The Universe of Discourse

Think speak, now speak!

Katara is now in her sixth semester in college and can speak Mandarin. I am so proud!

For class she recently wrote a talk (in Mandarin) about Hua Guofeng, the often overlooked second chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. She videoed herself giving the talk, and posted it to YouTube. This somehow attracted over 700 views, and comments from a number of strangers, most of which were in Chinese. Some even offered suggestions — only minor suggestions, which she found very gratifying.

One comment, however, expressed irritation. Google translates it as:

You, a foreigner, don’t need to comment on the Chinese people’s affairs.

Shortly afterward though, there came a defense, which began with this delightful phrase:

想讲就讲

An idiomatic translation is "You can talk if you want!"

A character-by-character translation is:

• 想 - think
• 讲 - speak
• 就 - right now
• 讲 - speak

which I just love. If anyone is looking for a name for their new Chinese-language-themed blog, I think this would be a great choice.

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