Please, not everything I do is truly 'lihai'
By Nikolai Moed, special to The China Post
April 23, 2013, 12:21 am TWN
About a year and a half ago I had the
chance of doing an internship in mainland China. After four years of
studying Chinese I felt this was the best way of furthering my language
skills. It was a great experience, pushing me to apply for a master's in
Taiwan. So far I've been here for almost three months and until now
have really enjoyed my stay.
And while so many things about this place are worth mentioning, the
real reason that I'm here is still the language. For as long as I can
remember I've enjoyed learning languages. Studying Chinese for me is not
only a way to relax, it always gives me a feeling of spending my time
in a useful way. Since coming to Taiwan my language skill has already
quickly improved, but there has been one small thing bothering me. It's
the word “lihai,” meaning amazing. I find the local people to be very
friendly, but in a way they may sometimes be a little too friendly. Of
course the word is used as a compliment, but every now and then “lihai”
is used for me it makes me just a bit uncomfortable.
Sometimes I
feel I've done nothing to deserve such a compliment; for example just
buying a sweet potato at a stand that sells nothing but sweet potatoes!
And it annoys me because of the way it's said, casually as if to brush
off the conversation. Of course this is just a small inconvenience of
being able to live here. And I even found a way to cope with the word.
It is not by banning it from my vocabulary. Instead, I use it myself, as
if by participating in the joke I'm no longer the subject. If you can't
beat them, join them?
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