LSAT 149 | Section 2 | Reading Comprehension: Q3

RC Question 3 Explanation

DISCUSSION: These terms (dang-tang and gong-ngihn ngiht) are from the first part of paragraph 2. The author mentions them to give examples of Chinatown Chinese words that come from English or are influenced by American things, such as Labor Day.

___________

1. This goes too far. The next lines “the core of the language….has remained intact” show that most of Chinatown Chinese is just regular Chinese.
2. This answer refers to part of paragraph 3: American Chinese with different dialect backgrounds can communicate because they’re all somewhat familiar with Cantonese.
   But this question is about paragraph 2!
3. It is the lines after the ones quoted that explain why native Chinese can understand Chinese Americans: the core of the language has remained intact.
   The lines quoted for this question show a difference from the native Chinese language. Different words can’t explain how people with different language backgrounds can communicate! (These word examples are merely the context and setup so that the author can later explain that the core of the language is the same and only local terms differ).
    
   To put it another way, suppose I say “The LSAT is hard, but you can succeed!”. Why did I say “The LSAT is hard”? Was it to show success is possible? No! Those words have the opposite effect. I said those words to provide context.
    
   Likewise, the words here provide context for why mutual understanding could be thought to be hard. Only after that does the author argue the words aren’t a big obstacle.
4. The author was arguing that Chinatown Chinese is not a new dialect. If you picked this, you need to reread the whole passage, as you missed the most important part of the argument.
5. CORRECT. Simple as that. American terms either directly became part of Chinatown Chinese (dang-tang = downtown), or they influenced words. Labor Day in Chinatown Chinese doesn’t sound like labor day, but it uses the literal words “labor” and “day”, which are not normally used that way in native Chinese.