My mom always told me that speaking Chinese would be a valuable skill to have. At least once a month, she’ll suggest I move to Shanghai for a year to hone my now very rusty Mandarin Chinese. “Speak to me in Chinese,” she often says to me while we talk on the phone. “You need to practice.” Yeah, yeah, a minute later, I revert back to Chinglish.
Well, she’ll be happy to hear me say that she was right (as moms usually are), and oddly, being able to speak Mandarin was somewhat useful at the PGA Championship on Saturday.
China’s Wenchong Liang set a new course record at Whistling Straits in the third round with an eight-under 64. I did my mom proud by striking up conversation in Chinese with Liang’s manager, who was taken aback and asked where I was from. I told him that I grew up in Seattle. He said, “You were born in the US or…?” Yes, in the US. “Your Chinese is very good,” he said. (Told my mom who said, “Yeah I know because you don’t have much of an American accent. Most American-born Chinese have strong ones.” But in reality, I feel like I can barely form a sentence these days since I never speak it.)
Anyway, I wrote a story about Liang’s record-breaking round over at the Wall Street Journal. Here’s an excerpt.
After breaking the course record at Whistling Straits with a remarkable eight-under 64 in the third round of the PGA Championship, China’s Wenchong Liang and his small entourage were aflutter.
His manager Yao Wang was running around frantically trying to arrange interviews with CBS, XM Radio and the rest of the media for his client. It was new territory for them. Wang had walked the Whistling Straits course with Liang while holding a still camera in one hand and a video camera in the other.
My colleague, the Journal’s John Paul Newport, asked Wang if this was Liang’s best round ever, “No, no, only one of his best rounds. He shot a 60 in India in 2008 to win the [Indian Open],” he said.
Nearby, his caddie, Ibrahim Gaus of Singapore, puffed on a cigarette while leaning on Liang’s big red-and-white leather bag of Honma clubs. Had Liang realized he was having an historic low round? “Yes, yes, but he stayed calm, very calm,” Gaus said.
What’s more, Liang is very likable and charming despite the language barrier. He had a translator, Mr. Lee, who like my mother is from Taiwan. (FYI, not much was lost in translation from my perspective. I was impressed with how accurate the translation was.) The reporters who gathered around Liang after his press conference to ask him more questions were charmed by him.
When one reporter asked him if he knew Yi Jianlian, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, he replied, “Only from watching him on TV.”
After a slight pause, Liang smiled coyly and quipped, “Does Jianlian know Wenchong Liang?”
Everyone laughed.
****
[Photo via AP]
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Language skills are one of the most underrated talents a person can have. Good for you on keeping up with your Mandarin… it obviously came in handy:)
Hi Stephanie, i think few months is good enough for you if you dont have time.
Plus he played well after the flight to the US. That flight is brutal. It seems like it’s forever. Plus I heard his plane got rerouted to Tokyo for a sick passenger. Add to that the time zone change. He’s basically a Chinese vampire. Maybe that’s why he played so well. Vampires have super powers. I know this because I watch True Blood. Nuff said.
Given that Liang was born and raised in Zhongshan, he would have spoken Cantonese almost exclusively growing up and the Mandarin that he speaks would have been learned in a classroom or later in life. So, if he is speaking fluent Mandarin without an accent, he should be complemented as well.
He has always been great to watch on the Golf Channel coverage of the European Tour and his demeanor on the course is just fantastic. Hopefully there will be a PGA tour or major win for him someday.
To Marky Mark –
I think it is erroneous to believe that most Guandong natives speak Cantonese “almost exclusively”. Although I have indeed noticed that most caddies and staff at the Zhongsan Hot Springs golf course, where Wen Chong learned his trade, are local and thus, speak Cantonese as their main dialect, I haven’t come across one that doesn’t speak Mandarin as well. At most of the local courses near Guangzhou where I play, a majority of the caddies come from other provinces and are fluent only in Mandarin. This is not limited to caddies. A large number of the migrant workers living in Guangdong today are Mandarin-only speakers. I would estimate that in most cities and towns in Guangdong, we have today as many native Mandarin speakers as Cantonese speakers. Moreover, nearly 80% of the Guangdong natives are fluent in Mandarin. Interestingly, just two weeks ago the local media regulator proposed to preclude all local television news stations from broadcasting in Cantonese. There were many who demonstrated in organized street demonstrations in an effort to preserve our local dialect. While his Mandarin is effortless, Wen Chong’s Mandarin does have a slight Cantonese accent, but you’d probably need to be around a lot of Cantonese speakers to pick it up. Fortunately it was the fluidity of his swing rather than the fluency of his language skills that got him his first exposure in US.
- Liang Tian Hui
(we Chinese typically have our family names first).
seriously, a “3″ on the asian-ness scale? you’re calling him less asian that se ri pak?
What can I say… You ROCK! Thank’u
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I like the term Chinglish. Funny….being from the NYC area I remember many Asians on the course. Here in Florida not so much. Why is this? Send an email to contact@overthetopgolf.com to let me know, if you know.
Also, no noodle houses down here. A few Thai people faking Hong Kong and Vietnamese but nothing authentic.