A Chinese Puzzle a.k.a 中文练习题

Tweet For me, the key to successfully learning anything is trying to figure out where my weaknesses are. Once I know where those are I work on improving them. I do that when I have to learn something knew for work and I even apply a similar approach when I have to teach somebody something. I try to figure out what may be difficult to understand and prepare additional information on it. Obviously sometimes I'm way off the beaten track but at least I'm well prepared...or not at all, depending what kind of questions I get.


For my Chinese studies I apply the exact same concept. A couple of months back I realised that my ability to communicate was rotten so I tried to find different ways to use Chinese every day. Be that ordering my coffee, talking to a friend, doing a language exchange, recording a voice message for my friend or simply chatting to my friend. I have since improved a bit but I am far from perfect but I know I'll get there in good time.


Even further back I realised that my ability to listen to spoken Chinese was so far below par that the scale to measure it hasn't even been invented just yet. To fix that I started listening to ChinesePod, Chinese radio and loads and loads of episodes of my favourite Taiwanese variety show as well as countless of Taiwanese TV dramas which are, as you know, my guilty pleasure. I since pick up a lot more spoken Chinese although I am not focused or not listening probably I won't pick up anything or something that's entirely not what was said.


I often bring up topics I like to improve on with my teacher and she will prepare the relevant material and study with me until I have understood. On the other hand when my teacher notices things that I need to improve on she will let me know and, if necessary, prepare the relevant study material to help me learn. Sometimes she asks me to prepare material as well, it entirely depends on the topic we're trying to tackle.


The other week I mentioned that I would like to improve my sentence structure as I have the tendency to use the English sentence structure when speaking Chinese. Sometimes I notice and correct myself, other times I don't notice or don't know and while I manage to make myself understood and convey what I wish to say it sounds odd and unnatural.


In order to help me improve my sentence structure my teacher provided me with a fun exercise. She muddled up a bunch of Chinese sentences and asked me to put them in order again. After successfully completing the exercise I'd like to share it with you all, as it really is quite fun. While the sentences aren't difficult, I had quite a lot of fun putting them back in order and translating them afterwards.


Since I am not a copycat, I've not simply taken the muddled up sentences my teacher gave me but instead I used the sentences I put together and muddled up all over again. Without further ado, here are 10 simple sentences for you to put back into order so they make sense in Chinese and can be translated into something meaningful.


The characters are in their simplified form, however if you prefer traditional ones, give me a shout and I will either add them or send them to you. Should you need the Pinyin, Goggle Translate can actually help you with that. :-) Any questions let me know.

京  是  尔  都  中  的  首  都  兰  是  林  都  尔  北  爱  京  国  首  的  柏 不  的  爱  都  兰  是  北  首 (These are actually three sentences, so you'll need to figure out what goes where. If you'd like some help, the first sentences has 10 characters, the second 8 and the last one also has 10 characters.)

钱  明  答  我  还  他  年  应

是  话  谎  的  他  全  说

手  定  爱  果  歌  最  知  猪  认  你  喜  的  你  如  识  一  我  道  是  小  我  的

吗  我  啡  给  杯  好  一  咖

好  心  天  你  情  的  今  很

歌  们  听  我  唱  我  在  是  同  想  不  公  但  事  司  的

台  买  房  在  我  子  北  想

了  林  在  好  他  柏  多  年  都  住  了

逛  星  我  期  起  街  巴  去  天  黎  吧  们  一

The Dumpling Tale

Tweet I've been suffering from a bitter bout of that nasty writer's diseases, the one that shall not be named (not on this blog anyway) for the last couple of weeks and it's been pretty much been hell on earth for me.


It's not like I'm not inspired to write. On the contrary, there are a ton of things I want to share with you. Unfortunately life has been getting in the way, damn you life!


There's been the the small case of me starting a new job the beginning of April (yes, feel free to congratulate me, even if you have already done so!) and I can still not fathom how over a month has flown by so quickly. Slowly but surely the excuse that I'm only new doesn't appear to faze people around me quite as much as it did in my first two weeks.


Then there is that China holiday I started planning some eight months ago. Suddenly it's a mere month away and I'm planning all sorts of things and running to all sorts of places to sort out all sorts of things, like for example my VISA application. Preparing said application entailed harassing my travel agent in China for all sorts of documents they were thankfully only too happy to supply me with. I'm still astonished how long it took me to fill out that blasted VISA application.


I also had a minor heart attack when I couldn't find the pass photos I had taken for the application and an original copy of my birth certificate (that wasn't actually required but I just wanted to be on safe side). By the way, you won't believe just how often I've had to send my poor father to the registry office in the last seven years to ask for an original copy of my birth certificate. They practically know my dad by his first name at this stage while I feel like just about everyone in the world owns a copy of my birth certificate. 


Yes people, I really was born. I am human, I have human parents and there are legal documents to certify all that. It does get tiring after while, really, it does. The fact that Government entities appear to by default be inclined to think I'm not real is upsetting. Then again that is a different story for a different blog post. One I'll probably never write...swiftly moving on.


While we're talking about distractions I'll briefly name the rest of them like a visit from my arch-nemesis migraine (I really should file a restraining order), studying Chinese, work, Twitter, endless rain which has been getting me down plus it's impossible to concentrate with that constant sound of rain splashing against our living room window. On top of that I've also been simply too tired to do anything but sleep. I have done a fair bit of procrastinating (yes people, we all do it, don't give me the glares), and/or meeting friends (what can I say, a girl needs to socialise and drink the one or other Mojito occasionally). Any other distractions you can blame on Show Luo and/or my Taiwanese drama addiction. You should really credit me for being so blatantly honest with you. Really, I could have just lied straight through my teeth but I actually like you lot so I don't do that.


If you add all of the above up, you'll easily see that I've had little to no time to just sit back, relax and try to write a blog post. I can't very well do it at work. Well I could but I don't think that would go down especially well with my boss. I quite like the fact that she likes me, thank you very much.


To cut a long story short, up until last week I was steadily getting more and more frustrated about not having any chance to take a breather and sit down and write. Then I went for dinner with an old colleague of mine and we ended up going for Asian food for two simple reasons:


1) The restaurant was only a stone's throw away

and

2) it was lashing rain (Hello, I live in Ireland people!) and we didn't want to walk especially far.


We ended up in Wagamama and I was surprisingly taken aback by the quality of their food and the politeness of the staff. They have a mostly Japanese themed menu though if you ask me it seems to be heavily influenced by Chinese style cuisine also. Their Ramen broth looks like a big bowl of Hotpot. Nevertheless, the food all around us looked delicious and by the time I spotted dumplings on the menu I was head over heels in love with the place. I ordered some straight away with such enthusiasm that the waitress started laughing. 

Heaven!

If you must know, apart from chocolate, dumplings are my ultimate comfort food. I've only good memories when it comes to dumplings. They were my first real, homemade Chinese dinner. My first Chinese teacher invited me to her home and her mother served us homemade Harbin-style dumplings for dinner after class. She practically chopstick-fed them to me and cared little for my heavy protests about being full or maybe she doesn't didn't understand my Chinese. To be quite honest, I didn't really care either, the dumplings tasted so delicious that I was contemplating kidnapping my Chinese teacher's mum while devouring one crispy dumpling after the other long after I had eaten my fill. There was just something about those dumplings and the fact that my Chinese teacher's mum treated me like her own daughter from the get go, worrying about me having enough to eat and constantly fussing over me.

I proudly present: My first
self-wrapped dumpling!

Dumplings were also the first Chinese food I cooked myself. Granted my current Chinese teacher supervised and bossed me around (all the while cooking six different Hong Kong style dishes and giving her friends instructions in Cantonese), telling me how to do it right. She didn't really, in fact she lied and told me I was a genius at wrapping dumplings and maybe I should contemplate taking it up for a living...I totally would except I don't think I could make a living off wrapping dumplings because I'd eat them all myself! I tell you people, wrapping dumplings is a ton of fun. You get to hang out with your friends, natter away in Chinese, argue with your teacher (about things you'd never get away with in class!) and just generally have a good time, while you slowly starve death because you can't wait to get those blasted dumplings wrapped so you can eat them. I did for a while contemplate eating one raw but I could not convince myself to eat raw pork, besides my teacher would have most likely stopped me, so I just kind of behaved and waited for my teacher to boil the dumplings and then fry them after. Yum!


Back to those dumplings I ate last week. Like I said, I was head over heals in love with them even before I tried them but by the time they arrived at our table and I'd taken my first bite I was ready to jump on the table and announce that my impending marriage to a portion of dumplings. I somehow (and I don't quite know how) managed to do no such thing though (I blame it on the distinct lack of booze). As for the official version, I wanted to spare my friend the embarrassment of having to publicly admit that she knows me while I'm being shipped off to the loony bin for an extended stay in a padded cell with the added bonus of high doses of drugs.

How can you not fall in love with this?

I can be a pretty harsh food critic when it comes to Asian food, especially since I have tried the real, homemade stuff, but I have absolutely nothing bad to say about those dumplings. They were, as Mary Poppins would say "practically perfect in every way". They were stuffed to the brim with fine pork and veggies and came with a delightful soy/vinegar dipping sauce and some garlic. That sauce was so amazingly good (just the right mixture, just like how I remember my first Chinese's teacher's mum made it right in front of my very eyes!) that I wanted to order about five shot glasses full of it to drink it straight up. Again, I did behave and did none of that. I'm way too boring, people. You just wait, I'm gonna live it up in Shanghai for my birthday - you won't know what hit you when I may or may not share the photos with you upon my return. I probably won't because I'm sure most of them will make me look like I'm an alcoholic or something! 

How's a girl supposed to say no to this?

Really I'm not that bad, nor will I be that bad. I do have a five hour train journey from Shanghai to Beijing ahead of me the following day and I really have no intention of being stuck on a train that travels 400km/h while severely hangover. That practically spells travel sickness and I wouldn't want to accidentally puke on half my travel companions. I'm sure they'd involve the officials and I'd have my VISA revoked faster than you can say super-cali-fragilistic-expialidocious. They'd probably ban me from entering their lovely country ever again and I really don't want them to do that because I kind of really like China even though I've not actually been there yet. But I'll be going soon. Very soon. Next month in fact. I can't wait. Shopping in Hong Kong, West Lake in Hangzhou, an awesome birthday in Shanghai, a visit to a Chinese school in Beijing and that's not even one third of the itinerary.


Anyways. Where was I? Oh yeah, those dumplings. I did mention they were awesome, yeah? Well I suppose it doesn't hurt to mention it again, I just want to make sure that we're on the same page here and that you really have no doubts about how I feel about these dumplings. I mean first of all people, we have to clarify that one can only have feelings of love for dumplings, okay? It's pretty much impossible to not like them and if you're going to try and tell me otherwise then I'm telling you right now, I'm neither interested nor will I listen. Dumplings are awesome. Simple as that. They make people happy. They make me happy. They are up there with chocolate. And coffee. And Mojitos. And some other awesome things that make people insanely happy. Like dumplings. I know I mentioned them already but the way I see it you can't mention them enough. Dumplings. Dumplings. Dumplings.

I love you, you pretty dumpling!

Are you hungry yet? I am. And I just had dinner. I had to make sure to eat right before writing this blog otherwise I would have been out the door to go buy dumplings a long time ago. I am still contemplating going out to buy some dumplings but somehow I don't think a fleece pyjama is appropriate outdoor wear, at least not in my world. Some Irish girls do wear this kind of attire but I simply cannot convince myself to do the same. Nevertheless, my mouth is actually watering. Did I mentioned that while my friend ate a Wasabi Chocolate cake (yes that's super yummy!) I had more dumplings? Yeah, I totally had dumplings for dessert. I thought the waitress would never stop laughing and I'm pretty sure the Chinese and Japanese kitchen staff laughed too - the Spanish waitress didn't seem to get the joke but then she thankfully wasn't serving us. Our waitress did ask me three times whether I was sure about wanting dumplings for dessert. I'm not quite sure why you need to be sure about wanting dumplings for dessert or not. I would eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and as midnight snack and anytime in-between that by the way. I could be absolutely stuffed and I would still eat those dumplings. I'd eat them for the rest of my life, happily.


Bottom line, I love dumplings (and I know I'm not alone there), though I think we've long since established that. What really surprised me about those dumplings was that they tasted just like home. They tasted just like I expected them to taste, like the real, homemade thing. It released all sorts of wonderful emotions inside me and shoved that pesky writer's disease right out of the window. I think that's the real reason why I have pretty much been talking about dumplings for a week solid. I wonder how many people I have alienated since I ate those dumplings... 


When I go back home to Germany homemade coffee and buttered bread with tomatoes and Kräutersalz (I'm sorry but unfortunately there is no English word for this, however it's salt mixed with a whole bunch of herbs) is what I love the most - it's simple and it's good. It tastes like home, it's like remembering a whole bunch of good memories all at once. The coffee alone is enough actually. There's just no better coffee in this world than my dad's coffee (sorry Starbucks, as much as I love you, my dad's coffee will always win my heart!).


Those dumplings are just a simple and just as special, especially when they surprisingly taste just like they should and make you happier than the best happy pills ever could (not that I've ever taken any happy pills)...now if you excuse me I need to write myself a note not to forget to write bigger trousers for work and to schedule another 12 work-out sessions. My friend is on holiday at the moment but when she returns next week we will be going out for dinner, a dumpling dinner to be more specific. Believe it or not, even my friend was head over heels in love with those dumplings... That or she just acted really well in the hope I may just shut up and stop talking about those dumplings.

Chinese Music, Pt 8

Tweet I think I'm forever doomed to fall in love with sad love songs. Especially when they're sung in Chinese and I at first listen only understand about thirty percent of the lyrics and then don't bother to pay attention to remaining seventy percent because the thirty percent I did understand are sad enough and I've already run out out of tissues.


I do love listening to a heart-felt, well-sung ballad about love or falling out of love. It digs up all kinds of emotions; perfect for writing, having a good cry or simply listening and enjoying.


Anyways, let's not get too philosophical about the merits of cheesy love songs. This post is supposed to be about music, I will safe any heart-felt, hormonal and emotional outbursts for another post.


You may or may not know that I love my Taiwanese Idol Dramas. I wouldn't say that I watch them all the time but when I find one that I like I usually neglect half of the world until I've finished watching it. The last drama I watched last is called 陽光天使 (Yángguāng Tiānshǐ / 'Sunshine Angel' or 'Sunny Girl') starring Rainie Yang (楊丞琳 / Yáng Chénglín) and Wu Chun (吳尊), who used to be in Fahrenheit. While watching I got severely distracted by the soundtrack. All the songs that were used (or at least the ones I paid special attention to) were by Nylon Chen (陳乃榮 / Chén Nǎiróng), a Taiwanese songwriter, singer and actor who released his debut album "Paradise" in 2009. Sadly there isn't a lot of English information to be found about Nylon Chen but you can check out his blog if you're interested in knowing more about him. It's in Traditional Chinese though so be mindful of that. He also has a verified Weibo account, again also in Chinese.

Update: I have found a little biography of Nylon Chen on the Asian Fanatics Forum if you're interested in finding out a little more about this handsome, talented young man. You'll also find some info on the dramas he acted in and his music.

The song I'd like to introduce to you today is actually from Nylon Chen's debut album which I just had to check out after I fell in love with the songs Nylon contributed to the drama soundtrack. The song is called 不再 (Bù Zài / No Longer). It was written and composed by Nylon Chen himself and features beautiful clear piano tunes, string music and a Nylon's beautiful voice.


Here's the music video:

And here is the KTV version:

Courtesy of Mojim.com, here are the Chinese lyrics (I will add the Pinyin shortly), scroll down for the English lyrics, courtesy of me:

掛上電話了之後　彷彿整個世界都跟我沉默了

打開收音機聽見　妳最愛的那首歌讓我失眠了

妳隱瞞了我什麼　其實我們心裡都明白

到底是誰　到底是哪出了錯

緊緊閉上的雙眼　為何還是能看見妳幸福的臉

微微顫抖的指尖　撕碎了妳我曾經愛過的紀念

妳隱瞞了我什麼　其實我們心裡都明白

到底是誰　到底是哪出了錯

也許是妳變了

妳不再愛我　妳不再想我

無情和冷漠　就像從沒認識過

再多的抱歉　也不能夠挽留什麼

連最後一句再見　都不必說

妳不再愛我　妳不再想我

無情和冷漠　就像從沒認識過

妳美麗笑容　從今後不再屬於我

輕輕說聲我愛妳　從此分手

掛上電話了之後　彷彿整個世界都跟我沉默了

打開收音機聽見　妳最愛的那首歌讓我失眠了

妳隱瞞了我什麼　其實我們心裡都明白

到底是誰　到底是哪出了錯

也許是妳變了

妳不再愛我　妳不再想我

無情和冷漠　就像從沒認識過

再多的抱歉　也不能夠挽留什麼

連最後一句再見　都不必說

妳不再愛我　妳不再想我

無情和冷漠　就像從沒認識過

妳美麗笑容　從今後不再屬於我

輕輕說聲我愛妳　從此分手

輕輕說聲我愛妳

從此分手

I translated these lyrics purely because I wanted to know what the song was all about. If you would like to make a correction just leave a comment. Meanwhile, enjoy:

Hanging on to the phone afterwards

It seems like the whole world doesn't want to talk to me

Turning on the radio to listen

I can't sleep listening to your favourite song

What did you hide from me?

Actually, our minds understand

Who is to blame?

What went wrong?

Closing my eyes tightly

Why can I still see your happy face?

Feeling a slight shudder in my fingertips

Tearing me to shreds as I remember you loving me

What did you hide from me?

Actually, our minds understand

Who is to blame?

What went wrong?

Maybe you changed

You no longer love me

You no longer miss me

Cold and without mercy

Like you never knew me at all

Feeling sorry again

Unable to do enough to make you stay

Finally the last goodbye

It doesn't need to be said

You no longer love me

You no longer miss me

Cold and without mercy

Like you never knew me at all

Your beautiful smile

From now on no longer a part of me

Quietly saying that I love you

From now on we're separated

Hanging on to the phone afterwards

It seems like the whole world doesn't want to talk to me

Turning on the radio to listen

I can't sleep listening to your favourite song

What did you hide from me?

Actually, our minds understand

Who is to blame?

What went wrong?

Maybe you changed

You no longer love me

You no longer miss me

Cold and without mercy

Like you never knew me at all

Feeling sorry again

Unable to do enough to make you stay

Finally the last goodbye

It doesn't need to be said

You no longer love me

You no longer miss me

Cold and without mercy

Like you never knew me at all

Your beautiful smile

From now on no longer a part of me

Quietly saying that I love you

From now on we're separated

Quietly saying that I love you

From now on we're separated

Notes on a Chinese language exchange

Tweet Do you use LiveJournal? Or have you ever used it? Clicked your way through their countless blogs? Are they even blogs? Journals? Public Diaries? 

I never quite got the hang of LiveJournal. It confused the bejaysus out of me when I first tried to make sense of it. Even signing up and reading the FAQ section or using one of their journal templates didn't help me. In fact it scared me so much that I refused to take any steps towards making having my own blog a reality until 2010 came around and I finally told myself not to be such a wuss + plus I discovered that blogger.com is actually idiot-proof, well pretty much anyway.

No, my musings on LiveJournal have absolutely nothing to do with the topic I'm actually planning to talk about. In fact you totally could have skipped reading the last two paragraphs. Sorry, did I forget to mention that? Damn, I'm getting really forgetful these days. My apologies, I'll be celebrating a milestone birthday soon. I seem to be getting somewhat senile (and nervous since I'll be in Shanghai on the day!) as the day nears.

Anyways, back to LiveJournal. Just a second, we'll get to the Chinese language exchange in just a moment, don't rush me please, thanks. Anywho, from the little I remember of LiveJournal (Does it even still exist? I kinda lost focus since 2009 came and I started to spend all my time on Twitter...) and please do correct me if I am wrong, which I probably am, it used to give you an option to post you current mood and the music you were listening to or the book you were reading (which is actually stupid because I have not yet met the genius who manages to blog while reading a book but we'll ignore this little flaw for the time being since it's really not important for this blog post).

I really feel like boring you with my current mood which I'm actually not quite sure of (it's somewhere between tired and content) + I was really just looking for a chance to mention 羅志祥 (Show Luo) who's new album 9ood Show you should all totally buy because it's pure awesomeness (I'm totally biased so you should probably make up your own mind!) from someone who's pure handsomeness! Gosh, people you should really know me by now. I manage to mention 羅志祥 or 王力宏 (Wang Leehom) even if what I'm talking about has nothing to do with those two but let's not go into that now.

Let's get cracking on my thoughts on my recent experience with a Chinese language exchange, then, shall we?

First of, the website I used to meet my victim (an apt description for anyone who has to endure my spoken Chinese!) is called Conversation Exchange and I actually found the site through Google. I'll give you a quick review of my thoughts on it:

I quite like the webpage. It's really simple to use and easy to navigate. It's pretty no-nonsense (unlike some other websites which I mentioned previously but will not mention again but we all know I'm talking about LiveJournal) which is something you want. Finding a language partner shouldn't take you forever.

Conversation Exchange requires that you sign up to their website and create an account in order to be able to use their service. Signing up is free and takes about five minutes. Filling out your profile may take you another five minutes, then you're already good to go. The information you have to provide on your profile is pretty basic. It is limited to:

• Name
• Gender/Age
• Country/Town
• The language/s you already speak
• The language/s you are learning
• The type of exchange you want to do (options are: face-to-face, Skype etc., penpal)
• A brief bio
• hobbies and interests

To be quite honest I would prefer if there was also an option to upload a photo as I've a bit of an issue with meeting up with a total stranger I've never ever met before (no, I won't be going on a blind date any time soon unless the person I will meet is aforementioned 羅志祥 and/or 王力宏) but I suppose you could get to know the person first before you met up, etc.

The websites asks you not to provide personal contact details in your profile which I think is pretty sensible. Since this website isn't just limited to one country but let's you choose just about any country and any language you don't want just anyone having access to your contact details. Furthermore, the website offers a private messaging service (if someone messages you, you receive an email with the message and a link to their profile with the option to reply) to enable you to provide your contact details only to the person you actually want to have your language exchange with.

If you've been following my musings about my Chinese studies you may have read about me complaining about my abilities to actually speak Chinese on one occasion or other. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I can't speak at all and totally mispronounce everything. My grammar and pronunciation may not always be spot on but like I said I can make myself understood and reducing the mistakes I make is a work in progress. As my dad always says, "No-one is born a master of anything." I can make myself understood and for some strange (and totally incomprehensible reason) Chinese people are forever telling me my Chinese is quite good. I usually reply with "廢話!" (as a verb this translates into "to talk nonsense", the more direct translation would be "What bullshit!") if I know the person, if I don't really know the person I just smile and say thanks because you know I do have manners.

I joke around with my Chinese friends and occasionally even make a fool out myself when my Chinese teacher shows me off and proudly tells everyone that I speak Chinese which leaves me with no choice but to actually speak a little Chinese to proof her point. How the Chinese people I speak to manage to refrain from giving me a look of sheer horror when they hear what I do to their beautiful language is beyond me! I only struggle to make myself understood when I get the feeling that the person I am talking to doesn't have patience to let me finish. That's when I get nervous. I automatically try harder to speak well and correctly but instead the exact opposite happens. I become my own victim, get tongue-tied and what I say makes no sense whatsoever. Mostly it's not even Chinese. Or English. Or any kind of comprehensible language.

Considering that I not so long ago initially actually refused to open my mouth and speak Chinese for fear of making a mistake and having people laugh at me, I've actually come a long way. Now I just open my mouth and speak. To heck with with making a mistake. To heck with the pronunciation being slightly off. I speak Chinese and people understand me, more or less. Plus when my favourite waitress at Starbucks proudly tells the customers behind me that I speak Chinese and they look at me disbelievingly until I turn to my friend and ask her in Chinese 他們為什麼我不相信你哦？(Why don't they believe you, huh?) I feel just a little superior. Not overly and I have by no means lost the ground under my feet but those two seconds where a complete stranger admires my ability to speak a language most people appear to write off as "too difficult" feels damn good. I firmly believe that I'm entitled to that feeling. I've worked hard to get to the level I am at now and I will continue to work hard to climb up the ladder of proficiency.

In order to climb up that ladder I need to speak a lot of Chinese though. I learn fast and using a language is the easiest way to make me learn. It works better than the carpet beater my mum used to get me to do my home work. No she never actually beat me with it - she's not a monster you know - but merely seeing the blasted thing usually did the trick.

I remember, last year when my teacher and I went out for a lovely Chinese dinner to celebrate me passing my HSK exam, we ended up chatting to the restaurant owner. He said something intriguing and to this day I do believe it is true. He told my teacher to take me to China and dump me in some small town village where absolutely no soul speaks English. They both laughed and then the boss added "In three months she'll speak Chinese!". Maybe he recognised that I have some sort of talent for learning languages, maybe he was just joking, I don't know. I didn't ask and he didn't say. Nevertheless, the man was spot on. If you were to take me to China and put me somewhere where I have no option but to speak and use the language to make myself understood I would improve quite a bit quite quickly. I would also have a migraine for about three months straight but I would learn something, that I am quite sure of.

When I started my quest to find a language partner, it was funnily enough, the 老闆's (boss) words that I recalled. I have plenty of confidence when I speak to my teacher in Chinese. We walk down the street laughing and joking in Chinese without a care in the world. It's not that I don't care about the mistakes I make when I speak to my teacher but it's just that they don't make me nervous. It's probably because I feel comfortable when I am around my Chinese teacher. I also feel confident. I lack both those feelings when I speak to strangers in Chinese so I am currently on a quest to work on increasing my confidence and level of comfort. I believe my trip to China will also help with that since I made the decision to speak as much Chinese as possible while in China. Shouldn't be hard now, should it? If anyone wants to speak English with me I'll just reply in Chinese and say that I don't actually speak English - we'll see how far I get with that white lie before I have to out myself. That's what one of my friends suggested at a party I went to the other day and we both liked that idea a lot.

Anyways, thanks to Conversation Exchange I actually found a language partner on the same day I signed up. We exchanged a couple of emails in both English and Chinese over the course of a few days and then decided to meet up for a chat about two weeks ago. I was pretty nervous leading up to the meeting and because our first meeting was actually on April's Fool's Day I managed to convince myself that I would most definitely be stood up so tried to look really nonchalant while sipping my coffee and checking Twitter. I think I can pull off the yeah-I'm-not-actually-waiting-for-someone-face quite well. It helps when you have an iPhone to busy yourself with. A book also works, in fact a book will always make you look like you're definitely not waiting for someone. Especially when you've managed to snag a cosy corner in a coffee shop and you have a cup of coffee/tea right next to you. Bring your iPod as well. If you need anymore tips, I'm happy to help!

Luckily for me my language partner did arrive, albeit late. Tz, tz! We said hello in English and then switched to Chinese, at which point I barely managed to keep the horrified look off my face. This guy was speaking way too fast and I was struggling really hard to understand anything. I could've asked him to slow down or repeat but the proud idiot inside of me refused. Sometimes I just get possessed by the insane idea that I really need to save face - yes, I definitely have been learning Chinese too long. I don't know whether this guy was just trying to test me by speaking so incredibly fast but for some miraculous reason I manged to understand enough to actually answer his questions correctly and whenever I didn't I blamed it on the fact that it was too loud inside the coffee shop, thus giving me the perfect excuse to ask him to repeat what he'd just said. If he caught on then he played along really well.

He dumped me in the deep end by steering the conversation into a business direction about my new job, my previous job, the company I'd be working for and the company I had been working for previously, etc. I answered as best as I could but to be quite honest I just don't have the vocabulary to have a business orientated discussion in Chinese, nor do I care for that at the moment. I don't like talking about my job after I leave the office, not for long anyway. I leave work at work, always. It's a habit I got accustomed to after spending six years working my backside off for a company that didn't care about their employees (to put it mildly) and regularly violated the Irish Working Time Act in about as many ways as they possibly could but that's another story for another day.

After some difficulty I managed to steer the conversation back towards more familiar waters and topics such as family and travel. Any other questions about work I simply ignored. Ideally, if you're a bloke and have a little tactfulness this should indicate that the subject you wish to talk about is not the subject the lady you're talking to wants to talk about. Before you ask, gushing about 王力宏 for two hours wasn't on my agenda. Well, strictly speaking that's always on my agenda but I do have enough tactfulness not to put a man through that. Unless of course he really rubs me up the wrong way that is.

I must admit that I got a bit annoyed when part of our English chat ended up being about the merits of speaking Chinese with a Beijing accent. I swear, at this stage I will tell the next person that mentions speaking Chinese with a Beijing accent to shut up but I will add a few obscenities between to and shut up. I will happily have an interesting and meaningful discussion on the merits and faults of learning to speak Chinese with a clear and distinct Beijing accent but I refuse to allow anyone to tell me speaking with a southern accent will make me sound like I'm uneducated and will ensure that nobody will ever understand me. I find this incredibly hard to believe since everyone I've spoken to managed to understand my Chinese and not once did my accent come into the equation.

I don't know if I overreacted but I felt offended, seriously offended. It may be the woman in me, early PMS or maybe I actually have a point but I wasn't happy, still am not. In fact I was so unhappy that I actually vented in Chinese which usually calms me down as it takes some effort for me to make sense in Chinese. My rant ended up being so long that even Twitter demanded that I trim it. Only Facebook allowed me to post it in full and some of my Chinese speaking friends who read my post agreed with me and supported my thoughts on the fact that being able to speak and being understood matters most, not what accent you have.

According to my teacher I actually had a very clear Chinese accent when she first started teaching me but I have since been southernised. Mind you, during class I still actually learn the correct pronunciation first before I choose a lazier way of pronouncing the word, though I don't always do that, thus I actually have a pretty strange accent. I would like to believe that this is the real reason why my Chinese speaking friends laugh when I speak Chinese. It actually makes me laugh too.

Back to the language exchange though, since I've slightly ventured off topic here which I could keep going with since in addition to being so blatantly insulted I also can't stand when someone, usually a male someone, completely disregards equality and women's rights. Trying to defend those two topics is even more tiring than having a business related chat - it's 2012 for the love of everything!

I'd like to leave you with a few, hopefully useful tips for a language exchange. Although numbered these are in no particular order.

1) Discuss what you would like to talk about in advance so that both of you can prepare accordingly. Decide which topics you'd like to talk about in which language. Both of you should have a say about what you talk about. For a first meeting you could try to just introduce yourself in the language you're learning, although if you prefer you can of course just jump right in. If you think your language partner is picking topics that are too easy for them try to challenge them. Be bold, they'll appreciate it. You should also remember to respect limits though. Subjects that one person does not like to talk about should not be repeatedly breached.

2) If you meet face to face, pick a place where you feel comfortable and where it's easy to have a conversation. A night club is really not the right place to meet unless you really fancy your language partner and plan on picking him or her up in which case you should probably let you language partner know first to avoid nasty surprises. Also if your friends happen to be at the same night club you really don't want to have your crush walk off with a scoff. I would also suggest you do the picking up in the language you're learning although you should probably prepare in advance so you don't make a fool of yourself. I'm totally not giving you any useful tips here, am I?

3) If you meet online using Skype, etc., because you and your language partner aren't in the same country or city, pick a time that's convenient of both of you. Straight after work mightn't be the best idea, you both may be too tired to actually make an effort. Leave the TV or radio off and put that phone away. You want to learn a language so you should give 100%.

4) Don't be shy to correct your language partner and demand that he or she corrects you as well. It's the only way for both of you to gain the most out of your chat. It is also the purpose of a language exchange. On the other hand, don't be patronising, a language exchange is not class.

5) Meet regularly, if both your schedules permit, or at least semi-regularly.

6) Be willing to learn. Accept the corrections your language partner makes. They are making an effort to help you speak better. Going off in a huff about having all your mistakes pointed out is not exactly helpful. I know it can be a little tough but chin up, at least you know what you're doing wrong and you can improve. If no-one ever tells you, your mistake will become habit and eventually you'll just think that you're actually speaking correctly when you really aren't. Two years later it that little mistake you made in the beginning will have grown into a huge monster and it will be difficult to get rid of.

7) Knowing someone speaks the same language you do can easily make you lazy. You mightn't make as much of an effort if you don't know how to say something in the language you're learning simply because you know that your language partner will understand you anyway. Throwing it out in your native language and hoping that your language partner will understand isn't really ideal. Try to explain yourself even if it makes you feel stupid. Later on, ask for the word or phrase you didn't know and write it down so you'll know next time. If you already know how to explain that word or phrase you will find it much easier to remember, I find.

If you have any other suggestions or think I'm talking nonsense, do let me know. I'll be happy to add/remove them to/from the list.

What to do while in China...

Tweet



...or should I title this blog post "What not to do while in China..."?


I'm presently enjoying an imaginary cup of coffee (because I'm too lazy to venture into the kitchen to actually make one) and weirdly enough this got me thinking what I want to do/not do when in China in June - besides sight-seeing, shopping and stuffing my face with food that is. Yes, I know, my mind works in mysterious ways, I don't quite understand it myself sometimes.


I've started a new fitness regime last week and so far I've resolutely been sticking to the torture I'm inflicting on myself on a daily basis - who would have thought, I do have masochistic genes in me after all. Despite the fact that every single muscle in my body has been hurting for about a week solid my mind is bubbling with ideas of things to do and stuff I want to change about my life - when it's not bemoaning the fact that I've had the idiotic idea to start working out daily that is. I tell you I've discovered my body has a lot more muscles than I was previously aware of - it's after all been a while since we touched upon the subject in biology class.


Presently the sole reason for my plan to get into shape is to lose a few kilos so I can stuff my face with food in China without regrets. Then again I'm sure it's impossible to regret eating dumplings or having Dim Sum in Hong Kong until you look about nine months pregnant. Yes, I am aware that my logic may be severely flawed here. I do realise that losing weight just so you can pile it straight back on while on holidays makes little sense but just roll with me on this one, okay?


You see, I do have a sensible reason for doing this. I have a bunch of cool trousers that I like to wear. Some of them I even have to wear, whether I want to or not, like when I go to work and stuff because they're super nice trousers and at work I kind of need to look presentable. The problem is if I don't lose any weight but still stuff my face while in China none of these trousers will fit me anymore. You see? It makes perfect sense to lose some weight before flying to China. When I come back my trousers will definitely still fit me. My logic may be flawed but to me it makes perfect sense.


I'd actually planned to start my fitness regime (no, I've not gone off topic again, just bear with me okay?) somewhat earlier but, and I'll be honest here, I was way too lazy. I kinda dabbled with it on and off since about January but I definitely didn't stick with it. This past week I've been resolute and since I've realised just how horribly unfit I actually am, it's given me somewhat of a kick in the backside to stick with things - at least for now. I also have someone to inspire me and help me focus but I won't divulge who that someone is. It's someone pretty darn awesome though.


What with getting fit being a work in progress, I've focused my mind on a few other things I could do while in China. Let me tell you, when you're lying on your bed, gasping for breath (after 100 sit-ups this too hurts!) while wiping away the tears that keep running down your cheeks because even thinking about moving your left little toe makes your sore muscles cramp up, you have a lot of time to think. My brain was about the only part of my body that didn't hurt...up until I discovered that using it extensively to actively follow and participate in a conversation using all my Mandarin skills also made it hurt. I'm really am running out of things to do that do not require moving about while my aching muscles recover from being forced to do things they were absolutely not created for.


Despite all the pain I've been in this last week and all the pink bunnies I saw when I suffered from vertigo two weeks ago (The doctor put me on the happy pills, I don't usually see pink bunnies, okay? Well maybe when I'm drunk but that's a whole different story again!), I've managed to put a list of things to do/not to do when in China together. It is a work in progress so I will definitely be adding things, I think. If you have a suggestion you're more than welcome to leave a comment.

So let's kick this off!

1) Practice my Mandarin conversational skills in preparation for meeting my 叔叔 and 阿姨 (my Chinese teacher's parents) for dinner while in Hong Kong. I want to impress them at least a little bit. Also I'd hate for my teacher to be embarrassed by my Mandarin in front of her parents so I will do my best to speak as clearly as possible and maybe I'll give that Beijing accent another try... I hope to limit my mistakes although I won't sit there and berate myself for making a mistake. I am learning, mistakes are allowed. As long as my 叔叔 and 阿姨 are able to understand me and I can understand them, I'm happy. The intention is not to use my teacher as an interpreter. That's not what she's there for. Furthermore I also want to learn a few Cantonese phrases to surprise my 叔叔 and 阿姨 with. I find Cantonese most intriguing and since my Chinese teacher has a very clear pronunciation it's fairly easy for me to pick up the correct way something should be said although I tend to forget it fairly quickly (lack of practice). Some of the sounds are more than confusing but I managed to wrap my head around all those horrible z/zh/c/ch sounds in Mandarin, so I can do the same with Cantonese...ng here I come.




2) Loads of Mandarin, very little English (kinda links in with number one). I want to try to speak as much Chinese as possible. I'll even be bold here and go as far as this: I want to rely solely on my Mandarin. The plan is to only resort to English when I'm either absolutely not understood or I cannot, for whatever reason, make myself understood due to lacking the vocabulary to do so or just feeling completely out of comfort zone. I've gone out of my comfort zone when speaking Chinese on a few occasions and I've tried my best - up until I got horrible migraine from trying too hard - so it will be a while before I give up. However, I don't want to spend most of my holidays with a banging headache so if I don't get anywhere with my Chinese, I will resort to English and I won't even feel bad about it. I'm really intrigued to find out how my plan to speak loads of Chinese will work out. I'm sure the experiences I make will make for a very interesting blog post when I come back so I'll keep you posted on this subject.




3) No Western food. This one was actually suggested to me by @PeckishLaowai (link to blog) so thank you for that. It's a pretty sensible idea because let's face it, I really don't need to fly half way across the world to eat pizza and fries. My local Pizza Hut is two tram stops away and Eddie Rockets is right next to it. The only exception I plan to make in terms of Western cuisine is Starbucks and this does not count as food whatsoever so whatever objections you had when you read "exception" really doesn't have any foundation. I'm looking forward to eating loads of amazing things and letting my taste buds be presently surprised or shocked for life. The outcome will remain to be seen. I'm especially looking forward to sampling loads of Hong Kong food although I may just spend all my time there stuffing my face with Dim Sum or 鳳爪 (chicken feet). I appear to be no fan of Sichuan style food (even though I love it spicy) but I'm looking forward to trying the real thing (if I get the chance) as even the most authentic Sichuan style cuisine restaurant we have in Dublin cannot get it right - 好無聊啊!




4) I want to have a fabulous birthday! I'll be in Shanghai for my birthday (where I'll be meeting @koangirl and I hope that @unbravegirl can make it too) and since this year's birthday is a special one I want it to be fabulous. I can't quite believe that I'm headed for the half-way point already but who cares. I still recall my 21st birthday best, probably because I was drugged up with antibiotics and had no voice due to a nasty throat/chest infection. My dinner was extra spicy (the chef had good intentions but I almost discovered the art of spewing fire that night) and in hindsight downing two Mojitos after resolutely sticking to Jasmine tea for most of the night probably wasn't the wisest decision I ever made either. Neither was my attempt to dance the night away which ended with an asthma attack which nearly ended in A&E but thankfully didn't. Looking back my birthday in 2010 wasn't so bad either...I distinctly remember a lot of olives were involved for some unfathomable reason. We'll leave it at that and let's swiftly return to this year's plan. Dumplings should be a must for my birthday, if I remember correctly the decision was made to consume these before, so that sounds just about perfect. Maybe, just maybe, I'll even eat some longevity noodles, we'll see... I'm sure I'll also manage to squeeze in a cocktail or two. In my world this sounds utterly delightful and the fact that I'll be in China on my birthday of all things will probably be most distracting.




5) Shopping! Girls love to shop, I'm no exception there even if I can contain myself and on occasion even get bored of it. I do love a lovely day out with friends, hitting the shops, trying different clothes on, buying some stuff, laughing and giggling and sharing stories, followed by a lovely dinner and maybe even a night out to sample the new findings. I won't spend quite that much time on shopping in China though, but I may hit a couple of shops here and there while in Hong Kong and under the watchful eye of my teacher who can stop me from overspending. I will definitely by some stuff to help me study and some Chinese books to read so that should be fun. I'll most likely just post them to my home address so I don't have to carry them around with me to Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. That would be slightly foolish. Apart from that, one shop that I definitely want/must visit is called STAGE Hyaline of the World. There's a branch in Hong Kong and if you know of my obsession with 羅志祥 (Show Luo) you may just understand why I want to visit that particular shop. It's owned by no other than himself, STAGE is Show Luo's brand and I'm looking forward to treating myself. Yes, you could potentially call me insane, not that I really care...




6) I want to try just how good my acting skills in front of the camera are so I'll be putting together a little video of me speaking Chinese but whether that video will ever be published remains to be seen. One person who will definitely get to see the video is my dad - I kinda want to make it for him because apart from me singing Happy Birthday to him in Chinese this year he's never actually heard me speak Chinese and I'd love for him to see and hear that I have in fact archived just a little bit. My Chinese teacher will possibly involved in making the video although she doesn't know of her luck just yet.


TBC...if you have any other ideas or suggestions, hit me with them (figuratively speaking).