聽著台語歌的回憶 Memories of My Grandfather
Not long ago, I had the idea of writing a love letter to my sweetheart. I picked up Nicholas Sparks' novel "Message in a Bottle" to get inspired, and as I listened to some tunes by Wu Bai, memories of my grandfather suddenly flooded in.
Memory
Back in the day, my grandpa used to give me a hard time, calling me a "foreigner" just because I spoke Mandarin to him. He couldn't quite get it, so I had to bring in my dad as the translator. Well, that led to my dad getting an earful from grandpa, with a classic "You should be speaking Minnan at home! Your kid doesn't even know our mother tongue!"
It seems my grandpa had a bit of a grudge against the Kuomintang (KMT). Why? Well, he used to roll with Japanese and Minnan, but then the KMT showed up, pushing Mandarin, and he had to add another language to his repertoire. Annoying stuff. Plus, his Mandarin game wasn't exactly top-notch.
"Did you know that back in the day, when we said 'the national language,' we meant Japanese?" my grandpa would throw that one at me.
"How am I supposed to know? I'm not a relic from the Japanese colonial era. You're the one who lived through the whole 'Emperor-worshiping Movement,'" my cheeky 8-year-old self would fire back.
"Do you know it all? Emperor-worshiping Movement and everything. I'll spill the beans to your dad about your cheekiness," he'd threaten.
Grandpa was a softie with me; when I messed up, he'd go pick a fight with my dad instead of coming after me. But once I got home, well, let's just say I'd end up doing some quality kneeling time, courtesy of my dad. ╮(╯_╰)╭
Growing up
"As I grew up, I went all-in on English with Japanese as my side gig. When I swung by to shoot the breeze with my grandpa, I threw some of my rusty Minnan his way—no dice. Switched to Mandarin, still didn't click. Ended up pulling out the Japanese, and bingo! Grandpa finally tuned in!
But man, once he caught onto what I was saying, he got seriously ticked off (´⊙ω⊙`).
"Ah, don't you know I can't stand the Japanese? We Taiwanese folks used to catch flak from them, treated like second-rate citizens," Grandpa barked at me.
"I had no idea, seriously," I shrugged, playing innocent.
"Ah, you oblivious to the fact Taiwan was once under Japanese rule?" he snapped even harder.
"I'm well aware! That's why you can throw down in Japanese," I snapped back.
"Ugh! Anyway, no Japanese talk around here. If you start geeking out over Japan, I'll have your dad disown you," he declared with some serious heat.
"Geeking out, like being a Japanophile or something?" he kept grumbling.
"Disown? Kick me out of the family tree?" I asked, a bit baffled.
"Yep. Our family tree's Japan-free," he stubbornly insisted.
"But I'm a girl, and girl usually don't make it onto the family tree, you know," I rolled my eyes.
"Eh... right. Whatever, just steer clear of the Japanese talk," he said, throwing down the grandpa law.
Music
伍佰的《思念親像一條河》《愛情限時批》《心愛的再會啦》《樹枝孤鳥 》
Taiwanese Dictionary
Attached: Taiwanese Dictionary
伍佰〈樹枝孤鳥〉歌詞講解
前陣子想說要寫情書給我家寶貝，就拿了 尼可拉斯‧史派克的《瓶中信》那本小說開始看，一邊聽著伍佰的音樂，我就突然想到了我阿公
跳耀的思維─台語的記憶
我的思維一向是挺跳躍！
小時候滿常被我阿公罵是外國人。因為我跟我阿公講國語，他常常聽不懂，但我又不太會台語，只好叫我爸來翻譯。我爸就會被我阿公罵，在家裡要講台語，你看你小孩都不會講母語了！
我阿公好像有點討厭藍色 (某黨)，原因是因為他本來用的是日語和台語，結果國民黨來了以後推行國語，他又要新學一種語言，他覺得很討厭，而且他國語還學的不太好
「你知道我們以前國語指的是日語嗎？」我阿公說
「我怎麼知道？我又不是日治時代的人。你才是皇民吧???」8歲的我很調皮，喜歡回嘴
「懂很多嗎？你還知道皇民化運動喔。再調皮我跟你爸爸說」
我阿公挺疼我的，我犯錯他都跑去罵我爸爸，不會罵我。
只是我回家就慘了，我會被我爸爸罰跪 ╮(╯_╰)╭
長大後
我長大後，主修英文，副修日文。回家和我阿公聊天，用我的破破台語跟阿公講話，阿公聽不懂，我再用國語跟他講，他還是聽不懂，我只好用日語跟他講話，我阿公聽懂了!!!
但是，他聽懂我說什麼以後，超級生氣(´⊙ω⊙`)
「啊你不知道我很討厭日本人嗎？我們以前台灣人被日本人欺負ㄟ，是次等公民」我阿公朝我大吼
「我不知道啊？」我無辜臉
「啊你不知道台灣以前有被日本殖民過嗎？」我阿公更生氣了
「我知道啊！要不然你怎麼會說日語」我回嘴道
「吼！總之我不要聽到日語，如果你在哈日，我就叫你爸把你開除。」我阿公氣呼呼地說道
「哈日，哈什麼日本，還哈日族哩。」我阿公繼續碎碎念
「開除？從祖譜裡面開除嗎？」我有點不明白地問道
「對啊。我們族譜裡面沒有日本人」我阿公固執地說
「可是我是女生，本來就不會在祖譜裡面ㄟ。」我翻了翻白眼
「ㄜ......對轟。不管啦，總之你不准說日語」我阿公霸道地說
P.S. 我國中很喜歡打 太空戰士等日本遊戲，被我阿公說哈日
聽歌
伍佰的《思念親像一條河》《愛情限時批》《心愛的再會啦》《樹枝孤鳥 》
台語字典
伍佰〈樹枝孤鳥〉歌詞講解
P.S. 本篇文章僅僅是作者回憶，不代表黨派立場
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