Mandarin tongue twister
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Trending on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website:
[So as not to give anything away, all syllables are separated and not divided into words.]
Nǐ de huò lā lā lā bù lā lā bù lā duō? Huò lā lā lā bù lā lā bù lā duō yào kàn nǐ de huò lā dé duō bù duō. Rú guǒ lā dé bù duō jiù lā nǐ de lā bù lā duō, rú guǒ lā dé duō jiù bù lā nǐ de lā bù lā duō.
"你的货拉拉拉不拉拉不拉多？货拉拉拉不拉拉不拉多要看你的货拉得多不多。如果拉得不多就拉你的拉不拉多，如果拉得多就不拉你的拉不拉多。"
Google Translate:
"Your cargo pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls more? If you pull too much, it won’t pull you.
Before turning the page, if you know Mandarin, try to parse and translate the above sentences.
Some helpful notes:
Huòlālā 货拉拉 = a Chinese cargo company named Huolala 货拉拉。The name probably comes from its business of hauling goods (lā huò 拉货).
Lābùlāduō 拉不拉多 (sometimes written as Lābùlāduō 拉布拉多) = the transcription of Labrador, the dog breed.
The correct translation would be something like this:
"Nǐ de Huòlalā / lā bù lā / Lābùlāduō? 你的货拉拉 / 拉不拉 / 拉不拉多？" "Will your moving company (Huolala) move [my] Labrador (or not)?"
"Huòlālā / lā bù lā / Lābùlāduō / yào kàn nǐ de huò / lā dé duō bù duō 货拉拉 / 拉不拉 / 拉不拉多 / 要看你的货 / 拉得多不多。" "Whether our Huolala company moves (your) Labrador depends on whether there's too much to transport (or not)。"
"Rúguǒ lā dé bù duō / jiù lā nǐ de / Lābùlāduō 如果拉得不多 / 就拉你的 / 拉不拉多," "If there's not too much to transport, then (we will) carry your Labrador,"
"Rúguǒ lā dé duō / jiù bù lā nǐ de / Lābùlāduō 如果拉得多 / 就不拉你的 / 拉不拉多。" "If there's too much to transport, then (we will not) carry your Labrador."
Making sense of that long string of Mandarin syllables shows the importance of pauses and parsing in spoken language. As for written language, punctuation and spacing help too.
Selected readings
- "Peppa Pig has been purged " (5/2/18)
- "The perils of pronunciation " (1/17/17)
- "Words in Mandarin: twin kle twin kle lit tle star " (8/14/12)
- "'That, that, that…', part 2 " (9/28/20)
- "That, that, that…" (1/24/16)
- "A Chinese analog to English 'you know'" (11/22/19)
[Thanks to Diana Shuheng Zhang]
Levantine said,
October 20, 2020 @ 12:42 pm
Reminds me of the following:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_had_a_better_effect_on_the_teacher
Y said,
October 20, 2020 @ 4:55 pm
A somewhat similar Hebrew logical/tongue twister:
מה זאת אומרת מה זאת אומרת מה זאת אומרת מה זאת זאת אומרת זאת אומרת זאת אומרת אומרת מה זאת אומרת זאת אומרת מה זאת אומרת
ma zot omeret ma zot omeret ma zot omeret ma zot zot omeret zot omeret zot omeret omeret ma zot omeret zot omeret ma zot omeret.
Roughly, "What means it, 'what means it'? 'What', it means 'what'. 'Means', it means 'means'. 'It', it means 'it'. 'What means it', it means 'What means it.'"
Fetal Growth said,
October 21, 2020 @ 4:45 am
A simple tongue twister for kids:
Simplified: 妈妈骑马，马慢，妈妈骂马。
Google Translate: Mother rides, horse is slow, mother scolds horse.
PinYin: mā mā qí mǎ, mǎ màn, mā mā mà mǎ.
Translation: Mom is riding a horse. The horse is slow. Mom yells at the horse.
Kimball Kramer said,
October 22, 2020 @ 8:54 pm
John where Mary had had had had had had had had had was correct.
John, where Mary had had "had had", had had "had"; "had had" was correct.