three ways to write “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”

By Gregory Taylor The above title illustrates three ways to write “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”  The first version is character-based while the second version is a Roman/Latin alphabet writing system developed to aid the foreign speaker in its pronunciation of Chinese characters called “pinyin”. The third version, without tone markers, is based on a phonetic symbolic system called “zhuyin fuhao” used almost exclusively in Taiwan.  Chinese, like  English, has many pithy sayings expressing a general maxim.  However, the two languages when placed side by side, seldom have a word-for-word translation.  It is delightful to see how two  cultures chronicle  life’s truisms. The above Chinese phrase uses a “cow” instead of a “horse” to make its point. It then reads, “The cow won’t drink water, it’s difficult to push the cow’s head down.”  Slightly different, but it effectively says the same thing.   Or, for the phrase “Fight fire with fire,” the Chinese say, “combat poison with poison.”  “It’s Greek to me,” the Chinese say, “It’s like heavenly script.”  “When pigs fly,” the Chinese say, “Unless the sun would rise from the west,” and “Straddle the fence,” becomes, “Feet on two boats.”   In either language with little difficulty the meaning is fairly obvious. How often do we miss an opportunity because we didn’t recognize it as such?  How often have we been advised to do something only to regret not doing so later?  We all have been led to the water trough and for whatever reason chose not to drink.  Please, don’t miss this opportunity to give your child, your grandchild, your niece, your nephew, your neighbor’s child the opportunity to learn a language that can help them compete in the world economy. According to the August 16 edition of the New York Times, China passed Japan in the second quarter of 2010, to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States. “The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China’s ascendance is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.” I’ll leave you with another universal proverb about not seeing the forest for the trees–or as the Chinese would say, “The spectators see the chess game better than the players.”  Become a spectator and take advantage of this opportunity to bring the Chinese language to your community. Greg Taylor grew up in East Oakland, became an Oakland Police Officer, moved to Taiwan for two years and traveled through mainland China.  He now wants to teach Chinese to the urban youth. Send questions, comments to: gregoryktaylor@yahoo.com Enroll in Chinese classes by filling out the registration form at:  www.gregschineseschool.com