I went to another Asian bistro that opened up nearby. I can count
five within 5 miles. Besides Chinese you have to offer Vietnamese and
Thai. On the menu which came in the mail were two of my favorites
Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Green Thai Curry. I paid a visit. The
place was empty. There was Chinese chatter in the kitchen. Finally
someone noticed me and apologized. I placed my order for carryout and
told it might be 30 minutes because they were filling another large
carryout order. I struck up a conversation with the owner. He told
me he was from Fujian and his chef was from HK. Usually everybody I
meet in restaurants are from HK. I seem to remember the Fujian
dialect is similar to HK Cantonese which accounts for their
conversation I overheard. He told me he drinks green tea and TGY at
home in the little pots. He gets his tea on yearly visits to Fujian
and in the mail from relatives. He understood when I said GongFu but
didn't recognize YiXing. I mentioned YinZhen, BaiMuDan, SowMee and
didn't recognize those terms. He said he didn't have tea on the menu
because it was too much trouble. I mentioned that Puer was the rage
in China. On the next visit I'll take a chunk. I was impressed with
his English and told him I was teaching myself Chinese grammar. He
corrected my pronunciation of XieXie and think maybe made a friend.

Jim

On Apr 23, 9:48 pm, Space Cowboy > wrote:
> I went to another Asian bistro that opened up nearby. I can count
> five within 5 miles. Besides Chinese you have to offer Vietnamese and
> Thai. On the menu which came in the mail were two of my favorites
> Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Green Thai Curry. I paid a visit. The
> place was empty. There was Chinese chatter in the kitchen. Finally
> someone noticed me and apologized. I placed my order for carryout and
> told it might be 30 minutes because they were filling another large
> carryout order. I struck up a conversation with the owner. He told
> me he was from Fujian and his chef was from HK. Usually everybody I
> meet in restaurants are from HK. I seem to remember the Fujian
> dialect is similar to HK Cantonese which accounts for their
> conversation I overheard. He told me he drinks green tea and TGY at
> home in the little pots. He gets his tea on yearly visits to Fujian
> and in the mail from relatives. He understood when I said GongFu but
> didn't recognize YiXing. I mentioned YinZhen, BaiMuDan, SowMee and
> didn't recognize those terms. He said he didn't have tea on the menu
> because it was too much trouble. I mentioned that Puer was the rage
> in China. On the next visit I'll take a chunk. I was impressed with
> his English and told him I was teaching myself Chinese grammar. He
> corrected my pronunciation of XieXie and think maybe made a friend.
>
> Jim

Fujian dialect is similar to Cantonese?

You have clearly been misled. No native speaker of Cantonese will
understand any of the Fujian dialects, and vice versa, without
learning it for years. Unless you're talking about Chaozhou dialect,
which is nothing like Cantonese at all and barely intelligible (and it
really is barely intelligible.. maybe making out a word or two, here
and there).

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

You're right. It is GuangDong and HK. I mistook HK for Taiwan and
Fujian. Next time I'll ask why someone from Fujian can understand
someone from HK. I can't imagine there would be enough spoken
language overlap for a kitchen conversation.

Jim

On Apr 24, 4:14 am, MarshalN > wrote:
> On Apr 23, 9:48 pm, Space Cowboy > wrote:
> > I struck up a conversation with the owner. He told
> > me he was from Fujian and his chef was from HK. Usually everybody I
> > meet in restaurants are from HK. I seem to remember the Fujian
> > dialect is similar to HK Cantonese which accounts for their
> > conversation I overheard.

> Fujian dialect is similar to Cantonese?
>
> You have clearly been misled. No native speaker of Cantonese will
> understand any of the Fujian dialects, and vice versa, without
> learning it for years. Unless you're talking about Chaozhou dialect,
> which is nothing like Cantonese at all and barely intelligible (and it
> really is barely intelligible.. maybe making out a word or two, here
> and there).
>
> MarshalNhttp://www.xanga.com/MarshalN- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

You're right. It is GuangDong and HK. I mistook HK for Taiwan and
Fujian. Next time I'll ask why someone from Fujian can understand
someone from HK. I can't imagine there would be enough spoken
language overlap for a kitchen conversation.

Jim

On Apr 24, 4:14 am, MarshalN > wrote:
> On Apr 23, 9:48 pm, Space Cowboy > wrote:
....
> Fujian dialect is similar to Cantonese?
>
> You have clearly been misled. No native speaker of Cantonese will
> understand any of the Fujian dialects, and vice versa, without
> learning it for years. Unless you're talking about Chaozhou dialect,
> which is nothing like Cantonese at all and barely intelligible (and it
> really is barely intelligible.. maybe making out a word or two, here
> and there).
>
> MarshalNhttp://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

You're right. It is GuangDong and HK. I mistook HK for Taiwan and
Fujian. Next time I'll ask why someone from Fujian can understand
someone from HK. I can't imagine there would be enough spoken
language overlap for a kitchen conversation.

Jim

On Apr 24, 4:14 am, MarshalN > wrote:
> On Apr 23, 9:48 pm, Space Cowboy > wrote:
> > I struck up a conversation with the owner. He told
> > me he was from Fujian and his chef was from HK. Usually everybody I
> > meet in restaurants are from HK. I seem to remember the Fujian
> > dialect is similar to HK Cantonese which accounts for their
> > conversation I overheard.

> Fujian dialect is similar to Cantonese?
>
> You have clearly been misled. No native speaker of Cantonese will
> understand any of the Fujian dialects, and vice versa, without
> learning it for years. Unless you're talking about Chaozhou dialect,
> which is nothing like Cantonese at all and barely intelligible (and it
> really is barely intelligible.. maybe making out a word or two, here
> and there).
>
> MarshalNhttp://www.xanga.com/MarshalN- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -