Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Ni hao ma?--see comments

Welcome to our guest from Hong Kong!

One of the joys of working with the Asian Commission of the Diocese of California was getting to know Asian Episcopalians from several lands.  Our congregation was blessed with Cambodian-Americans and one lady from Singapore by way of Canada and Boston, but we also had folks in the diocese with roots in China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.

David Lui was a great friend.  He was from Hong Kong and had studied theology there as well as in London during his stint in the UK.  I had the joy of working with him on his theological studies in Oakland and then seeing him ordained a priest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.  He went on to minister at a church in the Sunset District of San Francisco that brought Anglo and Chinese communities together.

Here's a shout out to my buddy David!

So nice to have someone from Hong Kong visit here.  Come back again!

3 comments:

Fran said...

Wow- Hong Kong! That is a good one. Yes I have been there, no I will not bore you with any stories this time!

Anonymous said...

A technical note: Did you want to say "Hello," or to enquire whether the visitor is well? Including the "yes or no question" particle ma does the latter-- and according to the Sapient Pimsleur, this is a question to ask only intimates. (Use of "ni" rather than "nin" is also a choice in favour of less formality.)

Paul said...

Thanks for the technical notes. I don't know Mandarin and am thus exposed to all manner of grammatical and cultural mistakes. With my friends in California it was common to say either "ni hao" or "ni hao ma" and I do not understand the technicalities. We are, in California, almost invariably informal. Would I have been better off saying "Nin hao?"

Thanks for caring enough to help me learn to do better. I don't want to offend, though I take great risks pulling things off computerized online translations, etc. I am sure I will screw up, but I at least try to reach beyond my own cultural boundaries.