what's the sarcasm in this dialogue?

[blacknomi]

Background
Speaker A is a foreigner. He wants to learn Chinese. He was asking his friends to write down some dialogue in "bopomo" (a pronunciation system of Chinese).




Speaker A: I asked them to write down what a telephone conversation would be like.i think it will be easier if i start practicing some sentences.

Speaker B:why it is you that assign us Chinese homework? We have to write down a Chinese dialogue for you, i think you are the one who is supposed to write it.

Speaker A:well, you are the Chinese teachers,so you have to help me with that

Speaker B:do you really want to learn Chinese?

Speaker A:NO, i just meet you every saturday because i want to waste my time.


and then came a CAPITAL answer.



Speaker A:OF COURSE I WANNA LEARN.


my assumptions. ( I know I'm wrong -_-)
1. Speaker A thinks learning Chinese is a waste of time.
2. Speaker A he thinks he doesn't want to waste time just to meet his friends every Saturday, so he wants to learn something(Say, Chinese) instead of meet-up.
3. Speaker A has many other things he can do, but he still meet up because he hopes to learn something.
4. Speaker A has nothing better to do, so he wants to learn Chinese to kill time.



actually...I don't what I am talking about now. There are a lot of possibilities i can think of. How to learn sarcasm?


Thank you.

sabrina

[Tdol]

Here's the sarcasm:
Speaker A:NO, i just meet you every saturday because i want to waste my time.

Speaker A comes every Saturday because he wants to learn. The sarcasm is saying the opposite of what he means. Here he is doing it to shock the other speaker and to express his frustration with the way he is being taught. Sarcasm is a form of humour and I'm not sure how is should be learned- in the UK, we use it quite a lot, for humour or to be rude. If someone says something where the opposite makes more sense, then they are probably being sarcastic.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by blacknomi

Background
Speaker A is a foreigner. He wants to learn Chinese. He was asking his friends to write down some dialogue in "bopomo" (a pronunciation system of Chinese).




Speaker A: I asked them to write down what a telephone conversation would be like.i think it will be easier if i start practicing some sentences.

Speaker B:why it is you that assign us Chinese homework? We have to write down a Chinese dialogue for you, i think you are the one who is supposed to write it.

Speaker A:well, you are the Chinese teachers,so you have to help me with that

Speaker B:do you really want to learn Chinese?

Speaker A:NO, i just meet you every saturday because i want to waste my time.


and then came a CAPITAL answer.



Speaker A:OF COURSE I WANNA LEARN.


my assumptions. ( I know I'm wrong -_-)
1. Speaker A thinks learning Chinese is a waste of time.
2. Speaker A he thinks he doesn't want to waste time just to meet his friends every Saturday, so he wants to learn something(Say, Chinese) instead of meet-up.
3. Speaker A has many other things he can do, but he still meet up because he hopes to learn something.
4. Speaker A has nothing better to do, so he wants to learn Chinese to kill time.



actually...I don't what I am talking about now. There are a lot of possibilities i can think of. How to learn sarcasm?


Thank you.

sabrina

Much of the sarcasm that is used in English is spoken. It is easier to detect when you can hear the voice inflection and see the facial expressions and gestures of the person using the sarcasm. It is more difficult with written English. :wink:

[Tdol]

As if she'd want to know your opinion.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by tdol

As if she'd want to know your opinion.

And yours was so much better.

[blacknomi]

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

Much of the sarcasm that is used in English is spoken. It is easier to detect when you can hear the voice inflection and see the facial expressions and gestures of the person using the sarcasm. It is more difficult with written English. :wink:

I guess British people use sarcasm all the time. One of my British teachers is a sarcasm lover. We are scared of him, when he uses sarcasm, he shouts, I mean he'll rise his tone and voices. We don't have any clue if he is angry or not. And we don't think his sarcasm humorous. This is cultural differences between languages. :)


In this dialogue, Speaker A wants to learn. It's nothing about the idea of wasting time, am i right? I'm wondering if there's any possibility that Speaker A might implicate that if he just meets friends every Saturday without learning any chinese, it could be a waste of time.


Some of the sarcasm are easy to grasp, but some are way too difficult.


:wink: sabrina

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by blacknomi

I guess British people use sarcasm all the time. One of my British teachers is a sarcasm lover. We are scared of him, when he uses sarcasm, he shouts, I mean he'll rise his tone and voices. We don't have any clue if he is angry or not. And we don't think his sarcasm humorous. This is cultural differences between languages. :)


In this dialogue, Speaker A wants to learn. It's nothing about the idea of wasting time, am i right? I'm wondering if there's any possibility that Speaker A might implicate that if he just meets friends every Saturday without learning any chinese, it could be a waste of time.


Some of the sarcasm are easy to grasp, but some are way too difficult.


:wink: sabrina

I completely agree about the difficulty. Humor often doesn't cross cultural boundaries very well.

Yes, A wants to learn in this dialogue. He was a bit insulted that he was asked if he wanted to learn Chinese, because he has been giving up his Saturdays to do so. So he responded sarcastically to the question.

Here is another.

John sees Mark standing on a street corner under a big sign that says "Bus Stop".

John: Are you waiting for a bus, Mark?
Mark. No, I'm planting flowers in my garden.

Why did Mark say that? He used sarcasm because he thought John's question was silly, considering the large sign.

Sarcasm is very commonly used if the listener thinks the speaker's statement/question is too obvious.

John sees Mark standing in a bowling alley and wearing a team bowling shirt.

John: Are you on a bowling team, Mark?
Mark: No, John, I'm a bowling shirt model.

[blacknomi]

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

I completely agree about the difficulty. Humor often doesn't cross cultural boundaries very well.

Yes, A wants to learn in this dialogue. He was a bit insulted that he was asked if he wanted to learn Chinese, because he has been giving up his Saturdays to do so. So he responded sarcastically to the question.

Here is another.

John sees Mark standing on a street corner under a big sign that says "Bus Stop".

John: Are you waiting for a bus, Mark?
Mark. No, I'm planting flowers in my garden.

Why did Mark say that? He used sarcasm because he thought John's question was silly, considering the large sign.

Sarcasm is very commonly used if the listener thinks the speaker's statement/question is too obvious.

John sees Mark standing in a bowling alley and wearing a team bowling shirt.

John: Are you on a bowling team, Mark?
Mark: No, John, I'm a bowling shirt model.

HAHAHA. These 2 are much easier to understand. The question/statement is obvious. But in the example of Speaker A, there are many ellipsises for me to comprehend. Thank you very much, Expert Mike.


sabrina

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by blacknomi

HAHAHA. These 2 are much easier to understand. The question/statement is obvious. But in the example of Speaker A, there are many ellipsises for me to comprehend. Thank you very much, Expert Mike.


sabrina

You're very welcome, Sabrina. 8)

[Tdol]

I love sarcasm, but it has to be used very carefully with people from other cultures.