[ Li skates a bit of mushroom around on his plate before lifting it to his mouth. He chews slowly, glancing at Pavel, ] I think the xenophobia is thanks to stereotypes. But they're so ingrained there's no helping them at times. It satisfies this need people have to categorize and predict their world. You have no reason to understand someone individually -- or to puzzle out their actions -- when it's all contained in a neat pigeonhole.
[ Because human beings are often cognitive misers. Certainly, Hei's prone to that tendency as much as anyone. Especially where Contractors are concerned. It's taken ages -- and a wealth of contradictory experiences -- to let that hatred fizzle out. Focusing on Uhura, he gives her a wan smile, ] Translated in English, sadly, the word loses its nuance. It can sound anywhere from nasty to impolite to just innocently-careless. But it depends more on its context. Gaikokujin -- someone from outside-the-country -- works better.
[ At the question, he nods, ] I was an exchange-student. There in Tokyo for school.
[Chekov has already inhaled his meal and can devote his full attention to the conversation... and to reminding himself that this is Li, not Hei.] Sometimes, Li, you are frighteningly good at making observations about humanity as a whole.
[Said with a smile, as if such observations are rare. Ha. His interest wanders as the two linguists--and he would consider Hei a linguist--discuss the nuances of the foreign word and is promptly distracted by a sudden idea regarding the faster-than-light machine that Delacroix is making. Pavel's attention fails to come back.]
Only on a full stomach, [ Li demurs modestly. Like every book, a well-planned persona requires a spine. He often feels it necessary to let slip a few glimpses of gray-matter into 'Li's charade of fluff-&-flustering. He'd become a caricature otherwise. As the conversion shifts to languages, he watches Pavel's eyes glaze with an inward smile. He was like that too at 18, at least when he could afford to be. (He still gets that way sometimes. Put him in a poetry recital or a literature seminar and he'll sink into a boredom-induced coma.) ]
[ Smiling at Uhura, Li says, ] Mandarin. Some Cantonese and Shanghainese too. But lately I've been letting all three gather rust. [ Dialects and the subtleties of contour tonal languages lose meaning when strangers generally lump it all as plain Chinese. ]
[ Li brushes the unfamiliarity away with a courteous smile. ] It's not surprising. It's a Wu dialect prevalent in Shanghai and Zhejiang. But with most of the younger generation being taught standard Chinese, it's almost a dying language.
[ The remark, in Mandarin, gets a twitch of an almost-laugh -- amused, grateful, good-natured -- before he composes himself enough to reply, ] Considerably better. I imagine if I phrased myself as formally as you, my teachers would've been happier. [ It's a tease, but also a compliment. The warmth in his smile seems genuine. (It's not deliberate but subconscious. Like most polyglots, he has a distinctly different personality depending on which language he's speaking. Businesslike in English, laidback in Japanese, wry in Mandarin and gruff in Portuguese.) ]
[Chekov meanders back into the conversation to the sounds of a wholly unfamiliar language--one of those far eastern ones that he has absolutely no knowledge of. He sighs and remarks, in near-perfect (if somewhat distorted) Polish:]
If we must speak a foreign language around the dinner table, can it be one that we all understand?
[He doesn't know if either of them knows Polish, of course. It would make him feel less stupid--linguistically--if they didn't.]
[ ...........Congratulations, Li is confused. But don't feel bad. That's a common occurrence. ]
I'd hesitate to call myself a linguist like Miss Uhu -- Nyota. I couldn't understand either of those languages. [ AND IT MAKES HIM NERVOUS ARE YOU PLOTTING HIS MURDER YOU ARE AREN'T YOU?!! ]
[Chekov slumps in his chair in mock petulance as they go back to talking about... whatever. Nyota has a point; he's usually the one who makes people feel like they don't know what's going on, not the other way around. He can live through this.
It helps that Hei apparently doesn't know Polish. He'll remember that.]
[ Snagging the last bit of mushroom, Li sets his now-empty plate aside, and beams, ] Of course. Whenever you like. [ It's flirtatious, but innocently so, like a schoolboy blushing at a teacher. For his cover's sake, it's more a convenience than a loss that Uhura doesn't know how many more languages he's fluent in -- even if Hei could use a refresher. ]
[ (He doesn't bother to disguise his amusement at the way Pavel slumps in his seat. What Polish plots are you brewing, Pavel? ((...........You better tell him unless you want Hei's brows to furrow into a unibrow from the stress 8| )) ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ Because human beings are often cognitive misers. Certainly, Hei's prone to that tendency as much as anyone. Especially where Contractors are concerned. It's taken ages -- and a wealth of contradictory experiences -- to let that hatred fizzle out. Focusing on Uhura, he gives her a wan smile, ] Translated in English, sadly, the word loses its nuance. It can sound anywhere from nasty to impolite to just innocently-careless. But it depends more on its context. Gaikokujin -- someone from outside-the-country -- works better.
[ At the question, he nods, ] I was an exchange-student. There in Tokyo for school.
no subject
[Said with a smile, as if such observations are rare. Ha. His interest wanders as the two linguists--and he would consider Hei a linguist--discuss the nuances of the foreign word and is promptly distracted by a sudden idea regarding the faster-than-light machine that Delacroix is making. Pavel's attention fails to come back.]
no subject
Do you speak Mandarin or Cantonese?
no subject
[ Smiling at Uhura, Li says, ] Mandarin. Some Cantonese and Shanghainese too. But lately I've been letting all three gather rust. [ Dialects and the subtleties of contour tonal languages lose meaning when strangers generally lump it all as plain Chinese. ]
no subject
I learned some Mandarin in university, but I haven't had a chance to use it in years. [Her speciality is xenolinguistics, after all.]
She adds, with a wry smile and very, very stilted Mandarin] I don't know if that makes you feel any better.
no subject
[ The remark, in Mandarin, gets a twitch of an almost-laugh -- amused, grateful, good-natured -- before he composes himself enough to reply, ] Considerably better. I imagine if I phrased myself as formally as you, my teachers would've been happier. [ It's a tease, but also a compliment. The warmth in his smile seems genuine. (It's not deliberate but subconscious. Like most polyglots, he has a distinctly different personality depending on which language he's speaking. Businesslike in English, laidback in Japanese, wry in Mandarin and gruff in Portuguese.) ]
no subject
If we must speak a foreign language around the dinner table, can it be one that we all understand?
[He doesn't know if either of them knows Polish, of course. It would make him feel less stupid--linguistically--if they didn't.]
no subject
Wenn Sie links Gefühl heraus, könnten Sie versuchen, die Teilnahme an dem Gespräch.
[It's not petty so much as it's playful.]
no subject
It's difficult for someone who isn't a linguist to make decent conversation at a meeting of linguists.
no subject
I'd hesitate to call myself a linguist like Miss Uhu -- Nyota. I couldn't understand either of those languages. [ AND IT MAKES HIM NERVOUS ARE YOU PLOTTING HIS MURDER YOU ARE AREN'T YOU?!! ]
no subject
To Li, she says] Do you think you could help me with my Mandarin? The City's a hard place to be a linguist in.
no subject
It helps that Hei apparently doesn't know Polish. He'll remember that.]
no subject
[ (He doesn't bother to disguise his amusement at the way Pavel slumps in his seat. What Polish plots are you brewing, Pavel? ((...........You better tell him unless you want Hei's brows to furrow into a unibrow from the stress 8| )) ]
no subject
太好了！我期待着它。