Car Trouble 整 車 Today, one of my cars was in the shop. I had noticed a leak lately, and the water pump needed replacement. Actually, the repairs ended up taking two visits to the shop and several days' time. They fixed it once, but the leak still continued, and I had to bring it back. What a hassle.

I remember one of my Spanish professors in university who taught us some Spanish words for car parts. Whenever he drove his car down to Mexico and there was something that might need repair, he made sure to learn the Spanish word for that part. When I took his class, he taught us cigüeñal (crankshaft), which was the part that was due to go out next on his car.

Not having driven a car in HK, I don't know many car parts in Cantonese. Here are a few that I know:

水 泵 seui2 bam1 water pump
引 擎 yan2 king4 engine
波 箱 bo1 seung1 transmission
波 箱 油 bo1 seung1 yau4 transmission fluid
倒 後 鏡 dou3 hau6 geng2 rear view mirror
車 尾 che1 mei2 trunk, boot
車 呔 che1 taai1 tire, tyre
車 輪 che1 leun4 wheel
暖 氣 機 lun5 hei3 gei1 heater
冷 氣 機 laang5 hei3 gei1 air conditioning
車 頭 燈 che1 tau4 deng1 headlights
逼 力 bik6 lik1 brakes

When I go to HK next year, I won't have my car and will be using public transportation (地 鐵, 火 車, 電 車, 的 士, 等 等) for a couple of months. At least I won't have to bother with car repairs.  ¶ 9:00 PM