Chinese whispers

'Tis the season for sneezes, sniffles and infectious diseases. As I get older, I seem to become ill more easily. I've definitely had to take more sick days over the last 18 months than I ever did in the first 25 years of my life. Having never taken a painkiller at all until I was 25, I've certainly made up for it since.

My resident symptoms are usually a sore throat, after which the inflammation seemingly spreads to my ear canals before camping out there for a few days, sometimes accompanied by a banked campfire of mild fever. However, the main point of this post is not to complain and try to garner sympathy, but rather to muse on the relationship between vocal chords, languages, and throat infections.

Why? When my recurring throat infection reappears for an encore, enlisting nose blocking-mucous for extra effect, I find my voice becomes a little harsher and it's harder to speak more loudly. Interestingly, this is more of a problem when speaking Cantonese than when speaking English, whilst my Mandarin just becomes rather more nasal. When speaking Cantonese, I find it more of an effort to enunciate clearly and tend to whisper. English is less difficult, maybe it's because it is a less tonal-dependent language and so having a blocked nose is less of an impediment? Perhaps it's due to the different phonation of the languages, and how the vocal chords are able to oscillate whilst inflammed? Strangely though, I find Cantonese softer on the ears and requiring less concentration to understand when my ears are affected. This is rather inconvenient, as it means that it's easier for me to speak English, but less difficult to understand Cantonese. Maybe there is a non-tonal language that doesn't have many harsh tones and simple grammar that I could learn? Of course that would involve gaining a new social circle with whom I could use it.

A more practical solution would be to carry a writing pad and stylus with me at all times.


Photo credit: Taken from www.nottingham.ac.uk Microbiology departmental webpage