Give me the beat. Yeah. Yeah.
Hi guys, welcome to another episode of #LifeAtTSL.
In past episodes of Life At TSL and Singaporeans Try,
we've asked our colleagues to translate from English to their Mother Tongue,
and we've also gotten them to speak in their Mother Tongue for 72H.
So today...
we are going to bring back a childhood trauma known as 听写.
For people who have not taken Chinese lessons in Singapore, 听写 is essentially 'spelling',
which in English is quite easy, but because in Chinsee we use a pictorial writing system,
so it's all individual characters for everything you want to express.
So by the time we graduate, we have to memorize hundreds or thousands of characters before we take that O Level certificate.
And for some people, once they take that O Level certificate, those Chinese characters go out of the door!
Return to the teacher!
So today we will be testing our colleagues on whether they can pass primary school 听写。
Let's go.
No, bye bye.
Thank you for watching this episode of Life At TSL.
Aaaaaahhh...
(PD) Question 1: 相机 (Camera).
Okay.
- (PD) Correct. - Yay! Correct!
This is also 'xiang ji' but this is... you.
(PD) 斑马 (Zebra).
Yay!
(PD) Number 3. 橙色。 (The color orange)
This one has a lot of strokes...
I think there's something wrong, but...
Aiya, I don't know lah...
Ok, I still pass.
Now, I'm gonna terrorize everybody else.
So what was your favorite and least favorite part of Chinese lessons?
I don't even have a favorite part. And of course, my least favorite part was 听写 (Spelling). So what was your favorite and least favorite part of Chinese lessons?
I don't even have a favorite part. And of course, my least favorite part was 听写 (Spelling).
My mum was a tiger mum. She'd always test us.
And make sure we will get everything correct before we sit for the actual test.
Poris is looking now, yeah?
But before we start,
Hopefully got more points.
Let's write... 头脑. (Brain)
Amanda...
- Huh? This is 'lungs'? - Yeah.
Poris... You see your daughter...
Sorry, Poris.
Second word - 教室 (Classroom).
Classroom.
Aaaayyy...
Poris, your daughter did you proud.
Ok, last one, I will give you something difficult.
Related to Singapore.
Don't ask me to write Merlion...
鱼尾狮. Merlion. That was what I was gonna ask.
Ok, I think I can do this.
Wow! Oh my God.
Wah. Ownself give ownself star.
Hello, Miss Chika and Mr John.
- Hi. - Hello. Thank you. It's great to be here.
My question is - which was your favorite or least favorite part of Chinese lessons?
One of my most fond memories of Chinese class - during one of these Chinese tuition sessions I had,
Got this chio girl...
That's all you remember lah.
I always failed oral examinations my entire life. I can write, but cannot speak.
- Oh! - I was the opposite.
Ok, I'll give you all 3 words.
And you guys have to write it. Like regular 听写, essentially.
The first word is... 电视机 (TV).
Oh...
The next word is related to food. 咖啡 (Coffee).
I hope I'm right. I'm...
Eh, cannot copy!
Please write... 警察 (Police).
- Goodbye, Miss Chika, - Goodbye to me too.
Chika is just writing nonsense.
I have a confession. My mom actually majored in Chinese Studies.
So I'm a complete embarrassment to my mom.
Would you like to leave a video message to your mom?
Uh... Mother, I'm sorry...
I'm not good in Chinese, I'm not good in Japanese,
I'm not good in English...
- Just say "I'm not good" lah. - I'm not good at anything... I'm sorry...
Hello...
- Think Tank boys! - Hafeez. Hafeez.
- Hafeez, I heard that you can write 1-10 in Chinese. - I might forget a few, but
generally I think I can score 7 out of 10.
At least. At least 7 out of 10.
It's simple. It's a simple language.
One...
- Two... - Wah, not bad!
I forgot how to write '5'. It's quite complicated.
'5' - I've forgot. I'm sorry. '6' - I also don't know.
'7' - I also cannot remember. '8', I cannot remember.
I know how to write '9'.
Like that...
10 is easy because it looks like the letter 't'.
Now show the camera.
Not only will I show, but I will also display my enunciation in the Mandarin language.
- Yi. - YES!
- Er! - OH!!!
SHANG???
Correct, right?
I can go until 1,000, bro.
Oh, that's 100? I forgot.
The context here is that Mandon's Mandarin is level 9,
whereas Jereld's Mandarin is like level...
- 1 out of 10? - What about written Mandarin?
Written Mandarin... 0.5.
0.5? Okay.
I will give them 2 lists so that Mandon doesn't get bored, and Jereld doesn't die.
I am very pleased with this.
Your first word is 花生 (peanut).
Oh my God.
Is this 'hua'?
Unfortunately, that's not a word.
Yeah.
1000 years later...
Ah...
紫色 (purple).
What is this abstract art?!
For Jereld... Can you write '爸爸‘ (Dad)?
I cannot write '爸爸' (Father) but I can write '哥哥‘ (Brother).
Still a family member, not bad.
- Give me one that I can get myself. - Okay. 叶子 (leaf).
Ok, ok.
Mandon, your word is 旅行箱 (luggage).
- Luggage. - (Mandon mumbles)
- Thank you for the pictorial representation. - I thought we were playing Pictionary.
I don't know the '叶'!!
For Jereld... '开心' (Happy).
Ok!
Yes!!!
I got one on my own!
How about '狐狸'? Fox.
The handwriting cannot make it but the answer is there.
Let's see whether Miss Adria over here will pass her 听写.
This is written Chinese. You can know how to speak in Chinese, but you don't know how to write it.
- First word! - Wait, I'm stressed. Feeling urgent all of a sudden.
Need to pee.
Since you're talking about peeing. 厕所 (Toilet).
(Laughing)
- I don't know... How? - Wot's that?!
I think this is the issues with a lot of people these days.
Number one, we don't type in Mandarin much.
We don't write the word.
I literally type 's-u-o' and the word will come out.
Ok lah.
Next one. 指甲 (fingernail).
Huh?!
I don't know lah...
- I think the stress is getting to me. - Ok. We will wait.
Anyway this couch is very comfortable.
I will come back to it.
- Last word... - Huh?! Three only?!
- Oh, you want more? - I'm going to get zero.
护照 (passport).
- Correct or not? - Almost.
Wait! Almost!
(Claps)
We have one more person. I just realized that she's in the office, so I'm going to ambush her.
- Adria is just here to laugh at you. - Yeah.
- And today you will be having 听写. - F*** off lah.
Ok, your first word is...
Correct?
Correct!
Your next word is... 演员 (Actor).
Shit.
Yes!!
The next one is very easy.
Grey (灰色).