Archive for the ‘China’ Category

Learning Chinese Tip #2

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Immersion

  1. Play the radio or TV on a Chinese station – 24/7 or at least during your waking hours.
    It is easier if you are in China but you can use ppstream or italkbb’s new internet TV or find some online Chinese stuff and leave it on. Try to make sure you are listening to Beijing CCTV or that you are really listening to Standard Mandarin.
  2. 3 hours every day only Chinese. even if all you know is Hi and Bye – only Chinese 3 hours every day
    In Shanghai I used to go a clothing market especially on raining days when no one was shopping. As there was nothing to do and no money to make, the sales girls where happy to chat.
  3. Um…
    A Chinese um friend helps.   Strong motivation : )
  4. Get lost
    Place yourself in a dangerous situation with a dictionary. Again high motivation – OK don’t really do this, I got lucky, but wow, it really helps if you live.
  5. Don’t translate
    Think in Chinese, don’t translate. It will mess up your English and somethings you cannot say in English but it greatly helps. 

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Learning Chinese – Tip #1

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

This tip assumes you know what tones are, if you don’t Google – “tonal languages”

Tones, it is all about the tones.

The most important part of learning a tonal language is getting the tones and combinations of tones exactly right.

An intelligent native English speaker with some exposure to different languages can pronounce the phonetics better than a Chinese person who learned a dialect first then learned Mandarin. Southern Chinese have a really hard time saying shi, they always say si. One of the things that makes Chinese hard to learn is that few people actually speak standard Chinese. (Chinese … is a language family consisting of languages which are mostly mutually unintelligible to varying degrees – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language)

You cannot learn to speak Chinese without tones. Speaking toneless Chinese is painful to the ear and incomprehensible.  It is similar to speaking English like this – “You cwnnot stwrt to lewrn to spewk ChLnese wLth out tones. SpewkLng toneless ChLnese Ls pwLnful to the ewr.  There Ls nothLng more wnnoyLng thwn someone spewkLng ChLnese wLthout the tones… “

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Tones change meanings. Classic example “ma”
ma1 = Mother; ma2 = rope; ma3 = horse; ma4 = scold

Do you want to talk like this  – this it the horse that gave birth to me. This is my step-rope she married my father last year. – ?

How to get the tones right?

Practice saying any word in tonal pairs – ma is fine you already know how to pronounce that – ma like mama/mother.

1-1,1-2,1-3,1-4 /2-1,2-2,2-3,2-4 / 3-1,3-2,3-3,3-4 / 4-1,4-2,4-3,4-4

Practicing these tone combinations is absolutely essential to speaking Chinese like a native.

Start from day 1 if you want to be intelligible.

Enjoy!

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How to learn Chinese?

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

All references in this blog to Chinese language are specific to Mandarin Chinese unless other wise stated. NB – Chinese … is a language family consisting of languages which are mostly mutually unintelligible to varying degrees – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language

Are you sure you want to do this?

People often ask me for advice on how to learn Chinese. I must warn you it is painfully hard and learning to read and write is like learning a separate language from the spoken.

My written Chinese is still limited to simple text messages. I am not sure if I will every read and write at the newspaper level. NB: I recall asking a friend who had lived in Canada for a long time how to write a word. It became a group debate. Chinese who have lived abroad for a long time forget much of the writing. Having said that I have a friend doesn’t speak but can read and write. I think having a  photographic memory helps : )

Learning to speak is a less lofty goal. I have met many non-Chinese who can speak at some level, I myself speak daily Chinese fluently though at the time of this post my business Chinese needs work. Of course there is Mark Rowswell.

You need to decide early on if you want to read and write or not. If you do, you need to start now. The learning process is different if you want to learn to read/write and speak/listen and it takes time.

It is possible to speak intelligibly after 2 years living in China. It is possible to learn to read and write at a reasonable level in 4 years of full time study, if you have the gift and determination.

I will post some tips on this blog most of them for learning to speak/listen. Feel free to submit tips and ask questions. I will help as I can.

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Patient: Doctor, it hurts when I do this. Doctor: Then don’t do that!

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

One of the best things about a trip to a Chinese hospital (lots of bad things I know, but it’s not like I enjoy going to emergency in Canada) They ask you if you want Western Medicine or Eastern Medicine (TCM/Chinese Medicine).  You can choose one, the other or both. It is so nice when they can co-exist and are covered by global health insurance even my Canadian one!!!

One of the interesting complaints that I heard by Chinese when visiting doctors in Canada is they care about the numbers not the patient. I have found it to be true. Once during a visit with a specialist in Canada, the doctor walked in looking at the ‘chart’ talked for a few seconds and then walked out with out ever looking me in the eye.  When visiting a Chinese doctor in Canada or China most of the time is listening to your experience of symptoms and asking some key questions as well as looking at your tongue and checking your pulse.

In China you keep your medical records with you and store it at home. It is not a big secret like in Ontario where you cannot even get your own test results with out written permission from  your doctor. I am told in Alberta that is not the case you can get your results from the lab.

I personally have had much better results with TCM and other alternatives than with western medicine.

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Chinese Practicality

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Chinese are the ultimate pragmatists. 

One day while dining with a group of friends in Shanghai, one person ordered a soft Tofu dish. Its consistency is usually similar to jello. I watched him try many times unsuccessfully to pick up some Tofu with Chopsticks. I had been eating with Chopsticks in Canada for 8 years previous to moving to China and didn’t think this was going to work as it was extra soft. Chinese food is usually shared  i.e. eat out of the same bowl/plate and avoiding collisions is generally polite, so,  I was waiting for him to grab a bite so I could get in and get some too. At first I waited but being very hungry I grew impatient and grabbed a spoon and started eating.  I was expecting the usual “Ah  you don’t know how to use chopsticks” nonsense. Instead he looked at me and said: “You’re smart” grabbed a spoon and started eating.

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China – Social Network – Classmates

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

While living in Shanghai I bought a ticket from a Singaporean travel agency to go to Xi’an. Trying to return from Xi’an I was told my air ticket was no good, there was no flight there never was a flight, there never will be a flight. I then tried to buy an air ticket but found that they did not take visa at the Xi’an airport and in fact most of Xi’an companies including hotels did not take visa at that time. I did not have enough cash to return home.

Finding myself in a serious predicament, I called a Chinese friend in Shanghai that I traveled with frequently, hoping they would have some idea of what to do. They called a former classmate who called a former classmate in Xi’an. I waited in a net bar having no other recourse.  Someone came to the net bar, asked me if I was ‘Badaling’ handed me a big wad of cash and said please call your friend. I did and confirmed that I received the money and he left.

When I got home I thanked my friend and took her to dinner, repaid the money and she passed it on etc. The Chinese classmate system is an unbelievable support network.  It brings the saying “a friend in need” to a new level.

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China – Hospitality

Monday, March 31st, 2008

ZhuJiaJiao is a small town near Shanghai. During the day they have some touristy stuff and at night it returns to a normal town.

Walking along the narrow back lanes of Zhujiajiao late at night I noticed a light on. Looking in I saw people playing majong (like playing cards). They saw me watching and invited me in, I sat down and watched them play, they invited me to play, I explained I had never played and would just slow them down. They smiled and said no problem I was welcome to watch. I was invited to sit down and someone brought me tea and offered me cigarettes (courtesy in China). I watched them play for a while, then wondered why the menu had not arrived and where the other tables were. Suddenly I realized I was in someone’s living room!!!

I drank tea until I finished and hunger finally drove me out. I am sure they would have offered me dinner but I was already embarrassed by the extreme hospitality. Sweet people

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