哎呀！廁所唔用得！

Wondering what the above means? Welcome to my life.

I see the exclamation marks, and I understand it's something important, or exciting, or maybe just a phrase with a lot of energy behind it. Hmm..

Maybe the context it is in will tell me. The letters are red on white background. The sign is tacked onto a toilet door. Ah, the meaning starts to become more clear.

It must be telling me something is wrong with the toilet. Best not to try my luck, so I will move on.

But curiosity will overwhelm me, and I want to know for sure what it means.

"Oops! The toilet isn't working!"

I was right! Points for me.

Let's try another.

請開門並進入

Hmmm .... it's also tacked on a door, but this time it's a door to one of our warehouses. It's black letters on white background. The door is shut, and I'm not sure if the sign is telling me not to enter, or to let myself in, or maybe something else. I consider it a moment, then decide to try another door because the sign must be there to tell me not to use this door.

I later learn it says "Please open door and enter." The door remains shut to keep the cool air in, so the sign is to let people know that they can still enter.

Whoops. Got that one wrong. Deduct points.

The joys of living in a world where symbols join to form meanings, and different combinations mean different things. I can have someone translate from English to Chinese, and it's always different to how someone else would translate it. It's a fascinating language.

They have a method for drawing the characters too. It's really interesting to watch, and they do it so quickly.

I think what makes it frustrating, though, is with most Western languages, you can sort of sound it out if you have to, like if you're asking directions or needing to say something else. But with characters, you're pretty much stuck. There's no sounding that out.

Let's try a few more.

衣物 means clothing.

玩具 is toys.

鞋子 is shoes.

(And just so you know, I didn't type any of those! I just copied and pasted what someone else typed. :) )

Thanks for letting me share. Maybe some day I can write a few of my own characters! Althought I know the characters for the numbers 1,2, and 3 and the character for person. Hurray me!