Ep. I: I-N-G

23/04/2021

I-N-G

(想聽2021年4月23日的廣播節目可以點開上面音符圖案的檔案 If you'd like to listen to the original 4/23/2021 radio episode, please click on the above music note to play the file)

When I first came to Taiwan and started learning Mandarin, I was really confused by the fact that Mandarin verbs, unlike verbs in my native English or verbs in the Spanish I learned in school, didn't seem to have different verb forms. I just couldn't figure out how Chinese speakers could know when something happens if the verb form stays the same. That confusion, coupled with the fact that in spoken Mandarin, the words for she, he, it, her, and him are ALL PRONOUNCED THE SAME (tā), caused me wonder at the amazing ability of speakers of the largest native language in the world to use a simpler system to communicate over so many thousands of years. Of course, as I learned more Chinese, I realized that while there is nothing like the verb conjugations of English or other languages, Chinese does, of course have verb tenses. It just adds other words or characters to the base verb for context. That said, I still sometimes get confused to this day with tā! I guess you could say I'm 搞不清楚I N G (not understand/gǎobùqīngchu I N G) (Remember to look at the bottom of the post for the song chords!)

我剛來到台灣並開始學國語時，我感到非常困惑，因為國語動詞與我母語英語的動詞還有我小時候學的西班牙文動詞不同，國語動詞似乎沒有動詞形式．我根本想不出，如果動詞形式保持不變，那麼說中文的人到底要怎麼知道事情甚麼事後發生．這個困惑，再加上國語中的「她she」、「他he」、「它it」、「她her」還有「他him」都統一被發音為ㄊㄚ(tā)，讓我對這幾千年能用相對比較簡單的文法系統順利溝通的這個世界上最大的母語的母語者驚嘆不已．當然，隨著我對國語的了解越來越多，我也注意到，雖然中文沒有英文或其他語言的動詞變位那麼多，但中文確實是有動詞時態．它只是將其它單詞或字符添加到基本動詞的前後．但既然如此，我到現在還是偶爾對ㄊㄚ(tā)的用法會搞混．我想你可以說我「搞不清楚I N G」（記得看網頁最下面的地方就可以找到歌曲的和絃囉！）

I-N-G Lyrics歌詞

Taiwanese speak Taiwanese 台灣人說台語
And Hakka and Mandarin 還有客家話和國語
But English is also something we can say 但是英文也是我們說的話
So many languages mean we say some special, special things 那麼多語言等於我們會有一些特別的說法

In English to say something's happening right here right now 用英語說某件事此時此刻正在進行的話
We use the grammar verb plus I N G (that's present perfect!) 我們會用文法規則動詞加ING (那就是現在進行式)
But in Mandarin, we use it funnily 但在國語中，（這個規則）我們怪怪地用它

You see Mandarin doesn't have different verb forms 你要知道，國語沒有用不同動詞形式
So run is always 跑 (pǎo) and never runs or ran or running.　因此run永遠都是說跑而不會說runs或running
But Taiwanese combine the two and say 但台灣人會融合兩個系統並說跑ING
跑(pǎo) I N G!

跑(pǎo) I N G! 跑(pǎo) I N G!
跑(pǎo) I N G! 跑(pǎo) I N G!
It's not quite English not quite Mandarin 不完全是英文也不完全是國語
It's the Mandarin verb and the English grammar 是國語動詞和英語文法

跑(pǎo) is run, so 跑 (pǎo) I N G! 跑是run，因此說跑I N G!
吃(chī) is eat, so 吃 (chī) I N G! 吃是eat，因此說吃I N G!
唱(chàng) is sing, so 唱(chàng) I N G! 唱是sing，因此說唱I N G!
愛(ài) is love, so 愛(ài) I N G! 愛是love，因此說愛I N G!
跑(pǎo) I N G! 吃(chī) I N G! 唱(chàng) I N G! 愛(ài) I N G!　跑I N G! 吃I N G! 唱I N G! 愛I N G!

Taiwanese speak Taiwanese 台灣人說台語
And Hakka and Mandarin 還有客家話和國語
But English is also something we can say 但是英文也是我們說的話
So many languages mean we say some special, special things 那麼多語言等於我們會有一些特別的說法

Bye-bye I N G!　掰掰I N G!