How far is our hometown dialect from us?

Growing up in my hometown, I can always speak an authentic hometown dialect. The local accent is often the sound we most want to hear in a foreign country. After living in a foreign country for a long time, in the noisy streets and bustling crowds of people, suddenly a hometown dialect floats into my ears. It is really like meeting an old friend in a foreign land! The joy was beyond words. Suddenly one day I discovered that I could no longer speak my hometown dialect, and I couldn't help but feel sad.

When I was a child, my parents and teachers all spoke authentic hometown dialect. Just because of your unique hometown dialect, you are often identified as being from a certain (local) place! At that time, I would be extremely surprised and immediately respond, "How did you know?" The other party's answer is nothing more than, I am also so-and-so or someone very close to our hometown. Whenever this happens, we will talk about people we *common* know, or things *common* know. Next, either praise a person, a thing or an object together, or make complaints together. Then our distance suddenly became closer.

I believe everyone has had this experience! Our local accent is our landmark feature and a special gene left to us by our ancestors. We just relied on our local accent to find our way home.

I remember that when I was studying at the Western Henan Normal University, I had just started learning Mandarin. I couldn’t open my mouth no matter what, and I couldn’t lose my hometown dialect. Later, it took repeated guidance from the teacher, patient persuasion from classmates, and various punishment measures from the school before I managed to open my mouth and speak my first awkward Mandarin sentence.

Later, when we were about to graduate, our speaking teacher corrected our pronunciation so that we could all pass the Mandarin exam smoothly. Teacher Wang Hong asked me, are you from the Lu family? In another class, he asked me again, are you from Mianchi? I could only tell the teacher helplessly that I was from Shaanxian County (Shaanzhou District). Because my accent was so strong that it confused the teacher’s audition.

Later, I spent a whole summer practicing Mandarin, and finally passed the Mandarin exam and obtained the first-class and second-class Mandarin certificate. You have to speak Mandarin during class, but you still speak dialect after class because you are surrounded by people from your hometown.

Since I came to Xinjiang and came to Liushuquan Farm School, I have lost my local accent and have to communicate in Mandarin in and out of class. Because I speak Henan dialect, my children and colleagues can’t understand me.

I remember one Sunday, I just called my mother in the office. My accent hadn’t completely changed yet, so I called my colleagues in my hometown dialect. After talking for a long time, she couldn't understand a word, she didn't know who I was, and she didn't save my phone number. When she knew it was me on the other end of the phone, she strongly asked me to speak Mandarin.

In fact, this girl’s hometown is also from Henan, and her family still speaks Henan dialect, but she can’t understand it. It scares me so much that I will be more cautious in the future and never dare to speak my hometown dialect again!

In Liushuquan, there are people from many places across the country, including people from Henan, Gansu, Ningxia and Jiangsu. There are also Hui, Kazakh, Tu, and more Uighur fellows. As far as Uyghur language is concerned, the dialects are different in different places, but we just can’t hear them! It's like they can't hear the nuances of our dialect. Think about it, in such an environment, how lively and helpless it would be if everyone spoke dialect!

So, Mandarin is the common choice for everyone.

Sometimes my occasional Henan accent in class would make students laugh for a long time. Therefore, I must strictly demand myself to speak Mandarin well.

During one after-school time, more than ten of our Xinjiang aid teachers from different regions in Henan were playing together. Everyone suggested that everyone speak Henanese and not Mandarin. Anyone who violated the rules would have to drink. I suddenly realized that I couldn’t speak Henanese anymore, and I was punished if I opened my mouth. Then he stopped talking at all!

In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that after being away from home for a long time, they want to hear the local accent and reminisce about the nostalgic feelings to relieve the pain of homesickness. Everyone was laughing and joking on the surface, but there was still some sadness in their hearts. In Kaifeng, Shangqiu, Xinyang, Puyang, Jiaozuo, Luoyang, Sanmenxia, ??everyone seems to be less able to speak their hometown dialect. Later, some simply used sign language, and some simply laughed...

In this way, there was a distance between us and our hometown dialect.

The only time I speak Mandarin is when I call my old mother.

Sometimes my friends are having fun together and want to hear me speak Henan dialect. I have been thinking about it for a long time, but I still can’t speak it well and what I say is not authentic. It's Henan dialect mixed with Mandarin.

I had no choice but to smile bitterly and express my helplessness, my limited ability, and my deep regret that I could not let them hear the authentic Shaanzhou dialect.

It’s finally time for the final exam, invigilation, marking, and summarizing... I finally bought the ticket and can pack my bags and go home. My heart is still thinking about my old mother’s hand-rolled noodles and Henan braised noodles. ...

Before departure, I met a parent of a student. We are already old friends and chatted with her for a while. She suddenly said that she finally heard Teacher Guo speak Henan dialect! I was shocked, wasn't it? When did the switch happen, I didn’t even notice.

My hometown dialect is not far away from me, only a bus ticket away.