these were obviously...
It's another language.
That's what exists in the world.
But to be surrounded by nothing but English means that this seems surreal.
It seems like how...
Like, I can know that it's a language and yet not really be able to perceive it as a language
until you're then using it every day.
Like, you have to be engaged on using it and trust that somebody is also understanding, right?
I follow now.
What did it sound like before?
It's that cognitive dissonance gap that's been closed by actually using that phrase
and noticing that, oh, I transmitted the intention.
Exactly.
And they received it in a way that I intended.
Right.
Yep.
Because for first language, if you only have one especially,
that's all automatic.
Yeah, that's like the synopsis growth moment, I think.
It's like, woo!
Sensation of speaking this different language.
I can understand that because that's how I feel every time I test out a new phrase that I learned.
Yeah, exactly.
And test it out on the people other than the ones who taught me
and see if that works.
This is especially fun when you're doing it with Cantonese
or any sort of tonal languages.
09:02
I mean, any language really that requires some finesse in pronunciation,
you can enjoy the same sensation.
But I get a particular kick out of doing this in Cantonese
because tonal language is so new to me.
And when I nail the tone, it's really satisfying.
Yeah, but I'm slowly expanding my random Cantonese phrase that I can say.
But it's gotten to the point, though, because I'm Asian
and I look like I know where I'm going for the most part in Hong Kong.
Once in a while, I'll be bold enough to order, let's say, bubble tea in Cantonese.
If I go up to the shop person with my face,
they just fully assume that I'm Cantonese.
I'm a Hong Konger or a local who can speak Cantonese.
If I start by greeting them in Cantonese,
that just confirms that I must be from here.
Because my greeting game has become so strong
to the point that people are fully fooled by my tones.
And then I realize that's all I can say.
And then I have a set phrase going.
And if you deviate from my script, I don't know what you just said.
You've lost me.
And then that's when my disguise falls apart.
They're like, oh, you're an imposter.
And I'm like, yeah, sorry, in English, please.
I'm like fumbling for my own words in English about this
because I understand.
I very much understand.
But you will feel more of that, let's say,
if you go to, I don't know, Italy and try Italian.
I think they will be more confused about it.
There's a lot of that.
You need to play the whole stereotype game of like,
this must be what a Hong Konger looks like.
Or this must be what an Italian looks like.
And unfortunately, your other heritage that is Scottish
is more just English speaking people anyway.
I had to go with the other one.
It's really funny.
I think my greetings game is very strong now.
I can fool a lot of people if I were going for that
one or two phrases with a lot of confidence
and a right attitude.
12:03
But my facade quickly melts away.
This perhaps could be another thing.
But what you've just nailed, I think,
is from the other person's side,
especially from customer service side,
they do have to make decisions in that moment.
Now, it doesn't mean that they have to make
stereotypically racist decisions at that moment.
No, but they have a split second to decide
which one to go off of.
For language, I'm going to do one.
But then the big part is just having to adapt.
They'll have to make a shift.
And also, if you have a choice,
you probably go with the one that you're more comfortable with.
Of course, yes, yes, 100%.
And then for your end, you're like,
you've practiced those pieces,
so you know them really well,
which is awesome.
But it does also come with what you have observed,
which is like, okay, I get to have like 30 seconds of,
look, I can communicate clearly with you.
And then you hit the hardest of walls in front of you,
where you're like, do we start the script over?
I could do that, could you?
But that's, yeah, it's like, yes, yes.
And honestly, I think if I was learning Cantonese
in a more sort of formal way,
I should have a bit more adaptability.
But because I'm just doing it for fun,
just to like, if anything,
just to like trick the locals into thinking
for a millisecond that I'm also a local,
I like to learn these few phrases
that my colleagues teach me
and like test it out on other colleagues
and do that, yeah.
Just see how it sounds, see how it works.
And it gives you something to play with.
Yeah, and also you realize how like thank you
and things like please, thank you goes a long way.
So you can just throw that in everywhere
and you sound legit.
And so, you know, your parents are not wrong
if they drilled in you that you should say please
and thank you at all times.
It's like, yeah, that's kind of true.
It's true, not only in the language they taught you,
but in many other languages as well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that I will sit in agreement with that.
And then I also have something
that sort of contradicts that.
But that's something.
15:00
All right, let's go to the next episode.
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening and find us on X
at EgoDeScience, that is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C.
See you next time.
