Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Better Know a… Municipality (Part Two) Posted by sasha on Aug 27, 2012
In Part One of our new series, we explored China’s capital city – Beijing. Today, we’re heading a little bit south to take a closer look at Beijing’s biggest rival – Shanghai (上海 – shàng hǎi). The biggest city proper in the entire world, Shanghai is a bustling metropolis full of history, culture, and exciting new…
Two Year Anniversary Posted by sasha on Jul 17, 2012
These days Chinese is my 2nd language, but back in high school I was a Latin scholar. Of course, there are only a few Latin phrases that I remember to this day, one of which being “tempus fugit,” or “time flies” in English. This phrase is a little longer and more complicated in Chinese – 时间过得真快…
My Job (我的工作) Posted by sasha on Jul 8, 2012
Get your dictionaries out, because it’s time for another all Chinese post here on the blog! In case you missed them, we’ve already covered some useful topics, such as: introducing yourself, my day, my family, and my city. Today, I’ll tell you about my job: 我的工作是教大人英文。我在北京工作。我一毕业，就开始这个工作。现在我在一个美国公司工作。在中国我们有很多中心。我们的中心都在大城市。在北京我们有十五个中心。我是兼职职员。我每个星期有二十五个小时的工作。周一，周五，和周六我半天工作，周四和周日全天工作。周二和周三休息。我觉得我的工作不太忙。 半天的时候我有三节课。全天的时候有六节课。我每天有一个小时准备上课的材料。我们有很多学生 － 有的是中国人，有的是韩国人，还有的是欧洲人。他们先用电脑自己学习，然后来中心上课。他们也可以随便来中心参观我们的英语角。有时候我们开个晚会，比如：万圣节，圣诞节，或者新年。我觉得我的工作很好玩，也很舒服。 Now, let’s break the post…
Better Know a… Municipality (Part One) Posted by sasha on Jul 3, 2012
In a new series here on the Transparent Chinese blog, we’ll be diving deeper into China by examining the various regions of this massive country, one by one. In a nod to Stephen Colbert and his “Better Know a District” segment, we’ll be looking closely at each region and introducing some basic facts and interesting…
Even More Tongue Twisters (绕口令) Posted by Stephen on Jun 29, 2012
Now that we’ve gone over some basic tongue twisters or 绕口令 (rào kǒu lìng) I thought this would be a good time to step up the level of difficulty and provide even more challenging tongue twisters. These ones will give you quite a workout, so if your tongue isn’t tired yet it should be after reading (and practicing)…
More Tongue Twisters Posted by Stephen on Jun 28, 2012
Now that we’ve covered some basic tongue twisters, it’s time to ramp up the level of difficulty. Try saying these tongue twisters five times fast. See if you can get as good as Jackie Chan: 青青山上一根籐 青籐地下掛銅鈴 風吹籐動銅鈴動 風停籐停銅鈴停 qīng qīng shān shàng yī gēn téng qīng téng dǐ xià guà tóng líng fēng chuī…
Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) Posted by sasha on Jun 22, 2012
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, which is known in Chinese as the Duanwu Festival (端午节 – duān wǔ jié). This holiday is celebrated every year on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, and although it has only been an officially recognized public holiday in mainland China since 2008, it has been celebrated…