Archive for 'Uncategorized'
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…
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…
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)…
Cheers: Drinking Culture in China (干杯) Posted by Stephen on Jun 25, 2010
I once found myself amidst an extravagant Chinese wedding in northwest Beijing, as one of only three guest 老外s in a sea of Chinese family members and friends. Upon entering the banquet hall, and much to my confusion, we were seated at the central table with the parents of the newly weds. Within seconds of…
Strategies During Currency Revaluation Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 23, 2010
Careful investors are watchfully waiting to see what will happen with the RMB over the next couple of months. As the Chinese government is the largest holder of US T-bills (there was a recent news article indicating otherwise, but by combining holdings between the Mainland and the Special Administrative Regions, it still is the largest holder) as…
Dragon Boating Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 21, 2010
Last week was 端午节 (duan1wu3jie2 – Dragon Boat Festival), the holiday which 纪念 (ji4nian4 – commemorates) commemorating the passing of 屈原 (qu1yuan2 – Qu Yuan), a patriotic poet who had been 放逐 (fang4zhu2 – exiled) from his country, the kingdom of Chu. He is commemorated because of his loyalty to the people of his country. …