Entries Tagged 'Mandarin' ↓

It can be frustrating studying Chinese, a.k.a. “Mandarin” or “Mandarin Chinese.” Inside China, the language we study is called 普通话 (pǔ tōng huà) or “the common language.” Before I came to China, I didn’t realize — or fully appreciate it anyway — that every region has a local dialect. People here in Kunming speak the Kunming dialect. It is the language you are most likely to hear on the streets — in restaurants, vegetable markets, and the corner stores. On the university and college campuses, signs are posted for students to please speak and write Mandarin. Presumably this is because the government needs to make sure educated people can speak it. It is also worth noting that classes are (supposed to be) taught in Mandarin, and furthermore the students come from a variety of places and often truly don’t share a common dialect… hence the need for Mandarin, the COMMON (i.e. SHARED) language.

According to an article in the Shanghai Daily, the Chinese government reports that “only 45.1 percent of rural residents could speak Mandarin, compared to 66 percent of urban residents.”

This article is actually about how dialects isolate migrant communities in China. It’s an interesting and worthwhile subject that shares a lot of characteristics with the situation in the U.S. with the Spanish-speaking migrants.

However, I what really surprised were these numbers! If they’re accurate, that means less than 66% of China’s total population speaks Mandarin, less than 66% of Chinese people speak (what we call) Chinese. Weird!

Does that mean I speak more Mandarin than 34% of China’s population?

PHOTO: This t-shirt is brought to you via Sinosplice and it reads: “请讲普通话” which means “please speak Mandarin.”

Yes, yes, yes, I know: I haven’t posted in quite some time. I seem to have lost all of August! There was traveling and Jeremy’s birthday (thanks for helping me with that one!) and then someone made me join facebook and… well, you understand. I’ve been distracted.

School has started again. It’s great. I’m back at Dong Fang (东方) and I lucked out with a wonderful teacher: 赵红 (Zhao4 Hong2). She is probably the most experienced Chinese teacher I’ve had so far. In the past, most of my teachers have been relatively young, uninterested women — not interested in teaching, not interested in learning. Anyway, this is our second week and I’m still happy. I’m also taking a morning class twice a week for speaking (口语) and listening (听力). The teacher for that class is also pretty good. She has a good knack for keeping everyone participating. Pretty remarkable.

These are my books:

First Year Chinese Course, Level 3, Vol. 2 [ISBN: 7-5619-1672-8]
汉语教程第三册下 (fancy new edition! 第十四课到第二十六课)

Short-term Spoken Chinese 3 [ISBN：7-5619-0705-2]
马箭飞 （2004）。汉语口语速成:提高篇。北京：北京语言文化大学出版社。

I’ve already studied the first six chapters of the second book, but I don’t think that will make me suffer too much. We’ll see.

Also, lucked out with some good 同学 (classmates). They seem really cool. Hard to say exactly who will register for the class, but I think for the most part people really like the teacher and they’ll stick around.

On an unrelated and random note… I was reading a thing on Salon.com just now when I was distracted by an ad. Now this is a good ad campaign! Check it out:

I feel cleaner and happier just looking at their website!

Hey! Since Wikipedia reappeared for those of us on the mainland (it was gone for so long!) life has been pretty good. In fact Mr. Out of My Face showed me a handy entry today: Mandarin Slang.

Yes, maybe if you don’t like to use dirty words, it’s not very interesting. But I think it’s a great way to make yourself feel more Chinese. (I’m always searching for ways to feel more Chinese! Who isn’t, really?) Swear like the locals!

In fact, the Wikipedia on Mandarin Slang has plenty of terms that aren’t curses. And might be quite useful:

• gǔndàn (Simplified Chinese: 滚蛋; Traditional Chinese: 滾蛋) = get lost!
  –> this one literally means “roll egg,” so it’s means like “roll away like an egg”
• wōnang fèi (Simplified Chinese: 窝囊废; Traditional Chinese: 窩囊廢) = loser

Online now getting ready for the holiday, searching flights on Ctrip.com and browsing photos on flickr. So many beautiful places!

This week my bike got messed up. Argh!

It wasn’t quite this bad:

It was parked outside Salvador’s Coffee Shop on Wednesday night (while we were having July 4th festivities) and someone managed to smash into it, bending the front tire to hell. Since it wouldn’t turn, I had to lift the front end and wheel it home on the back tire. Bruised my arm up in the process. Thursday I took the bus, and then Friday morning I dropped the bike off at the fancy bike shop on 一二一 (Yi1 Er4 Yi1) across from main gate of 师大 (Shi1 Da4). I ended up paying an exorbitant 50元 for the repair, but oh well. Anyway, it’s fixed now.

Well, next week is the end of classes. Sounds like our remaining class time will be used learning Mahjong and discussing some Chinese history. Only two of us are taking the exam, so our teacher sent it home with us to complete at our leisure. Yeah, 东方 (Dong1 Fang1) isn’t exactly the pinnacle of rigorous Chinese language learning institutions.

Yunnan Normal University (云南师范大学 or “ShiDa”）has recently become a real hassle. I will most likely enroll in a different school next semester. The quality of their classes varies — sometimes they’re pretty good, but the quality of their administrative face is consistently miserable. My interactions with THE OFFICE have literally brought me to tears. Their attitude is never accommodating, always combative. I’m exhausted and ready to move on, but until I have my passport back (yes, it is THAT messy) I’ll have to keep smiling at them.

On a happier note, I am finally enrolled in a better class. It suits my level and I already know the teachers. What a relief.

Although I don’t really have a group of people that I regularly hang out with and speak Chinese, I am filling my days with more and more Mandarin. Some of my friends that have been hesitant in the past to stray from English are slowly having more conversations with me in Chinese. It’s very exciting to see everyone else’s progress — much easier to appreciate than your own.

The college for teachers training to teach Chinese as a foreign language announced this week that they’ll be offering free tutoring sessions at our school every day 5-7pm. This is really incredible. Of course the announcement was posted in Chinese only, so most of the people that could use this kind of help (me) looked right past it. Thank god Jeremy can read it and he told me about it.

My language exchange with April is going well. She’s very good about keeping me talking in Chinese. This week we didn’t crack our books at all, just sat and chatted with her friend Nancy. They are both nice women, educated and relatively laid-back. They seem a bit bored with their current situation and are happy to chat with me. April has been twisting my arm to tutor one of her English students, but I am unwilling to schedule class time on the weekend.

Actually, I am thinking about trying to find work for next semester, instead of continuing my life as a student. I would love to find a job with an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) here in Kunming. I think it’s possible with my background in non-profit organizations, working in communications and information technology. Between web design, database programming, and editing I should be able to avoid falling back on just my administrative skills. And Kunming has some interesting things going on with AIDS education and other health issues. Some friends have suggested a few contacts that I should follow through on. Time to spruce up that resume!

I have a different view now here in Kunming.  I moved in with an American woman.  She’s just getting the place set up, but she’s doing it miraculously quickly.  I’m really impressed at how quickly she’s been able to hustle up furniture.  And the internet guy came today.  Yay!  So I’m actually writing from my new home.  Pretty cool.

This apartment is closer to a lot of the foreigner cafes and the bars and things.  There’s street noise, which I’m not used to.  It’s a little street, but a lot of activity — all kinds of little shops and street vendors.  I like the salons that dye and braid hair just outside the shop so you can observe what a good job they’re doing.  Heh.  So much to look at.  Half a block away is a full vegetable and meat market.  And it’s two blocks to Green Lake Park.

I’ve been thinking this area was too expensive for me.  I’m still not convinced I need to live right on top of all this, although it is fun.  It’s not prohibitively expensive, but I don’t think I’d mind living a little further out.  It probably won’t be much quieter though.   Quiet is one thing you don’t find in this city.

Last week was my first week without language exchange or Mandarin classes of any kind. Whew, did it affect my meeting today.  My teacher told me she was watching me progress each week, but this time she could tell that I fell off the wagon.  “You spoke English all week, didn’t you?”  Oh, man.  Well, I have more meetings scheduled this week — both Thursday and Friday.  Yay!

I was just reminded of MIT Open Course Ware last night.  The have entire courses posted online: syllabus, assignments, handouts, and some times videos of lectures!  This includes online Mandarin courses.  Pretty cool.  Check it out.

Ah, yes, I’m still here. I’m still in Kunming. I’m still in the dorms. I’m still on vacation. I’m still plodding along, but it’s been taking a little more effort than usual because I’m still fighting off a lingering cough！ I don’t think I’ve felt myself since my fever. Today was actually the first day I didn’t feel fragile. I did a lot of walking and consumed one too many caffeinated beverages. It felt good.

I’m a single lesson shy of finishing one of my three textbooks, so on a recommendation from my flatmate, I bought a new one: 汉语会话301句 (Conversational Chinese 301)， 下册 （2nd Volume), by Kang Yuhua & Lai Siping. The cover claims it’s “the most popular Chinese textbook for foreigners all over the world at present.” Ok, so the English isn’t stellar, but I’m really enthused. It’s a little difficult, but that’s ok I think. Something about it is really pleasing. Of course, I haven’t completed the first lesson yet, so it’s a little premature to gush, but I totally love it! Yay! And it feels so good to be able to go to skip the first book and go to the second level. Yay!

I bought a Bjork album — the Matthew Barney movie soundtrack one. It’s really, uh, experimental. They actually have a few of her hits just tacked to the end of the cd in order to appease the general Bjork listener (me). Because the MB stuff is, well, awful really. I only listened to it through once, and I haven’t seen whatever movie it’s from… I’m sure in context it’s less awful. Heh. I feel, um, alienated by this music. The second track is a bunch of rhythmic wheezing. Striking, bjorky, and even a little frightening, but not interesting. Not good.

Today I went to the Bird and Flower Market — a real foreigner magnet — but I didn’t manage to buy anything. It’s always a struggle to stop and actually consider purchasing something. I’m so overwhelmed by the whirlwind of activity. Fun to just look and get pushed along by the crowd. Yes, there are lots of birds and flowers, as well as lots of other animals and plants. I can’t stand the puppy farms though — yuck! So frustrating to see animals piled into cages, especially such fuzzy adorable ones. Fish and lizards are one thing, but puppies and kittens are just too much for me. Anyway, Mari, Sara, and I were hunting for gifts but we walked away empty-handed.

Afterward, we went to a tea shop where the shop assistant sat us down and made us try a ton of different teas. It was a lot of fun and a great excuse to avoid some terrible rain, but we were about to explode by the time we left! Oh, man. Too much tea. The way they prepare tea is great — it involves a lot of constant movement on the part of the person preparing the tea. Water and tea spill everywhere! The table they use even contains a special drain to siphon off the unwanted liquid. We were seated at an especially cool tea bed that seemed to be one piece of wood with a strange configuration of little shelves. It wasn’t a single flat surface but more like a small mountain with little smoothed nooks where you could perch a small teacup. And there was a very happy buddha carved into one of the tiers. Really beautiful.

Mari had an easy conversation with the shop assistant, while Sara and I tried to follow along as best we could. We must have sat there for at least an hour, balanced on little stools sipping one tea after another. First we tried the famous local Pu’er Tea, a rich flavor almost the color of red wine. Then we had an Oolong that tasted like Ginseng to me, very sweet. Then we had a flowery tea — jasmine? Then a litchee flavored fruit tea, again very sweet. The rhythm of the constant pouring, sipping, and spilling is very relaxing, but left me feeling exhausted — not to mention frantic for a bathroom! Whew!

I just ate an entire box of chocolate chip cookies. My god.

I haven’t had a moment to pause recently, and now I’m just beginning to appreciate that today was my last day of classes. I mean, I have a whole month and a half to fill outside of the university! Oh, man. I don’t really want to travel, because I’d probably just go off with some English speakers and avoid speaking Chinese. Plus, I don’t have the curiosity right now to explore further afield. I’m still very occupied with the language and trying to find my place here.

There’s a tendency to just take every that flies my way, but I realize now that I have to make some decisions if I’m really going to feel good about my time here in China. Many of the people I meet here want to interact with me using very poor English. It’s maddening. And very hard to avoid. I need to be more assertive with my Chinese, but I also need to learn more so I can use it more often. Of course, I expect to speak silly English with my students or language exchange, but I need to resist other low-level English interactions. It’s hard enough allowing myself to talk to Mari or folks from back home… or BLOGGING. Heh. But that’s different because I’m really expressing myself in a way I really can’t in Chinese. The simple day-to-day stuff should be done in Chinese. Even the internal monologue: “I better get up now.” or “Where did I put my bag?” Chinese only please! It’s beginning to happen.

I’m actually feeling pretty homesick. I talked to Mom on the phone for her birthday. Mark, Leigh, Emily, and Ben were visiting for the big gardening shopping spree. It’s very hard to let your head straddle these two worlds. It’s easier just to forget one for a while. But I really miss Jeremy and my family. I suppose I’m also bummed because I keep missing Jeremy. We’ve both been busier lately — the bar exam is rapidly approaching for J — so we haven’t caught up in a bit. I’ve been really spoiled connecting with him — voice and video conversations — every other day at least. But it’s been a few days now.

Actually, I’m in better spirits now, because I had a lovely meal this evening with Mari. She’s been crazy sick with a fever for a few days, so it was great to see her out and about. We splurged and got pizza. Wow! It was wonderful. It’s funny how talkative we are together. I don’t feel like I’m normally such a chatterbox, but we get along great. It’s too bad that she’s only around for another few weeks. I think she and Jeremy would really click too.

Oh, Jeremy bought me a digital camera! Looks pretty cool. I think rather than having him mail it I’ll wait for him to hand-deliver it. I seem to remember that there are some crazy customs issues about bringing electronics into China. Anyway, so when he arrives I’ll begin to fill the blog with photos. Yay!

A lot more people in my landscape these days, so I haven’t been spending as much time blogging. Clearly.

My roommate is gone to Hong Kong for a few days. Her older sister is meeting her there — flying from South Korea. She was really excited before she left. I have to admit it’s nice to have “a room of one’s own.” But it’s really not very quiet around here.  Another woman just moved in next door. She’s from Thailand, just a year younger than me, and seems super cool. She speaks enough English to understand my “chinlish” which is strange. When I hesitate and speak a little English she seems to pick it up sometimes. Interesting. I gave her the tour of our tiny home. heh. And, of course, I gave her my phone number and told her to make sure she asks me if she needed to know anything about anything. I suspect she’s able to navigate pretty well on her own, but it’s so fun to have a new member to the little foreigner community in the dorm. Her nickname is Wan — means “sweet” in Thai.

Still feeling like I’m not retaining anything from my studying.  But Mari is very encouraging and complements my speaking.  I definitely need to arrange a tutor, because my language exchange efforts so far have not been very successful.  It’s fun to meet people, but my Chinese is not at a high enough level for simple conversation.  So, we come up with these little pseudo-lessons, but it gets a little crazy.  Last night I spent an hour discussing the story the Three Little Pigs (San1 Zhi1 Xiao3 Zhu1).  That’s stupid.  I mean, it’s tricky business.

Today I met with a young high school student about tutoring — tutoring him in English.  Very promising.  He’s very talented and enthusiastic.  I met with him at a cafe, and his parents accompanied him, but sat one table over.  Mostly we talked, but his mother asked a few questions (her son interpreted for her).  Anyway, I really look forward to working with him.  I don’t adjust my speech much around him.  Most of the time I really have to think about how I’m saying everything with my students.  And I have to re-word and talk more slowly.  But we really had a very relaxed chat.  Apparently he really likes Lord of the Rings, so we’ll be discussing the movie as our first class topic.  A little challenging, but I’m ready to give it a try.  I think I should prepare a back-up plan though.  So, we arranged to do two 1-hour lessons per week.  This is the first student that wants to set a schedule!  Excellent.

I’ve actually been spending a lot of time thinking about a web design project that a friend from back home approached me about.  It’s kind of a relief to be doing that web work.  I haven’t clinched the deal yet, but I spent some time putting together a mock-up.  Studying a language is an unending process, but web design has a finished product.  Also, I just know my way around it, so I can get creative. Yay!

World Cup finals tonight at 2:00 a.m. here.  Whoah.  I don’t know if I can stay up.  Yawning already.