Dear Chinese Friends,
You have been lied to. The way you sing the alphabet song is all wrong. After eight years in China, I just found this out. It’s not your fault, and we’re going to remedy the problem right here, right now.
Here’s how you’ve been taught to recite the alphabet.
Okay, wait — this is too funny — one more time.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Hilarious. But wrong. Yes, the letters are right, and they’re in the right order. But this is how it’s supposed to go.
Hear the difference?
It’s not ABCDEFG (pause) HIJKLMN.
I know that seems logical. Seven letters, then seven more letters. But it’s plodding. There’s no music in it. It also doesn’t rhyme.
See that? G rhymes with P. Boom. You have to rush through the LMNOP bit, and it’s more difficult to wrap your tongue around, but that’s the most fun part.
Zoe Cai says she learnt the alternative (wrong) version of the song aged 10 or 11. “For my generation we’re taught it in the fifth grade. Younger generations start earlier.”
She even introduced us to a video (below) that teaches this nonsense. Note that it finishes on ‘Zed’, which doesn’t rhyme with either V (as the original melody requires) or T (as this monstrosity would have it).
Now you know better, your English is even more superior than my Chinese.
http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMTcxNjAwMTIwNA==/v.swf
This article was originally posted on Flamingo’s online magazine Lens