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Inauspicious ‘four’ and Sri Lankan head waggle

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About the Author

Amy Yang, also known as "srilanka - nanggii”, is the Chinese person who has written the most about Sri Lanka.

She moved to Sri Lanka in 2010 and currently resides in Colombo with her family. As a journalist, book author, and blogger, she is the author of 7 books and a columnist, and has interviewed significant figures, from presidents to artists. Among her published works are National Geographic of China: Travel Guide to Sri Lanka, Incredible India, and the translated The Brave Journey: Climbing the Seven Summits.

Written by : Mu YunZhu

Yunnan Commercial Representative Office in Colombo, Sri Lanka

During these years in Sri Lanka, I have gradually picked up some Sinhala words. I naturally shake my head while responding to others with ‘hari hari’, and tell the tuk-tuk driver to go with a ‘yamu’.

I am not a smart language learner but haven’t given up yet. I love my mug with Sinhala words. However, some of my Sri Lankan friends speak Chinese fluently. They work for the hospitality industry or Chinese companies. More Sri Lankans tend to learn Chinese for their career development. In my opinion, the knowledge of cultural differences and understanding diverse mindsets or habits is even more important.

Last week, I spoke to some Sri Lanka friends who attended a Chinese language learning program at the University of Colombo. I asked about their feeling about the language courses. To my surprise, they didn’t seem to have much learning difficulties and shared their impressions of cultural differences.

One told me: “ I got to learn for the first time that number 4 is inauspicious in China.” Another friend said: “I never knew that number 520 means, “I love you” for Chinese people”.

It’s true. The pronunciation of the number 4 in the Chinese language sounds like “death”, which is the reason why people don’t like it. “520” is a subtle way for Chinese youth to express love and avoid possible embarrassment.

Such knowledge seems silly but quite useful, especially in the hospitality field. Imagine if a luxury hotel arranges a VIP Chinese group into rooms 4, 14, or 44, which sounds like “death”, “will die” and “death-death” for them.

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luxury hotel arranges a VIP Chinese group into rooms 4, 14, or 44, which sounds like “death”, “will die” and “death-death” for them.

Another example of cultural differences is people’s way of communication, not through language in particular, but most body language – especifically the way people express yes or no in Sri Lanka. When Sri Lankans say “yes”, they waggle their head. But in China, this body language means no.

Imagine how confusing it will be! I noticed this difference during my first trip to Sri Lanka in 2010 and got a shock initially when I invited a local friend to have dinner together. He continuously waggled his head,rapidly moving his head from side to side which I took as a refusal or being sad.

Why do we learn a language? Because we want to know each other better and help with communications. But if we only focus on grammar and vocabulary, that may not work well. Culture should be learnt in combination. Even if we know little of each other’s languages, learning the cultural backgrounds would help when trying to understand each other.

Sri Lanka is open to foreign travelers. Attracting the Chinese is important to recover tourism hard hit by Covid. China has controlled Covid-19 and travelling is safer now. In recent years, we see more Chinese tourists visiting Sri Lanka. China has been the largest tourism source market in the world since 2012.

If people on both sides know each other better, it would not be limited to tourism. If we could establish an effective cultural exchange mechanism, people-to-people connections would strengthen.

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