Now back to my regularly scheduled language beat, I’d like to share a couple of links with you that should help put the study of Chinese into perspective.
First, Ben Ross debunks the myth that Chinese is the hardest language to learn in the world, even if it certainly seems like it at first.
And from back [...]
Archive for the ‘Learning Chinese’ Category
Two Links For Learning Chinese
The Amateur’s Guide to Chinese Name Translation
Chinese names, to the untrained ear, may sound somewhat similar. They jumble together in a scrambled binary of Changs, Wangs, Wus and Hus. They are hard to remember, since they are all 2-to-3 segment K’NEX sets of syllables that fail to strike a strong note with western minds. Yet upon further intensive (albeit unscholarly) investigation, [...]
The Urban Legends among Foreign Students
I’m sure everyone has heard the story of the friend of a friend from X country at X university in China, and the story is so remarkable you almost don’t believe it. Here are a couple I’ve picked up from different people, I don’t know if they are true or not. They are both very [...]
The Comfort Zone
There’s a scene in the great 1980s baseball film Major League (I realize that the majority of you readers are unlikely to be baseball fans, but bear with me) in which Pedro Cerrano, a newly acquired slugger, takes batting practice in spring training. At first, he hits each pitch way out of the ballpark for [...]
VERY Literal Chinese – and my gummy worms
I absolutely love the simplicity and practicality of the Chinese language.
This means that I can read medical journals in Chinese that I can’t even understand in English. Chinese pretty much puts complicated vocabulary into layman’s terms. For example the Coccyx is the 尾臀骨 [wěi tún gǔ] or the “tail butt bone,” and Hepatopathy is 肝病 [...]
Confessions of a Chinese Language Student
Chinese is a really difficult and frustrating language to learn, but it always helps to laugh at yourself to get you through the process.
My confessions 我的自白:
Injuries
I have, in frustration, banged my head against my Chinese textbooks.
I’m pretty sure I’ve ruined my eyesight by staring at Chinese characters for too long.
I once got frost nip on [...]
Lost Laowai gets comic-ized
With half the country in holiday mode today, and the other half grumbling from the office that they didn’t get to start their weekend yesterday (who’ll be grumbling on Sunday?), there’s perhaps no better time to have a laugh. So, allow me to draw your attention to a great site full of China-themed comics: MandMX.
Created [...]
Learning Chinese: Does Location Matter?
In my time in China I’ve come across several people who have wondered whether studying Chinese in Kunming–where I live–was really worth the effort. After all, the locals speak Kunming-hua to each other, not Mandarin. When they do speak Mandarin, they do so with a local accent that differed greatly from the kind heard on [...]
A Vegetarian’s Introduction to China
Since I moved to China eight months or so ago, I’ve came across a large amount of challenges. They have ranged from communication breakdowns, to awkward stares, to being witness to things that you just can’t unsmell. However, the question that I have been asked the most by my friends and family back home have [...]
Greetings from China
A:Ni hao. (你好)
B: Ni hao ma? (你好吗?)
A: Wo hen hao. (我很好)
The above dialogue, or something like it, is usually the fist snippets of Chinese that anyone studying the language will learn. Ni Hao, the rosy cheeked beginner student will be told, is the term Chinese use to greet each other. Hmm…
Well, if you say Ni [...]
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