Archive for the year 2010
Staying in Tone Posted by sasha on Jul 22, 2010
When it comes to learning Chinese, understanding how to 读 and 写 the thousands upon thousands of 汉字 is obviously the most difficult part of the learning process. However, if you are simply interested in learning how to 说中文, you will probably encounter the most difficulty whilst attempting to learn the four 声调 (shēng diào…
Wingin’ It Posted by Stephen on Jul 20, 2010
Learning Mandarin Chinese, especially as a native English speaker, is doubly difficult because you’re learning both a new phonetic system (pinyin) and a new alphabet in the form of characters. It becomes a lesson in duality as both right and left brain are active when learning pictograms and their corresponding pronunciation and tones. But unlike…
北京的雨天 (A Rainy Day in Beijing) Posted by sasha on Jul 15, 2010
Alright faithful Transparent Chinese readers/viewers, the time has finally come… my first video post has arrived! Despite the weather here raining on my parade and my ideas for outdoor related videos, I still managed to put together something that I think is interesting and helpful for Chinese learners. To supplement your viewing, I typed up…
House Hunting (找住房） Posted by Stephen on Jul 12, 2010
No matter where you are, whether you are in your hometown (家乡 jiā xiāng) or halfway around the globe, house hunting or 找住房 (zhǎozhùfáng) is a stressful endeavor. In China, the difficulty of finding a place to live as a 老外 is amplified by language barriers, Chinese laws, shady dealings and lack of information. Even if…
Step 1: Land in China, Step 2: Learn Pin Yin, Step 3: Profit Posted by sasha on Jul 9, 2010
For anyone raised on the ABCs and 1-2-3s, learning Chinese can seem to be a daunting task. During my first few weeks in Beijing, I would often stare in disbelief at newspapers, menus, and street signs while thinking to myself, “How am I ever going to understand this language?” Luckily for me, and other equally…
Poor Man’s Chinese Posted by sasha on Jul 6, 2010
大家好, My name is Sasha, and I’m thrilled to introduce myself as the newest member of the Transparent Chinese team. First, I’d like to thank Jeremy and Steve for giving me this opportunity to share my Chinese experiences with the world. Every month, I’ll be writing on the blog here, as well as posting original…
Urban Biking in China（城市的自行车） Posted by Stephen on Jun 28, 2010
It’s not surprising that there are more than 100 cities in China with a population of at least 1 million people. Following rampant development, China has turned to mega-cities as concrete jungles house nearly half of the 1.4 billion people in the mainland today. So even in a country geographically vast, urbanization or 城市化 (chéngshìhuà)…