Daily Chinese Proverb: Shifting Problems

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Saturday 31 October 2009 0 comments

This proverb is one that describes exactly what has happed causing the current global recession. It talks about solving a problem, by creating the exact same problem elsewhere. Which is exactly what has happened in modern society shifting debt around until it got out of control.

拆东墙补西墙
chāi​ dōng ​qiáng ​bǔ ​xī ​qiáng​
pull down the east wall to repair the west wall


Daily Chinese Proverb: Cannot be Helped

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Friday 30 October 2009 0 comments

This Chinese proverb means that sometimes things can't be prevented. Much like my recent experience of having a broken laptop could not have been prevented. This allows thought to be taken away from the incident and how to deal with it instead. If it could not have been prevented, now look to how to deal with it.

防不胜防
fáng ​bù​ shèng​ fáng​
you can't guard against it



Back To Stay : With New Laptop

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 2 comments

Just a quick note to say I am back, with my new laptop after my old one broke a while ago. It is very beautiful (windows 7 seems to be working well), much faster than the old laptop and has loud inbuilt speakers.

All very impressive I'm sure, but I have been busy in my absense. I started Heisig's Remembering the Simplified Hanzi as anticipated when the book came. Although I haven't been testing myself much, past asking my girlfriend to casually quiz me on them every now and then. I have learnt the first 170 fairly confidently, though not quite sticking to the 15 a day anticpated, it seems to be going well. (I think she is accidently picking some characters up too.) There are a couple of blog posts waiting to be written about this experience. They will come soon, I will also by downloading ANKI soon.

I would like to thank all of you who dropped by in my absense. I guess I will have missed out on many a blog post. I hope to get back round to you all and read some of what I have missed out on. Here is to continuing Mandarin and blogging about it.

Website Addresses Can Now Appear in Chinese

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 2 comments

The interenet regulator ICANN has now allowed web addresses to be in non-Latin characters – such as Chinese, Arabic, Hindi or Russian Cyrillic script. The first of these Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) is thought to be up and running by the middle of next year.

This is quite exciting and interesting although all web addresses will still need "http://" at the beggining. It is being billed as one of the biggest changes to the interenet in the last 15 years.

The Internet had its 40th Birthday yesterday.


"Of the 1.6 billion users today worldwide, more than half use languages that have scripts that are not Latin-based," Beckstrom said at the opening of Icann's conference in Seoul, South Korea, this week. The conference approved the change today, its last day, following more than nine years of work and two years of testing.

"It's more incremental [than previous changes] but it's the single biggest change in 10 or 15 years," Beckstrom said. "It's about making the internet more global and more accessible. One world, one internet."


I think this will make browsing and learning Chinese that little bit more interesting. What are your thoughts?

- Will English people have trouble browsing the emerging populations of China & India's web presence if web addresses are in their languages?

IT Pro make an interesting point about piracy across the language barrier...

News Source : Guardian

Learning Mandarin: It's a Lifestyle

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Tuesday 27 October 2009 0 comments

This is another Guest post from a friend that continues to learn Mandarin. Today's guest post is from Boyd, who runs several successful and interesting blogs related to Chinese culture. Boyd runs an Business English course for Chinese speakers. Chinese speakers My favourite of Boyd's blogs is Boyd's Bijou or his Musings on China. Here is a little about Boyd's journey Learning Mandarin.

-----------------------------------------------------

Chairman Mao famously dictated that one should 活学活用 - "live learn and live use" -- perhaps translatable as "learn by living and doing and utilize or implement by living and doing." Since I started learning Mandarin in 1987, I have taken this aphorism to heart. Attempting to implement this saying, I used some methods as follows to learn Mandarin:

  • Forcing myself to interact with Mandarin speakers daily.

  • Moving to and spending time in Mandarin-speaking areas such as Taiwan and China.

  • Working in local companies and immersing myself in Mandarin-speaking environments.
  • Reading Chinese-language newspapers daily (with dictionary in hand) and attempting to write letters to the editor.

  • More recently, reading Chinese-language blogs and using character recognition input devices (so I can practice writing) and pinyin input to comment.
In a word, I try to incorporate Mandarin into daily life and business - Chairman Mao would be proud?

Learning Pinyin & Tones

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Sunday 25 October 2009 11 comments

I wanted to do a proper post about learning Hanyu Pinyin and the Chinese tones.

I found this video which is remarkably helpful distinguishing the intials, finals and tones. Though it looks like it was made for children, It hink it is useful for anyone learning the language.




I will write a post when I get my new laptop with tables of the intials, the finals and the tones. With tips on how they are pronounced and equivalents in English. Hopefully this will give a little more deatail to what this video shows with how the syllables can be put together.

Broken Laptop: Not Given Up

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Thursday 22 October 2009 6 comments

Just a quick message to those of you who do drop by here fairly often. A massive thank you for all helping me out with my Mandarin and I wanted to let you know that I haven't stopped and I certainly haven't quit writing here or learning Mandarin.


My laptop decided to die a quiet and very untimely death this week (not the explosive death shown here). Which caused me more distress than the material laptop-ness of it. I had lots of posts saved up and lots of translations ready to go up here which have all been lost, (as well as uni work, marketing notes etc.) and at the moment my girlfriends computer seems very alien to me.

I am hoping to be back and have a laptop of my own very soon. Maybe you could pretend I am having a lovely holiday somewhere nice, while I instead bury on through the Heisig book, my dissertation and try and run my company off a shared laptop.

Most of my browsing and twittering has been on my blackberry, which as yet (unless someone has a nice fix for me) does not support Chinese characters. Also whilst looking for a new laptop wondering whether to go for windows 7. The multi-language version (only supported with ultimate edition) costs £229 seems to me like I might get a pirate copy if I want that feature!!
So thank you all for your time, and attention. And I will be back. In the meanwhile, please think up some lovely pretend vacation destinations that I am not in, and have some great daydreams.
Charlie

Daily Chinese Proverb: To Drool....

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Monday 19 October 2009 4 comments

This Chinese proverb means to crave something, to desire it and this proverb although could be taken to mean to literally salivate. I prefer the meaning to have a strong desire or craving. 'to drool over'.

垂涎三尺
chuí xián sān chǐ
To drool over


The picture depicts my desire to get to China, and the celebration that will ensue. One of my goals is to spend Chinese New Year in China at least once.

Daily Chinese Proverb: Blessing In Disguise

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Sunday 18 October 2009 3 comments

This Chinese proverb comes with a fine story, about a wise man. It comes to mean a blessing in disguise. When smething bad happens, we must look for the good that follows. Equally when something great happens, we must be ready for something bad to happen as a consequence. Things are comparitive; the good comes with the bad.

塞翁失马. 焉知非福.
Sài ​wēng ​shī ​mǎ​. yān​ zhī ​fēi ​fú​.
The old man at the frontier lost his horse. How do you know it is not a blessing?
(the horse eventually came back bringing another fine horse with it)


Near China's northern borders lived a man well versed in the practices of Taoism. His horse, for no reason at all, got into the territory of the northern tribes. Everyone commiserated with him.

"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing," said his father.

After a few months, his animal came back, leading a fine horse from the north. Everyone congratulated him.

"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a cause of misfortune," said his father.

Since he was well-off and kept good horses his son became fond of riding and eventually broke his thigh bone falling from a horse. Everyone commiserated with him.

"Perhaps this will soon turn out to be a blessing," said his father.

One year later, the northern tribes started a big invasion of the border regions. All able-bodied young men took up arms and fought against the invaders, and as a result, around the border nine out of ten men died. This man's son did not join in the fighting because he was crippled and so both the boy and his father survived.

-------------------------------

Story source: http://choyshinglin.xanga.com
Photo souce: Flickr

Daily Chinese Proverb: To Fish in Troubled Water

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Saturday 17 October 2009 2 comments

This Chinese proverb describes someone taking advantage of a confused situation. It is similiar in use to 趁火打劫 (to loot a burning house.)

浑水摸鱼
hún ​shuǐ ​mō ​yú​
to fish in troubled water

2 Crazy Chinese Building Concepts

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Friday 16 October 2009 0 comments

China seems to like to be the best at everything, even if it doesnt always turn out the way they had intended. (See South China Shopping Mall for example) Also see 'The Onions' satirical and funny take on a certain recent rather large parade.

Here are two Chinese building projects that are fantastic but a little crazy:

Automobile Museum in Nanjing,

An origami inspired, drive through automobile museum in Nanjing the capital of Jiangsu province in the east.



"You visit the first external ramp of the museum with your own private car, like a SAFARI, you park your car on the roof and visit by foot the internal ramp going down," said Francesco Gatti of 3Gatti, the architecture studio which won the commission.
Telegraph

The cars actually will sit at gravity defying angles. Weird...



The second of these designs is less crazy... But does make you wonder what is next to be copied...

Shanghai Pentagonal Mart (SPM) Nanhui, Shanghai.

The Chinese are Replicating Washington DC's Pentagon, a new shopping mall in Nanhui, Shanghai.


It wil be 40 minutes by car from Shanghai's center. This building is not only impressive externally, but it is actually a very smart design. The logistics mean that people can circulate freely inside. The US Pentagon is said to have been designed so that employees can reach any office inside in under seven minutes on foot.

Heisig's First 1500 Traditional Hanzi

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 8 comments

Firstly, my Heisig book came today. Excited!!!! (due to being busy I start learning tomorrow.)

The main reason for this post is that I have been asked by several people recently, to include Heisig's suggested 1500 Traditional characters as I had eluded to them in a previous post.

Heisig proposes a method of learning where you only learn the meaning of the character and a way to remember how to write it through a story of its primitives and their meanings. Not the pronounciation in tones or the pinyin.

I include links to buy both the traditional characters (listed below) and the simplifed characters I talked about last week.

I apologise for not organising them as neatly as the last post. But I hope those that had asked for them, will be happy.





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Daily Chinese Proverb: Change

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Thursday 15 October 2009 0 comments

This Chinese proverb serves as a warning to us. It talks about how some people are never satisfied with what they have. It is also important to realise that happiness is found in moments not things.

This proverb is used to describe how someone might follow a fad, and as soon as it falls out of fashion change to something new.


见异思迁
jiàn ​yì ​sī ​qiān​
to change at once on seeing something different



Photo Source: Flickr

Daily Chinese Proverb: A Paradox

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Wednesday 14 October 2009 0 comments

This Chinese proverb describes the feeling of a paradox. Where something seems correct but leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition.

似是而非
sì shì ér fēi
Apparently right, Actually wrong


Daily Chinese Proverb: Intensify

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Tuesday 13 October 2009 0 comments

This Chinese proverb describes perfectly what I hope the Heisig method of learning Mandarin will do to my learning process. Intensify it.

This proverb is actually more often used in a negative way though. How one may aggravate or cause a situation to intensify through their actions.


变本加厉
biàn běn jiā lì
be intensified



The further story behind the character 本 (běn) can be found over at Grace Lee's How do you know Chinese?



Photo Source: Flickr

Taiwanese Pop Group: Nán Quán Māmā (南拳妈妈)

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Monday 12 October 2009 3 comments

乐队(band): 南拳妈妈 Nán Quán Māmā Nan Quan Mama
国家(country): Taiwan


Nan Quan Mama are a Taiwanese pop group that are famous throughout Taiwan and China for their brand of C-pop / Mandopop that incorperates rapping and singing by different members. The guys all rap, whilst the choruses seem to be usually 'Lara' the female vocalist singing a catchy melody. Nan Quan Mama are also the official spokespeople for Motorola in Taiwan.


It turns out past this one song I really don't like this group at all. But this song has a really catchy chorus that gets stuck in my head.

南拳妈妈 Nán​ Quán​ Mā​mā​
破晓 pò​xiǎo​ Day Break





This song is a bit more slushy and rap driven. But it was reccomended to me so I thought I would share it here for other people to have a listen.

南拳妈妈 Nán​ Quán​ Mā​mā​
Here We Go



And here is one of the more ballady sickly pop songs Nan Quan Mama have released. My girlfriend says it is very pretty and reminds her of a Disney film. Equally I detest it as being far too twee.

南拳媽媽 Nán​ Quán​ Mā​mā
下雨天 xià​ yǔ​tiān​ Rainy Days





Please let me know what you think of Nan Quan Mama below in the comments.

Preparing for Heisig: Remebering Simplified Hanzi

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 18 comments

I ordered Heisig's the 'Remembering the Simplified Hanzi' last week as you may know if you read my post about my excitement. Whilst learning with this method I am still going to be carrying on learning sentences from books and carrying on with Rosetta Stone (although I have been finding my progress in it rather slow recently.)

I won't be doing much preparation before I start this method of learning the Hanzi. Though, I did hunt out the list of all of the 1500 Hanzi characters published in his first book to see what I would be trying to overcome. (Thanks to John @ Chinese Quest for helping me find them. Also check out his great post about the Heisig method and its criticisms)

If you want to download the excel file with all the hanzi, hanyu pinyin, stroke numbers and lesson numbers for the first Heisig book (this is the ANKI file for simplified hanzi in excel essentially) I include the link here for you.

Heisig & Richardon say that these characters (shown below) are the most frequently used 1000 hanzi plus some additional Chinese characters that make sense to learn with the primitives learnt along the way.

(If you would like to download the sample chapter from their book Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1: and give this method a go yourself you can do so here. I have breifly looked over it, but havent commited to learning them yet. I will start when the book gets here.)

Below, I list the hanzi in order they are taught in Heisig & Richardson's 'Remembering Simplified Hanzi'. It really serves its purpose for me because I wanted to print them out and stick them up in my room. But also illustrates quite how many characters I aim to learn and how dizzy 1500 hanzi can make the uninitiated.


Remembering the first 1500 Hanzi (with Heisig)

一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 口 日 月 田 目 古 胡 叶 吾 朋 明 唱 晶 品 昌
早 旭 世 胃 旦 凹 凸 自 白 百 皂 旧 中 千 舌 升 丸 卜 占 上 下 卡 卓 朝 嘲
只 贝 贴 贞 员 儿 几 见 元 页 顽 凡 肌 负 万 匀 句 旬 勺 的 首 直 置 具 真
工 左 右 有 贿 贡 项 刀 刃 切 召 昭 则 副 丁 叮 可 哥 顶 乙 飞 子 孔 吼 乱
了 女 好 如 母 贯 兄 克 小 少 吵 孙 大 尖 夕 多 够 外 名 罗 厂 厅 厉 厚 石
砂 妙 肖 削 光 太 省 奇 川 州 顺 水 永 脉 求 泉 原 泳 洲 沼 沙 江 汁 潮 源


That is the first 150 hanzi ^ And only 1/10 of the way through the book.


活 消 河 鱼 渔 湖 测 土 均 肚 尘 填 吐 压 哇 寸 封 时 寺 火 灭 灰 烦 炎 淡
灯 点 照 里 量 埋 墨 黑 冒 同 洞 丽 向 响 尚 字 守 完 灾 宣 宵 安 宴 寄 富
贮 木 林 森 梦 机 植 杏 呆 枯 村 相 本 案 未 末 沫 味 妹 查 渣 染 李 桌 杂
若 草 艺 苦 宽 莫 模 漠 墓 苗 瞄 兆 桃 犬 尤 厌 状 妆 将 获 默 然 哭 器 臭
狗 牛 特 告 浩 先 洗 个 介 界 茶 合 哈 塔 王 玉 宝 球 现 玩 狂 皇 煌 呈 全
理 主 注 金 钟 铜 钓 针 钉 铭 镇 道 达 远 适 过 迈 迅 造 逃 巡 选 逊 逛 车

That brings us to 300 hanzi, and will only be a small victory.


连 莲 前 剪 输 逾 条 处 各 格 略 客 额 夏 洛 落 备 冗 沉 军 辉 冠 坑 亩 高
享 熟 亭 亮 京 景 就 周 士 吉 壮 学 觉 攻 敌 败 故 救 敬 敞 言 警 计 让 狱
讨 训 识 话 诗 语 调 谈 式 试 戈 战 划 或 贼 载 茂 成 城 诚 威 咸 钱 浅 贱
尧 烧 晓 止 步 涉 频 肯 企 武 赋 正 证 政 定 走 超 越 是 题 延 诞 建 楚 衣
裁 装 哀 袁 初 补 衬 农 浓 巾 帅 师 狮 布 帜 帽 幕 棉 市 肺 带 滞 刺 制 雨
雷 霜 云 运 冰 况 冲 减 凉 冬 天 吴 娱 误 夭 乔 桥 娇 立 泣 站 章 竞 帝 童
商 滴 匕 北 背 比 昆 混 皆 此 些 它 旨 脂 论 轮 每 梅 海 乞 吃 复 腹 欠 吹
歌 软 次 资 姿 咨 赔 培 音 暗 韵 竟 镜 境 亡 盲 妄 望 方 妨 放 激 旁 兑 脱


500 so far... ... If I am learning 15 hanzi a day I will reach this just after a month of learning.


说 曾 增 赠 也 她 地 池 虫 虾 独 虽 蛇 蛋 己 起 改 记 已 包 泡 导 顾 逐 家
场 汤 羊 美 洋 鲜 样 兰 烂 差 着 养 集 准 谁 售 午 许 羽 习 翔 困 固 国 圆
因 烟 园 回 图 广 店 库 裤 床 麻 庄 心 忘 忍 总 态 志 思 恩 愿 意 想 息 恐
感 憾 忧 惊 怕 忙 惯 必 手 看 摩 拿 我 抱 抗 批 招 打 指 持 担 括 提 挥 推
搅 执 热 接 挂 按 掉 拉 啦 找 无 抚 开 研 弄 异 鼻 刑 型 才 财 团 存 在 乃
奶 及 吸 极 史 更 硬 又 圣 友 双 汉 戏 观 欢 怪 对 树 难 摊 投 没 设 股 支
技 枝 叔 督 寂 反 板 返 后 质 派 乐 爪 抓 采 菜 受 授 爱 么 雄 台 治 始 去
法 会 至 室 到 互 充 育 流 梳 购 构 山 出 础 岁 密 入 分 贫 公 松 谷 浴 欲
容 溶 赏 党 常 堂 皮 波 婆 破 被 歹 列 烈 死 葬 耳 取 趣 最 职 敢 曼 慢 漫
夫 规 替 失 铁 臣 力 边 势 动 励 历 另 别 拐 男 功 办 协 苏 为 奴 努 加 贺


750 hanzi. Chinese characters starting to make my head spin a little.


架 务 雾 行 律 得 待 往 德 微 街 禾 程 和 积 种 移 秋 愁 揪 利 香 季 委 秀
透 诱 米 粉 迷 谜 类 来 数 楼 竹 笑 箱 等 算 答 策 人 认 价 份 伪 尔 你 您
称 什 值 做 但 住 位 件 仍 他 仅 休 体 信 依 例 健 停 倒 仁 优 伤 保 堡 付
府 俯 代 袋 化 华 哗 花 货 何 便 丈 使 久 内 呐 丙 柄 肉 腐 从 众 坐 座 巫
喝 渴 任 廷 庭 头 实 买 卖 读 以 似 并 拼 吕 侣 荣 劳 营 善 年 夜 液 旅 施
游 勿 忽 物 易 赐 尸 尼 呢 泥 屋 握 居 锯 剧 据 层 局 尺 尽 户 房 雇 护 示
社 礼 视 福 标 禁 襟 宗 崇 祭 察 擦 由 抽 油 甲 押 申 伸 神 果 课 颗 斤 听
所 近 斩 暂 渐 断 折 哲 逝 斥 诉 乍 怎 昨 作 雪 灵 妇 扫 寻 急 当 档 录 碌
争 净 事 唐 糖 康 尹 伊 君 裙 群 而 需 儒 瑞 端 曲 斗 料 科 用 确 昔 借 错
散 撒 廿 席 度 渡 半 伴 胖 判 眷 拳 片 版 之 乏 眨 不 否 坏 环 杯 还 怀 矢


1000 hanzi. This is how far Greg got in 6 weeks. It is certainly something to aim for.


族 知 智 矛 柔 揉 予 序 预 野 班 临 坚 贤 弓 引 弥 强 弱 单 弹 费 佛 弟 第
巧 号 身 射 谢 老 考 烤 与 写 泻 孝 教 者 著 猪 追 官 管 父 交 效 较 校 足
跑 跳 路 露 骨 滑 阿 啊 随 阳 阴 荫 防 附 际 阶 院 阵 队 坠 降 穴 究 突 空
控 深 探 丘 兵 丝 织 线 维 统 给 结 终 级 纪 红 约 细 纵 绿 经 轻 续 继 药
系 紧 却 脚 服 报 命 贸 留 溜 聊 柳 节 卫 令 冷 零 领 通 勇 仓 枪 创 犯 危
脆 印 酒 配 酋 尊 遵 豆 短 厨 鼓 喜 血 盖 温 监 篮 蓝 银 跟 很 根 即 退 腿
限 眼 良 浪 娘 食 饭 餐 馆 既 概 平 评 坪 乎 呼 希 稀 杀 风 讽 冈 刚 网 画
凶 胸 脑 恼 离 禽 义 仪 蚁 辛 辩 辟 壁 避 亲 新 薪 幸 叫 收 亥 核 孩 刻 该
术 述 襄 壤 寒 赛 毒 麦 素 青 精 请 情 睛 清 静 责 绩 表 生 星 姓 性 胜 丰
害 割 慧 韦 围 伟 春 泰 奉 棒 击 陆 专 传 转 勤 谨 垂 锤 睡 今 含 念 东 栋
冻 陈 练 拣 西 要 腰 票 漂 贾 南 门 们 闲 问 间 简 闻 非 排 罪 靠 侯 候 决
快 块 筷 干 岸 旱 赶 于 宇 余 除 途 束 速 辣 整 重 懂 病 痛 疯 区 枢 欧 医
仰 迎 登 发 废 形 影 彩 须 参 惨 修 珍 产 彦 颜 文 蚊 这 齐 济 率 摔 央 英
唤 换 巴 把 爸 吧 色 绝 艳 甘 某 其 期 基 甚 斯 贵 遗 舞 且 姐 组 祖 助 普
业 显 亚 恶 严 共 供 巷 港 井 讲 进 角 解 嘴 再 扁 篇 编 典 氏 纸 昏 婚 低
底 民 眠 甫 辅 博 搏 都 部 郎 帮 乡 段 锻 幻 司 词 书 舟 船 般 盘 搬 瓜 孤
益 假 暇 气 汽 面 革 鞋 勒 馨 声 承 蒸 牙 穿 呀 释 番 翻 播 毛 尾 笔 托 宅
展 丧 长 张 涨 雁 应 兴 举 检 脸 险 鸟 鸡 鹰 鸭 岛 遇 缺 遥 摇 兔 逸 免 晚
象 像 马 妈 吗 骂 验 骑 虎 虑 虚 鹿 熊 能 寅 演 辰 晨 关 送 联 鬼 魔 龙 袭
那 哪 两 俩 满 县 悬 窗 电 掩 丑 扭 黄 横 赤 亦 弯 湾 恋 变 卑 牌 套 曰 属


That is the first 1500 Chinese characters that Heisig proposes we remember. That is a lot of Chinese characters to take in, in one go. Having done some quick maths, if I learn 15 a day from now until my birthday on January 20th 2010. I should be able to complete the first 1500 hanzi thanks to Heisig and you guys for inspiring me.

Here are the hanzi all printed out and stuck up in my room. :D Whilst at the moment they are achieving not a lot by being there. By my 22nd birthday I hope to be able to understand them all.



So here is to Heisig. And here is to to a journey of learning many Chinese Characters. Here is to remembering the hanzi. Hopefully I will see you on the other side.

Daily Chinese Proverb: Perseverance

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 0 comments

This Chinese proverb has come to mean all good things must first go through many trials and tribulations. It means that things that are good* are worth a struggle, and working towards. It is used especially in regards to love, and serves a reminder that perseverance through problems is a requirement of true love.

*(whilst good is only a comparative statement contrasted by something being made bad, it serves its purpose here.)

好事多磨
hǎoshì duō mó
the course of true love never runs smooth

Learning Mandarin - In Chinese, We Call It....

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Sunday 11 October 2009 11 comments

This is the next edition of what I now hope to become a regular part of my blog. Guest posts from Mandarin learning friends, explaining why they decided to learn Mandarin. How they have gone about the learning process and where they are now in their journey, learning Mandarin. Today's guest post is from Bill Glover founder of #MandarinMonday who has been a great help and inspiration to me in keeping Discovering Mandarin moving forwards.

Learning Mandarin: So Why Chinese?

I cannot remember the moment I decided to learn Chinese. It was not one of those decisive moments where I said to myself that I was going to learn a new language, it just kind of happened.

I managed to leave school (and university) in stereotypical British fashion, speaking only one language, English. Despite dabbling in Latin, Sanskrit, and to a greater extent Classical Greek, I wouldn’t consider myself a linguist by any means. I tried French a couple of times but spent more time outside the classroom than in and consequently never made much progress. So why Chinese?

Well, there is this girl. Hang on, before you stop reading, she is NOT the reason I started learning Chinese. Challenge anyone who tells you they are learning Chinese because “there is this girl”. If you dig deeper, you will probably find that it’s just an easy way to respond to a casual questioning. When I met my wife (whom you’ve probably guessed is Chinese), her English was excellent. Now, several years on, her English is superb. Yes, she makes mistakes but they are relatively minor and the structure/style of her written English is far superior to mine. And the true test? She can not only argue, but also win in fluent English. So, in short I have no reason to learn Chinese to communicate at home. However, it would be wrong to say that my wife played no part at all. One thing that she did give me was an introduction to China, Chinese culture, and of course the Chinese language.

But what was it that really got me learning Chinese? If I had to put my finger on one thing that really sparked my interest, I would attribute my decision to learn Chinese to one phrase: “In Chinese we call it…”

I remember early one morning walking with my wife (then friend) through Lammas Park (map) in Ealing and deciding to visit the animal sanctuary. One of the inhabitants of the sanctuary was a barn owl.


In Chinese we call it… 猫头鹰 [māo tóu yīng] literally, cat headed eagle

On our visit to The Science Museum in London we spent some time in the computing section looking at the history of computing. One of the themes of any computing exhibition is how “intelligent” computers have become.


In Chinese we call it… 电脑 [diàn nǎo] literally, electronic brain

And then there is the mobile phone. How many people know why it is called a cellular phone? It’s obvious if you know a little about the mobile phone networks work, but in Chinese there is no such complexity.


In Chinese we call it… 手机 [shǒu jī] literally, hand device

Another favourite of ours is the use of butter in cooking. Needless to say I am forever putting too much butter in (or on) everything. So, how do you say butter in Chinese?


In Chinese we call it… 黄油 [huáng yóu] literally, yellow oil

The list goes on, but hopefully you can start to see why the language fascinated me. Yes, I would never be able to read those crazy looking characters, but here was a language that appeared to make sense. And so, I started to look around for online courses. I came across ChinesePod (one of my top 5 tools for studying Chinese) and began listening to the newbie lessons. It all seemed so easy.

Now, several years on I realise that it isn’t easy. Progress has been very slow (people are often surprised at how slow), the list of excuses is endless, but two things remain: I still find the language fascinating, and I still thoroughly enjoy learning it. Since visiting China, I’ve found an additional reason to learn spoken Chinese, and that is to communicate with my in-laws. Most married couples seem to detest the visits to/from the in-laws, but I’m longing for the day when I can have an in-depth discussion with them both in their native language. The only trouble is, their English is improving far faster than my Chinese.

As long as I still find it interesting, challenging and fun, I will continue to learn Chinese. Part of what makes it fun, is the great people I have discovered on my journey. If you are learning too, you are welcome to get in touch. You can find me over on my personal blog, or taking part in next week's #MandarinMonday.

Daily Chinese Proverb: Crane Standing Among Chicken

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 0 comments

This Chinese proverb is about standing out, being so different from everything around you. This proverb is used to describe prominent people with good looks and impressive abilities among a crowd of people with lesser abilities.

鹤立鸡群
hè lì jī qún
a crane standing among chickens



Ji Shao was a handsome and talented aid to the Emperor Jin Hui. When his country was being invaded, he accompanied Emperor Jin Hui in defending the country. Most of the soldiers died or deserted, but Ji Shao stayed with the emperor to protect him. Upon seeing this, the people were moved and said: "Ji Shao is like a crane standing among chickens."



Photo Source: (Sandhill Crane)
Flickr

South China Mall: Worlds Largest Shopping Mall

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 0 comments

South China Mall : Largest Mall In The World & Empty



The South China Mall is the biggest shopping mall in the world and opened in 2005. It is more than twice as big as the next largest (and previous biggest) shopping mall; The Mall of America in Minnesota. It has leasable space for over 1,500 stores in approximately 7.1 million square feet of total floor area.

The South China Mall is located in Dongguan (东莞) Dōngguǎn near Guangzhou (广州) Guǎngzhōu in Guangdong (广东) Guǎngdōng province in South Eastern China. It’s a glorious place: a gargantuan seven-million-square-foot of retail and entertainment in the heart of China’s southern Pearl River Delta.



Alex Hu, a local Guangzhou boy who made it big in international business, wanted South China Mall to be a hometown monument to his success. Guangzhou has no major airports or highways nearby yet is the largest shopping mall in the world. Four years after its construction, the South China Mall sits virtually empty of both shops and shoppers. It has an eerily empty theme park and shop owners may see one or two customers a day, lucky to make a sale.

South China Mall was built with a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude but the lack of infrastructure has hindered its progress. South China Mall is considered too big to fail though. A government funded group bought the property from the previous owners in order to save it from bankruptcy. Employees are required to line up for flag-raising ceremonies and pep talks about “brand building” before going off to maintain the deserted concourses.



This mall has seven zones modelled on international cities and regions, including Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Venice, Egypt, the Caribbean, and California.

The Arc de Triomphe that stands in the very middle of the South China Mall leads you out of Paris and into either Venice or Amsterdam though this half of the mall has never been finished. The exotic palm trees lining the sidewalk have been invaded by homegrown south-China weeds.



There are of course lots of empty malls throughout America and the rest of the world; there’s even an American website, www.deadmalls.com, where photos are traded of once-great, now-desolate shopping malls. What sets the South China Mall apart from those others, besides its mind-numbing size, is that it never went into decline. The tenants didn’t jump ship; they never even came on board. The mall entered the world pre-ruined, as if its developers had deliberately created an attraction for people with a taste for abandonment and decay. It is a spectacular real-estate failure.

For more interesting facts watch this great documentary which brought this mall to my attention.

Utopia, Part 3: The World’s Largest Shopping Mall : http://www.pbs.org/pov/utopia/



Also this is an insightful article from someone who has been there.

Daily Chinese Proverb: Frog in a Well

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Saturday 10 October 2009 0 comments

This Chinese proverb relates to how one can be narrow sighted and even complacent. Nowadays it is used more widely to describe someone who is ignorant of the things around them.

井底之蛙
jǐng dǐ zhī wā
Frog in a well



It is told, that a sea turtle came upon a frog that lived in an old abandoned well. Upon seeing the turtle, the frog boasted: “Look, I am happy and completely at ease here. Why don’t you come down and join me?" The turtle tried, but the well was too small, the turtle couldn’t fit through the opening.

Then, he said to the frog: “Have you ever seen the ocean? It is vast, and you would truly be happy if you lived there." Upon hearing this, the frog was so surprised he just stood there speechless


Picture Source: Flickr

Chinese Band: Crystal Butterfly (水晶蝶)

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Friday 9 October 2009 8 comments

乐队(band): 水晶蝶 Shui Jing Die Crystal Butterfly
国家(country): China




Crystal Butterfly (水晶蝶) are a Shanghai based band that have only released one album (Magical Mystery Tour - 2005). They have a name in 'space rock' in Shanghai emulating sounds they hear in U2 and contempory soulful indie rock. Crystal Butterfly recorded material for a second album, entitled Forest of Illusions, named after one the band's first songs 梦幻森林. However, the band's contract with New Bees ended in December 2005. The record company is trying to sell the material to a third party, and the recordings will probably never come out.

Crystal Butterfly - The Neon Bible (not an 'Arcade Fire' cover)



This first song by Crystal Butterfly (above) sounds quite like a band I really liked in 2004-2006 called Fields (youtube vid link), an Anglo/Icelandic band that also only had one album released. Very similiar and also a very good album 'Everything Last Winter' (amazon link).



Here is a video of Crystal Butterfly performing live in Shanghai. The video isn't so good, but the sound quality is actually really good.

Crystal Butterfly - Party Girl






I would love to hear what you think of Crystal Butterfly below in the comments.

Daily Chinese Proverb: Giant Strides

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 0 comments

This Chinese proverb comes from the Chinese creation myth about Pan Gu creating the world. It is used to describe something advancing with giant strides.

开天辟地
kāi tiān pì dì
to split heaven and earth apart / Giant Steps



This is a Chinese myth about the creation of the world. In ancient times, the sky and the earth were combined just like an egg. The founder of the world, Pan Gu, lived and grew up in the egg. After 18 thousand years, he began to separate the sky and the earth, so the egg white became the sky and the egg yolk became the earth. After another 18 thousand years, the sky and the earth were separated completely. Seeing that his mission was finished, Pan Gu died of exhaustion.

Daily Chinese Proverb: Play Lute To A Cow

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Thursday 8 October 2009 0 comments

This Chinese proverb refers to how you might miscommunicate with people by aiming the communication level too high. It can mean that the method of communication you are using to talk to someone is too sophisticated and therefore will not work. This proverb implies that someone speaks or writes without considering his audience. Generally speaking, it means the speaker or writer has over-estimated his listeners or readers. In these cases, the proverb mocks the audience rather than the speaker.

This proverb can also be taken to mean 'to talk philosophy to a fool.'

对牛弹琴
Duì niú tán qín
to play the lute to a cow




Proverb Story :

Long ago there lived a musician named Gong Mingyi. He was a master of the Zheng zither, a plucked string instrument.

One day, he saw a cow grazing in a field near his house. He was inspired by the scene and ran outside to play a tune for the cow. Gong Mingyi played beautifully, finding himself intoxicated by the music. But the cow paid no heed to the elegant sounds, simply focusing its attention on eating the grass.

Gong Mingyi was surprised at this and could not comprehend the cow’s flippant indifference. Gong Mingyi picked up the zither and played a second song with much less skillful grace. This time the cow swings its tail instantly and begins to relish the music with erect ears.

Gong Mingyi smiles and understands that, obviously, the cow doesn't respond to his music not because he plays it badly, but because it does not understand the masterful first performance. Therefore it is unable to appreciate it which means that the cow neither understood nor appreciated his elegant music!

Today I Ordered Heisig's Remembering Hanzi Book 1

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Wednesday 7 October 2009 12 comments

As I talked about in my blog post 'My First Three Months Of Learning Mandarin' I am going to start learning with the help of Heisig method so I can recognise characters more easily.

Today I bought Heisig's book, after reading though the first section that you can download the Simplified version's First Chapter for free and if it inspires you I recommend you buy the entire book.

Greg at Mandarin Segments has now learnt over 1000 characters in a month and a half using this method as described in his blog.

I recommend this book to you all, and hope to document some of my progress with this method soon. Below are the links for this book in both simplified and traditional Chinese characters.



Also on a side note: before I started learning Mandarin I bought this book: Reading and Writing Chinese: Guide to the Chinese Writing System But sadly it is traditional characters and not the simplified, so if someone can find a good home for it and cover postage, I would be willing to send it on. Please get in touch!!

Daily Chinese Proverb: Imagination

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 2 comments

This Chinese proverb is about letting your mind run away with itself. Even becoming preoccupied or obsessed with an idea. The proverb could also be used to describe someone who often daydreams.

胡思乱想
hú ​sī ​luàn ​xiǎng
to let one's imagination run wild

Another couple of English Proverbs with similiar meaning are

A bee in your bonnet; and

Flights of fancy

Both those proverbs have the meaning to let thoughts preoccupy yourself and to maybe even become obsessed with those ideas.


Photo Source:
Flickr

Daily Chinese Proverb: Over-Confidence

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Tuesday 6 October 2009 5 comments

This Chinese proverb speaks of something I am certainly cursed with sometimes, and something we all might get affected by from time to time. Overconfidence is usually shortly followed by the feeling of stupidity when you realise you were not as good as you thought you were. Sometimes this is a good dose of humility, other times it can be disastrous...

不自量力
bù zì liàng lì
Overconfident /
To overestimate capabilities





Photo Source:
Flickr

Chinese Band: Mayday (五月天)

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Monday 5 October 2009 8 comments

乐队(band): 五月天 Wǔ Yuè Tiān Mayday
国家(country): Taiwan


Mayday (五月天) have sold over 1 million records and in 2007 Mayday released Jump! (Leaving the surface of the Earth) and toured the world with their fast paced anthemic rock appealing to both Western and Eastern listeners.

Mayday's songs are mostly sung in Mandarin. Mayday through their hard work have become one of the biggest rock bands in Taiwanese pop culture. They have also received a range of accolades as well as selling records all over the world.



They cite their influences from The Beatles, U2 and Taiwan’s own Wu Bai. They have released 15 albums and dvds in the last ten years proving themselves to be extremely hard working and are known to perform gigs that are upto 5 hours long bringing in the new year.

Lead singer of Mayday 阿信 Ashin also writes most of the material with references to many cultural icons from around th world. Mayday are an energetic band and this song seems to be one of the more popular. It is a fast paced catchy song.



五月天 - 離開地球表面

Mayday - 'Leaving the Surface of the Earth'




This is a more of a ballad than the grungier distorted rock song above.


五月天 - 我又初恋啦

Mayday - I am in love again




This next song reminds me of Maroon 5, funky indie rock with catchy choruses.


五月天 - 香水

Mayday - Perfume






Let me know what you think of Mayday below in the comments. Also please recommend your favourite Mayday songs, they have written a lot of songs and I haven’t heard them all.

Daily Chinese Proverb: Endless Stream

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin 0 comments

This Chinese proverb is used to describe something is continuous or that doesnt stop. I get the feeling it can describe a large flock of birds, and possibly the way I see it, this proverb could be used to talk about time...

络绎不绝
luò ​yì ​bù ​jué​
an endless stream


Photo Source:
Flickr

My First Three Months Of Learning Mandarin

Posted by Charlie @ Discovering Mandarin Sunday 4 October 2009 9 comments

Three Months of Learning Mandarin

I started writing this blog just after I decided to commit and start learning Mandarin. In the three months since, I feel like I have made good if a little slow progress. Before people jump up and tell me off for thinking that I have made slow progress. It is not that it is slow, so much as, I haven’t spent and dedicated enough time (that I told myself I would) revising the things I have learnt.

I have certainly thrown myself in at the deep end by starting this blog and forcing myself to keep up with the goals I set myself. Yet, I still find myself wanting to know more, a real craving and frustration that I can’t say anything I want to.

So What I Can Say After Three Months Learning Mandarin:

Basic Greetings,
Basic Colours,
Basic Numbers,
Days of the week,
Months,
Basic Foods,
Basic Drinks,
and some basic actions (eating / running / cooking etc)
Most recently some basic items of clothing, and basic household items.

I can say : thank you, I want, I like, I love etc.

And about 70 Daily Proverbs... Although I would certainly not claim that I remember them off the top of my head.

And this is my current problem, I am learning a lot, but the memory recall of it isn’t strong currently. Hopefully it will get better with time.

Discovering Mandarin:

I intended this blog to be a collection of the things I had learnt as a reference point for myself, and for other people who are learning too. It has turned out that through the daily updates and being busy that I haven’t had time to update with things I have learnt quite as often as I had hoped.

I started out writing this blog because I did not have anyone to practise my Mandarin with, and my housemates were both learning Japanese. Truth be told, they haven’t stuck at Japanese at all and my motivation has sunk a little. The people I have met through this blog are very inspiring and have made me continue with my dream and I want to thank you all for the little bits of help you give me daily.

Learning Mandarin - What Now?

The three months I have been learning Mandarin I have learnt more than I have ever learnt in French that I learnt for four years at school. This is largely due to the fact I wanted to learn Mandarin and never wanted to learn French.

I want to carry on learning and actually stick to my commitment of daily learning. I think I am also going to try out the much talked about Heisig method of learning characters. Although, many of the drawbacks are outlined well in Chris' Mandarin Student blog post. I think I would like the ability to know that I can understand a large amount of characters much like Greg’s experience of the theory in Mandarin Segments blog.

I intend to carry on using Rosetta stone for my basic vocabulary and helping to build it up bit by bit, alongside my other research. Also using Heisig as mentioned to increase my knowledge and recollection of Chinese characters I hope that my writing and reading ability will increase with my spoken Mandarin.

So here is to another three months of Mandarin learning, and to hopefully many years of learning Mandarin happily and as excitedly as these first three months.

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