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Week 15 - 城堡！
By js6426
This week was a standard week with not much to say. I don't really want to write posts just for the sake of writing them, so I think this will be my last post until we start our finals, which is 3 weeks from now. Then I will do a post to finish the semester, including areas I feel I have grown in, and areas that need the most improvement. Perhaps also some goals for the break. I will then do a post after my finals, and maybe a mid-break post to try and keep myself working! The t- 1 comment
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Signese Revival 42
By roddy
One fairly random photo of Chinese characters in action, per week, until sometime in 2018. And perhaps longer if I'm encouraged. Those who want to contribute their own random photos of Chinese characters are welcome, just get in touch and I'll add you to the contributor list so you can post directly, from computer or phone. Can't imagine it happens anywhere mean as much now, but calling cards used to be enormous business.- 0 comments
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Top 12 dim sum
By abcdefg
Here's another dim sum menu, sort of. This one is especially useful because it features only 12 items from a busy upstairs restaurant that offers probably a hundred items. (I ate upstairs.) These take away selections are available for purchase on the street level; no need to go inside. My guess is they are some of the house's best sellers. This place was across the street from my Hong Kong (Wan Chai) hotel 華美粵海酒店。 If you figure out and learn these 12 items,- 0 comments
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Handwritten Signs at the Market
By DrWatson
Longan's for sale at a shop in New York City's Flushing Chinatown.- 0 comments
- 1384 views
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Week 3 - 11% Complete - (142/1300)
Hey all,
So life got pretty busy outside of my Chinese learning, so my progress took a hit.
I finished chapter 3 of HSK5 in the last few days. I'm feeling pretty confident about my ability to memorize these character and also use them in context. Taking the workbook exercises at the end of this week, I hit about 60%, which would be a pass rate. It may seem low, but considering I'm still a 3 months or more away from actually sitting the exam, that is much higher than expected at this stage.
Part of the progress has been my listening practice. Honestly, reading has always come much easier to me. It's easier and more interesting to practice in my opinion. I think because there is less pressure and time constraint on reading compared to listening. However, I've started listening to a podcast that I've found really helpful, called Tea Time Chinese (not a sponsored link by the way).
Overall I'm finding the process of mnemonic learning very effective. Though my theory so far is that it's the process of checking the character, figuring out the radicals and meanings of them and creating a story that is helping more than having the story stored in my mind. It means I'm taking a while to study and review the characters and meanings quite deeply in some cases. In other cases the character is simple for me to remember based on already knowing the radicals / characters, for example 工人 or 人生. Whilst its personal based on what you know, the meanings of these are very obvious to me.
My advice to anyone reading who is at a lower lever would be to dig into the meaning of the radicals, it will help you a tonne later down the line. Especially as Chinese seems to love reusing radicals for implied meanings in more advanced words.
That all being said, it's just my opinion. I'm sure there are many much more advanced users on this site that know much more about it than me.
Anyway, peace and love to all, you can find out more about me at my other blog if you're so inclined.
See you next week.
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HSK 4 non progress - Reset
Slink, slink...
That's me trying to sneak in coz now work has been done. I do have valid excuse... I had surgery, a relative fell ill and dies, summer, new and shifting priorities...
So nothing much happened in the past 3 months. I did watch some Chinese drama and donghua, but with English subtitles and usually at 1.5 to 2x speed, so not sure how useful that was beyond some subliminal level.
I started making some pretty study heatmap trackers though...
So September began and I said 'cool will start afresh,' but it's 11 days in and I realised relying on myself to get some study in with no strict regimen is not going to work.So starting tomorrow I'll try put in a minimum of hour a day, in a minimum of two chunks of 30min the morning and another 30 before bed...
Let's see if that sticks. Today I'm finalising my game plan and setting my reminders and alarms. The aim is to focus on comprehensible input.
June - only added to anki time till 1h 49 min, lute remained at 1h 30min
July - 3h 23min of Anki
August - nothing
September -so far nothing
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Roadtrip: Beijing to Dunhuang and loop back
Been really looking forward to this roadtrip, setting off tomorrow morning. Tentative(very much just penciled in), trying to stick mainly to smaller cities. Route looks like this:
First stop Datong 大同, around 4hrs drive.
Day 1: 北京-大同
Gorgeous day for driving! Rest stop in 河北， and some rest stop Chinglish
Walking around 大同古城 (old town). City walls are re-built, but still has a really nice vibe. Everyone we talked to today was really friendly, different accent from Beijing. People are much more surprised at me speaking Chinese than in BJ. Actually, they seem friendly in a way that's aiming to make tourists feel happy in their city, not a bad thing at all, just my feeling.
Day 2: 大同 - 太原：
Absolutely beautiful weather at the Yungang Grottos. Definitely a place worth visiting. Interestingly on Trip Adivsor all the comments say you cannot take photos in the grottos, but this is certainly not true anymore(all the comments seem to be pre-covid). Caught a bit of the 山西 section of the Great Wall on the top of the mountain, couldn't get much of a shot from the moving car. Hear a lot of fangyan when the locals are talking amongst themselves, not even recognizable words. A local 山西 beer.
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My Chinese friend is teaching 6 and 7 year olds in Guangdong. She sent me an 11 minutes video on bilibili showing all her students asking hundreds of questions... so I made a video to send back to them . It's pretty basic speaking, but the pictures and editing took me ages!
See if you can understand me using the non subs!
No English subs - https://youtu.be/eQLlXU0QeE0?feature=shared
English subs - https://youtu.be/ewRQ6828G-4?feature=shared
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4Q 2023
My big event is a week in Chengdu for an event.
I am here with attending a sports event and taking some photos.
Compared to travelling to mainland China four years ago, and definitely not doing that much practice inbetween, I can get around with a bit of fumbling with words. I was asked if I wanted a bag after shopping and I understood that whereas four years ago, I couldn’t understand the words being spoken at me.
People are definitely very friendly and helpful here. I went to the my event supposedly as a photographer. They told me I should have applied for a media pass beforehand. Unfortunately, the English information previously provided had no mention of a press pass. To cut a long story short, one of the staff at the event (with excellent English) helped me negotiate with security who were also very nice. The stumbling block was it was the first day of the event and they needed to strictly follow the rules set by the police. They checked my camera equipment and made sure it was a proper functioning camera. I should have asked what they were scared of - maybe explosive devices because you weren’t allowed to take a mobile phone recharging unit in either. After a couple of days of photography and being relatively harmless and keeping out of trouble, there were no problems with security. In fact, I also saw someone else in the audience using a large camera despite me being told on the first day cameras weren’t allowed in.
It’s been a busy day and most of the day, I am on my own doing my own thing not really communicating with anybody. The most mandarin I speak is to the taxi drivers who have heavily accented putonghua. Quite different to my experience in Qingdao where the taxi drivers had basically standard mandarin. My control of mandarin tones is imperfect - I rely on tuning in using the conversation to progressively speak better tones. This method absolutely doesn’t work with Chengdu taxi drivers. I can feel my tones are all over the place.
I get a day off tomorrow to explore city centre. See what turns up there. The nice thing is finding that I can get around finding out simple details quite easily such as walking into the local gym and talking about their packages and rates.
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Some good films I have seen so far.
Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)
Director: Yi'nan Diao
Ash is the Purest White (2019)
Director：Jia Zhangke
I had posted this in another thread but since they are not released in 2023 I have created this blog instead. I particulary like the main actor in both movies. These are not the style of Chinese films I am used to seeing. What I am used to seeing are films that have Kung Fu or depict ancient China. These two depict a more modern era and also an underworld element. Both are award winners. Black Coal, Thin Ice I watched without English subtitles. There was not a lot of fast talking and generally standard Mandarin was used. Both movies made me feel immersed in a place. I liked that. Black Coal, Thin Ice was filmed in Harbin. The other was filmed in Shanxi. Next for more immersion is Peppa the Pig as I am around a HSK4 level now.
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A Start in Hokkien
Hello everyone!
I've decided to begin a journey into learning Chinese. I am interested in not just Mandarin, but also quite a few of the other varieties of Chinese. In particular I feel I have the resources and abilities to get pretty far into Taiwanese Hokkien (here after simply Taiwanese, in line with current English terminology standards) and Cantonese, so the primary focus in this blog will be my language learning adventures with Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese. This summer I thought I'd get a general sense of tones and tonal languages. I don't want to get caught up in characters or other difficult things due to other things on my plate. So, long story short, I've decided to focus on Taiwanese (in POJ) for the time being.
I'll be working through a combination of lessons from Taiwanese Pronunciation updated by Martin Symonds (found here) and grammar lessons from Spoken Hokkien by Meili Fang (found here). (Yes, I could just use Symonds' Taiwanese Made Easier coursebooks (and I'm sure at some point of my Taiwanese study I will make my way into them), but I wanted something just as sound and with an answer key. I primarily am learning without a teacher (hence the wish to promote corrections and comments on my blog).
Anyway, I intend to start working through both resources, and randomly posting progress updates, notes, things of interest, and questions as I go along. Updates will probably be random, but I hope to post at least once every 2 weeks. Perhaps more if time, energy and material allows. Unfortunately, Chinese (in any form) is not my focus at the moment, thus the 2 week time frame.
Until next time!
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Use the translated English lyrics below to find the title and artist of the song. Bonus points for providing a video or audio link. A short audio clip is provided as an additional hint, should you need it.
We chat every night
We go tit for tat, always those two phrases
Did you miss me?
I’m really missing you
Hualalalalala
Hualalalalala
Stars are falling from heaven
This, isn’t it pretty good?
He has a wife
This doesn’t matter, it doesn’t bother me
We don’t talk about the future or the past
Mood becomes so beautiful
Otherwise... what?
It really doesn’t matter
He says he wants to come, to come see me
Ah, I’m actually rather scared
What kind of person is he
I have no idea
I just know his WeChat account
Basically
This isn’t great
Day after day, it just goes on like this
Meet or don’t meet, this is a conundrum
He’s so enthusiastic
If I refuse
Those tedious, long nights...
Oh, I shouldn’t refuse
Can we just push it back a bit
Anyway
Anyway
Anyway
We aren’t lacking anything
AnswerSpoilerTitle: 微信
Artist: 孔大宁
Link: https://youtu.be/ZQe7PmEg_4A
Translation: https://www.notion.so/95e8b975fa0b43e6b08db1b50eacaa31Chinese lyrics
我们每晚，每晚聊天
说来说去总是那两句
你想我了吗
我好想你呀
哗啦哗啦哗啦
哗啦啦啦啦啦
天上掉星星啦
这样，不是挺好吗
他有一个结婚对象
这没有什么，我并不介意
我们不谈什么将来和过去
心情变得好美丽
其他……什么？
真的没关系
他说要来，要来看我
哎呀，我居然会有一点害怕
他是什么人
我都不知道
只有一个微信号
总之
感觉不太妙
一天一天就这样过去
约还是不约，这是一个问题
他那么热烈
我要是拒绝
那漫漫的长夜
欧，我不要拒绝
能不能再晚一些
反正
反正
反正
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大学毕业
Hey guys, sorry it’s been so long since I did an update.
I graduated successfully with a 92 average, which was number one, but honestly it basically feels meaningless. My final thesis was on the 3 body problem.
Doing the final year and a half online was a disaster, and my Chinese went downhill massively - thanks covid.
All the student had to speak, which meant we got about 3 minutes per class to actually use Chinese. Time differences also made it challenging.
Glad that I graduated of course. I guess the question is, would I recommend this degree to anyone else? Probably not, but it depends on what you want to get out of it. My classmates were all young and were basically there to party and end up with a degree, I was there to learn Chinese. In person was better by far. Also important to recognize it was a Chinese language and literature degree. Classes on Chinese mythology were a waste of time for what I wanted, and my time would have been better used doing self study on stuff I would actually use.
I also really struggled with being treated like a child - things like having attendance taken at every lecture. In England you can attend lectures if you want, but exam results are what matter. If you fail then that’s on you, if you can pass without attending class then it’s all good, but that just wasn’t an option for us in China, to the point where you wouldn’t get a visa if you missed a certain amount of classes.
I’m glad I did it as I learnt a lot, but if I could go back in time I probably wouldn’t have bothered.
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9-12/2021 Chinese Learning and App Project Goals
I set myself some goals at the beginning of this summer, and they served as a good motivating factor over the course of my vacation. I'm now replicating this pattern with the fall season and some of the winter one - setting myself goals I hope to have completed by the end of 2021. There are a total of 122 days in this block.
The goals are somewhat more relaxed as I'm entering the IB, which is supposed to be quite time-consuming. They mostly revolve around Chinese learning, though the last one (which I'd be happy to hear any feedback on!) is about building a language-learning related web app.
Goals
- Read 300k characters of webnovel content. This summer, I read about 75% of that, so this is an achievable goal. I have no specific books to read in mind apart from the highly recommended 《许三观卖血记》and 《活着》.
- Finish the HSK 5 course - I'm already 2/3 of the way through it thanks to progress in the summer.
- 70 LangCorrect entries. I've been in discussion with a member of the LangCorrect team, and they'll likely either implement a calendar feature or create an API endpoint that I can use to programmatically access my journals to check whether this goal has been accomplished.
- Shadow the entire Mandarin Bean HSK 5 library. The HSK 4 "episodes" - though really more like short articles with audio - are about 120 in number, so at my current rate of 3 a day (just finished the HSK 4 library today), this shouldn't be a problem.
- This one's harder to keep track of: at least 3 hours of audiovisual immersion a week (including XYY). This means Mandarin Corner, Douyin, and dramas in Chinese. This goal is only for after I finish HSK 5.
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- (Coding Project) - release at least a beta version of the website I've been working on to help language learners. In a nutshell, it's Goodreads for language learners - a place where learners can track, rate, and get recommendations for books - but taking into account book difficulty (crowdsourced by users) and language, not just genre. Apart from this, I'm planning on implementing book charts, reading stats, book clubs, etc.
- (cont.) Really excited about this, since I think it will solve a problem that I've personally been encountering - finding both comprehensible and interesting books - as well as motivating users to read with goals, articles, and a social aspect, among other things. If this is something that you'd like to hear more about, please let me know and I'll message you when it's done; equally, I'd love to hear ideas for how it could be made to be the most useful tool possible for fellow learners.
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朗读3 - 读书是一件快乐的事情
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPcBCQo_Upo
My parents came to visit (first time seeing them since the whole pandemic started!), so took a big of a break, but back at it.
I think this one overall went OK. Nothing stands out to me as particularly problematic, but can always improve cadence + pronunciation.
text:
读书是一件快乐的事情。对于爱读书的人来说，一旦读上就让人欲罢不能，中途根本无法放下，想让人读到天涯海角。有人说：“人生最深最平和的快乐，就是静观天地与人生，慢慢品味出它的和谐与美。”静下心来，翻开书本，那些沉积的墨香一点点溢满空间，那些尘封的快乐一点点打开。读书真的很快乐!
德国文学家歌德曾经说过：“读一本好书，就是和一位高尚的人谈话。”是的，读好书，就像结交了良师益友，使人受益匪浅；读好书，就像沐浴在温暖的春风里，使人心旷神怡；读好书，就像找到了快乐之源，使人领悟到快乐的真谛!
书，是人类进步的阶梯；书，是打开智慧大门的钥匙；书，是我们每一个人生活中不可缺少的一部分。
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Returning to Interpreting
Its now been about a year and a half since I last posted in this blog, and a lot has happened in that time. I wanted to return here to set down some progress updates and new targets. Hopefully some of you might find it interesting and/or useful!
Covid accelerated my move into the translation industry when I thought I might go into language education, largely because of the work at home aspect of the job. In the last few years there have been some boring projects along the way, but also some really fascinating ones too. Regardless, I've become a lot more involved and interested in the industry than I thought I might when I completed my Masters in T+I back in 2019. Sitting at home in lockdown has also meant I've had a lot of time to work on my notetaking skills for interpreting, as well as actively building vocabulary in specific professional fields (as per my 2018 post, I've now surpassed 20k general vocab and still come across new words all the time - my experience is very similar in this respect to recent posts by @Woodford). I'm now looking at returning to interpreting and integrating it into my professional life.
I once said I wouldn't pursue this route, but in recent months I've been gravitating more towards interpreting practice in my daily study, and I'm starting to feel like I am actually getting the hang of the multitasking now - I've certainly improved since I was on the program, thats for sure. Anyway, I've decided I'm going to study for the DPSI here in the UK, to give me a target to work towards and push me to work harder at training up my interpreting skills, which I confess I have largely avoided since graduating (sorry to @Moki in particular, who started a great thread here but I never got organised enough to contribute to in the end).
Either way, its another few years of graft to gain a comprehensive grasp of English Law in both English and Chinese, but I'm looking forward to it - so look forward to more updates on this blog in the future!
Another aside: I'm happy to say I've got back on my Canto in the last few months too, which I'm very happy about, and hopefully can make some good headway with it in the coming years too.
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My HSK level 4.5 Book title 《平如美棠：我倆的故事》 Author 饒平如 Origin country China Traditional/Simplified Traditional Pages 330 with illustrations Paper/E-book Paperback Translated to English (Yes/No) Yes English title Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China Approximate comprehension level Approximate hours to complete Start date 21/06/2021 Completion date Short paragraph of what it’s about Short comment - Read more...
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天边的额吉 seems like a really odd name for a brand, possibly something to do with the Mongolian connection...?
Anyone know the story behind this?
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We made a club on Clubhouse
Here's the link to our club: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/club/芝加哥汉语聊天社. Anyone on Clubhouse can follow our club.
Our regular meeting is now on Saturday evenings at 7 pm CST. If you want to become a member, please attend a meeting and ask to be added as a member. Membership gives you the right to open a room on behalf of the club, which will automatically notify all other members of the club. It possibly notifies followers as well, but I'm not sure about that.
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Recoding myself speaking - first three videos
Here are the first three videos they I recorded in the last week. All videos are recorded as a single take so I'm not "cheating," but I wrote an outline before recording. I think I did two takes of each of these.
Video 1: how I have studied Chinese: https://youtu.be/IK_A7Wbeo5Q
Video 2: a 成语故事：塞翁失马: https://youtu.be/0H_He6_5jvY
Video 3: random dialog about the pets in my house: https://youtu.be/Lx3SdHzd2RY
Certainly a lot of room for improvement, but it should be a good way to look back at previous skill level in the future.
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100 common phrases for HSK exam
Here are 100 commonly used phrases in Chinese and English for the HSK exam. Remembering them can help you pass the HSK exam. Come on!
1.随着经济的快速发展 with the rapid development of economy
2.人民生活水平的显著提高/ 稳步增长 the remarkable improvement/ steady growth of people’s living standard
3.先进的科学技术 advanced science and technology
4.面临新的机遇和挑战 be faced with new opportunities and challenges
5.人们普遍认为 It is commonly believed/ recognized that…
6.社会发展的必然结果 the inevitable result of social development
7.引起了广泛的公众关注 arouse wide public concern/ draw public attention
8.不可否认 It is undeniable that…/ There is no denying that…
9.热烈的讨论/ 争论 a heated discussion/ debate
10. 有争议性的问题 a controversial issue
11.完全不同的观点 a totally different argument
12.一些人 …而另外一些人 … Some people… while others…
13.就我而言/ 就个人而言 As far as I am concerned, / Personally
14.就…达到绝对的一致 reach an absolute consensus on…
15.有充分的理由支持 be supported by sound reasons
16.双方的论点 argument on both sides
17.发挥着日益重要的作用 play an increasingly important role in…
18.对…必不可少 be indispensable to …
19.正如谚语所说 As the proverb goes
20.…也不例外 …be no exception
21.对…产生有利/不利的影响 exert positive/ negative effects on…
22.利远远大于弊 the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
23.导致，引起 lead to/ give rise to/ contribute to/ result in
24.复杂的社会现象 a complicated social phenomenon
25.责任感 / 成就感 sense of responsibility/ sense of achievement
26. 竞争与合作精神 sense of competition and cooperation
27. 开阔眼界 widen one’s horizon/ broaden one’s vision
28.学习知识和技能 acquire knowledge and skills
29.经济/心理负担 financial burden / psychological burden
30.考虑到诸多因素 take many factors into account/ consideration
31. 从另一个角度 from another perspective
32.做出共同努力 make joint efforts
33. 对…有益 be beneficial / conducive to…
34.为社会做贡献 make contributions to the society
35.打下坚实的基础 lay a solid foundation for…
36.综合素质 comprehensive quality
37.无可非议 blameless / beyond reproach
39.致力于/ 投身于 be committed / devoted to…
40. 应当承认 Admittedly
41.不可推卸的义务 unshakable duty
42. 满足需求 satisfy/ meet the needs of…
51.对这一问题持有不同态度 hold different attitudes towards this issue
52.支持前/后种观点的人 people / those in favor of the former/ latter opinion
53.有/ 提供如下理由/ 证据 have/ provide the following reasons/ evidence
54.在一定程度上 to some extent/ degree; in some way
55. 理论和实践相结合 integrate theory with practice
56. …必然趋势 an irresistible trend of…
57.日益激烈的社会竞争 the increasingly fierce social competition
58.眼前利益 immediate interest/ short-term interest
59.长远利益. long-term interests
60.…有其自身的优缺点 … has its merits and demerits/ advantages and disadvantages
61.扬长避短 Exploit to the full one’s favorable conditions and avoid unfavorable ones
62.取其精髓，取其糟粕 Take the essence and discard the dross.
63.对…有害 do harm to / be harmful to/ be detrimental to
64.交流思想/ 情感/ 信息 exchange ideas/ emotions/ information
65.跟上…的最新发展 keep pace with / catch up with/ keep abreast with the latest development of …
66.采取有效措施来… take effective measures to do sth.
67.…的健康发展 the healthy development of …
68.有利有弊 Every coin has its two sides.
69.对…观点因人而异 Views on …vary from person to person.
70.重视 attach great importance to…
71.社会地位 social status
72.把时间和精力放在…上 focus time and energy on…
73.扩大知识面 expand one’s scope of knowledge
74.身心两方面 both physically and mentally
75.有直接/间接关系 be directly / indirectly related to…
76. 提出折中提议 set forth a compromise proposal
77. 可以取代 “think”的词 believe, claim, maintain, argue, insist, hold the opinion/ belief that
78.缓解压力/ 减轻负担 relieve stress/ burden
79.优先考虑/发展… give (top) priority to sth.
80.与…比较 compared with…/ in comparison with
81. 相反 in contrast / on the contrary.
82.代替 replace/ substitute / take the place of
83.经不起推敲 cannot bear closer analysis / cannot hold water
84.提供就业机会 offer job opportunities
85. 社会进步的反映 a mirror of social progress
86.毫无疑问 Undoubtedly, / There is no doubt that…
87.增进相互了解 enhance/ promote mutual understanding
88.充分利用 make full use of / take advantage of
89.承受更大的工作压力 suffer from heavier work pressure
90.保障社会的稳定和繁荣 guarantee the stability and prosperity of our society
91.更多地强调 put more emphasis on…
92.适应社会发展 adapt oneself to the development of society
93.实现梦想 realize one’s dream/ make one’s dream come true
94. 主要理由列举如下 The main reasons are listed as follows:
95. 首先 First; In the first place; To begin with
96.其次 Second, In the second place
97. 再次 Besides，In addition, Additionally, Moreover, Furthermore
98. 最后 Finally, Last but not the least, Above all, Lastly
99. 总而言之 All in all, To sum up, In summary, In a word
100.我们还有很长的路要走 We still have a long way to go.
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Lesson 09: How to Write “半” and “主”
幕帖训练
醉汉带着许多节日礼物上了公共汽车。他死命地抓住车上的扶手，以防摔倒。售票员问：“要不要帮忙？”
醉汉回答：“请吧，你帮我抓住扶杆，我来掏钱买票。” - 13
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Latest Entry
PAVC Volume 1 - Lesson 2
Ok, it's finally time for the next lesson in Volume 1 of PAVC! Lesson 2!
Grammar Notes:
This lesson goes over stative verbs and introduces the following sentence structures:
我很忙。
我不忙。
我不太忙。
我很忙，你也很忙。
你忙不忙？
Which basically can be formulated as:
Affirmative: N/PN + ADV + SV.
Negative: N/PN + NEG + SV. -or- N/PN + NEG + ADV + SV.
Question: N/PN + SV + NEG + SV?
Vocabulary Notes:
不 is usually unstressed in the SV question sentence type.
Hanzi Learned:
早，趙，小，姐，張，久，見，啊，很，謝，也，這，太，天，氣，熱，去，上，課，們，忙，再，冷
Exercises:
Spoiler- Read more...
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Ten reasons why I admire Li Ziqi so much
Ten reasons why I admire Li Ziqi so much
喜欢李子柒的十个缘由
If people are talking about a girl who could make a set of bamboo sofa without a single nail, show you how the ancient Chinese writing tool is produced, tell the story of how a grain of rice grows from a seed,they are talking about Li Ziqi, a Chinese girl doing what she likes regardless of what they say.1
She is true to herself
Rumor goes that she’s just a cyber-celebrity who aims at a rise to fame, and a benefit from that reputation. She could be anything bad given how the gossips are going to shape, but she still keeps on with these vlog, where she shows us every detail of her life.
2
She knows that silence is the best way to suffocate gossip
The way she lives and the way she handles things is too amazing for us to believe. That’s probably why she becomes a target of the negative comment from those far away from such a way of living. Instead of getting involved in rebuttal, she prefers updating the videos for years to show how persistent she is to something she had chosen, with or without comments.
3
She is willing to learn everything new to achieve her goals
She admits that she no nothing about some of the skills shown in her video at first. Her eagerness to learn opens up the possibility to trying something new.
4
She is a genius with business acumen
Her name becomes a brand now and products related are available on line. Commercial benefit is just the byproduct from her previous effort winning the fans with the videos of high quality.
5
She promotes the spread of Chinese culture with talented videos
Foreigners and even Chinese get to know how things are made or coming to being by watching her videos. She acts like an almighty craftsman telling you how things awesome may start with something quite usual and simple, in a creative way.
6
She realizes financial freedom by doing the things she enjoys
She keeps doing what she likes, sharing her life in videos, making you the witness of her life interesting and vivid, showing you how she makes the things she wants on her own. She gets lucky by earning both attention and money the way she deserves.
7
She lives a life of pastoral style far from the madding crowd
Living in the remote village, surrounding by plants she grows as food, accompanying by dogs and goats she keeps as pets, she plays the role in a poem-like farm where those people struggling in the urban life don’t even have the time to dream of.
8
She knows what’s important to her and sticks to it while leaving out all the rest
She used to work in the city as a DJ, a waitress, a Taobao seller, and her grandmother’s getting ill making her back to hometown. Being with grandmother means a lot to her, given her childhood without care from parents but grandparents, and her yearning for self-sufficiency further motivates her stay in Mianyang, Suchuan.
9
She’s brilliant in an ordinary way
She can do almost everything, capable of all kinds of skills, making things from the most common materials and ingredients, creating stuff better than you could have imagined. She looks like a fairy, but she’s living a normal life industriously. You may find that what she manages to do is nothing impossible when you break it into steps, but all when all these easy sections combine, you see something complicatedly great. That’s something we fail to cope with without distractions. We lack that kind of concentration to make it.
10
She knows how to tell the story and opens up our mind for more possibilities
Her videos are silent in conversations or monologues. She shows you all the things in the way she works. Thanks to her breaking things into steps to make it simple to know how things work. Her videos act like a trigger of inspiration, especially to those who imitate her and tell the story of their lives.
She knows how to dye the cloth and awake the beauty and magpies on the dress with thread and needle. This is about the art of embroidery.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av62976159She knows how to make Chinese traditional food out of the normal ingredients. This is about the taste of China.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av81545399She knows how to make the sculpture of characters and get the printing done. That’s the beauty of ancient Chinese inventions.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av29859659She knows how to make the cosmetics applied by ancient Chinese ladies with flowers and honey. That’s the secret of make-up.
https://www.bilibili.com/video/av14406175No more meaningless debate on whether she’s doing this alone or with a team backing her up, no more negative comments on her making videos for the sake of fame and fortune. Mind the way she conveys her love of Chinese culture in modesty, and the truth that Chinese culture shines in the eyes of foreign YOUTUBE audience because of her post. She is real and vivid the way she is.
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只要有你 As long as you are here with me
只要有你
As long as you are here with me
Original by 那英
Translated and performed by Enjune Zhang
谁能告诉我 有没有这样的笔
Who could tell me if
There is a pen like this
能画出一双双不流泪的眼睛
It could get those eyes painted
Shining without tears
留得住世上一纵既逝的光阴
Make the time stay
Keep it from being vanished
能让所有美丽从此也不再凋零
Keep all the beauty evergreen
And the colors never faded
如果是这样 我可以安慰自己
If it is what things could be
I could get myself comforted
在没有你的夜里 能发出一线光明
It could be the light around me
When I'm lonely in the darkness
留得住快乐 全部都送去给你
I will give it all to you
All the remaining happiness
苦涩的味道变得甜蜜
With you even the bitter becomes sweet
从此也不用分开 相爱的天和地
From now on there's no need
To get the heaven and earth separated
还能在同一天空月亮太阳再相遇
Right in the same sky again
We see the sun and the moon meet
生命中只要有你 什么都变得可以
Everything's possible
With you next to me
让所有流星随时都相遇
Shooting stars may find each other
I wish to be their witness
从此在人世上面没有无奈和分离
Wish that there will be
No more departing helpless
我不用睁着眼睛看你远走的背影
I don't have to see you leaving
And can do nothing
没有变幻的青春 没有失落的爱情
Youth and love stay with me
Growing deep without changing
所有承诺永恒得像星星
May the promises be like the stars everlasting
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不浪漫罪名 Charged as being unromantic
不浪漫罪名
Charged as being unromantic
Original by 王杰
Translated and performed by Enjune Zhang
没有花
Without rose sweet
这刹那被破坏吗
Is that very moment incomplete
无野火都会温暖吗
Are you still warm within without the fire
无烟花一起庆祝好吗
Shall we celebrate without firework bright
若爱恋
If love between you and me
仿似戏剧那样假
Is nothing but a play fake and dim
如布景一切都美化
The setting's far from real but beautified
连相拥都参照主角吗
Is the embrace of drama style what you like
你说我未能定时
You've said that
令你每天欢笑一次
I failed to make you smile every day in time
我没说出一句美丽台词
I haven't got you that perfect line
是你心中一种缺陷定义
It's the flaw that you define in mind
流进了眼角里的刺
Like a thorn in the corner of your eye
为何不浪漫亦是罪名
I'm charged as being unromantic
Please tell me why
为何不轰烈是极坏事情
Why placid like water running deep is something bad
从来未察觉我每个动作
You haven't realized that
Every little gesture of mine
没有声都有爱你的挚证
Is silent but the proof of love identified
为何苦不浪漫亦是罪名
I'm charged as being unromantic
Please tell me why
为何总等待着特别事情
Why you are expecting something particular
从来未察觉我语气动听
My tender tone is something you haven't realized
在我呼吸声早已说明
I have made it clear with the breath of mine
什么都会用一生保证
I will promise you everything with my whole life
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SUCCESS: 1,000,931 Characters Read This Year
A few days ago, I finished reading the short story collection 《樱海集》 by 老舍. This brought my reading total above one million characters, completing my goal for the year.
《樱海集》 was first published in 1935. The collection contains a funny and self-effacing preface plus ten short stories of varying lengths (from six to forty-two pages). The stories deal with classical human failings—hypocrisy, pride, envy, bitterness, cowardice, lust, revenge, greed, anger—and the consequences that arise from such failings. Though the stories are thematically related, they differ considerably in their characters, plots, point of views, and settings.
Below is a brief synopsis of each story, along with some amplifying details and concluding thoughts.
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The first story in the collection, 《上任》, is about a recently promoted government official named 尤老二 and the opium-smoking thugs he employs. Much of the story is concerned with 尤老二’s inability to pay for his thugs, who show up at odd times asking for money for travel and other expenses. This story was difficult for me to get into. I found the details of the plot hard to follow and the language more challenging than any other story in the collection.
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《牺牲》 is a character sketch of 毛博士, a bizarre 崇洋媚外 teacher educated in the United States.
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《柳屯的》 is about a small village, a powerful Christian family, and an unrestrained woman who tries to take over them both.
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《末一块钱》 is about a young dissatisfied college student who yearns for the kind of life enjoyed by his more affluent classmates.
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《老年的浪漫》 is about an old man who, cursed with greedy former colleagues and a foolish son, decides to settle old scores.
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《毛毛虫》 is a very short story that asks the question: What does a community think about that unenviable husband and wife who live down the street, and that husband’s former wife, and their new children?
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《善人》 is about a well-to-do woman who sees herself as generous but is oblivious to the suffering of those around her.
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This story was my favorite story of the collection. 《邻居们》 is about the tensions that flare up between two neighboring families after one receives the other’s mail by mistake.
The 明 family and the 杨 family are neighbors. 明家 is selfish and uncivilized. 杨家 is altruistic and lettered. The husband and father in the 杨 family, 杨先生, is described as a “最新式的中国人.”
One day, 杨先生 receives a letter addressed to 明先生. 杨太太 attempts to deliver the letter, but 明太太 misunderstands her neighbor’s intentions and rebuffs her. 杨先生 then writes his own letter explaining the situation. 明太太 refuses this letter, too. Tensions between the two families escalate. 杨先生 believes that he and 明先生 can resolve their differences like rational gentlemen, and continues to write his neighbor letters. 明先生 sees 杨先生 as a weak man and despises him for his bookishness and inaction. Eventually…
Spoilerthe 明家 children go into the 杨家 garden and stomp their flowers to smithereens. When 杨先生 comes home from work and sees his ruined garden, he flies into a rage and smashes every window of the 明家 house. 明先生 is not mad at his neighbor, but impressed with him. It turns out that 杨先生 is a red-blooded man of passion, after all.
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《月牙儿》 is a longer story about a girl and her hard life after her father dies and her mother is forced out of exigence into prostitution.
- 《阳光》 is about the life of a beautiful, proud, and dissolute woman from a rich family. Her eventual arranged marriage to a prominent morality-promoting Daoist is comfortable, but stifling.
《樱海集》 is the second work I’ve read by 老舍; the first was his delightful science fiction satire 《猫城记》. There is something irreverent about 老舍’s style in these two works. 老舍’s stories foreground the character defects of early 20th-century Chinese people, whatever their station in life. Opioid-addicted menial laborers, wives of rich businessmen, the orphaned, the educated, the religious and the ideologically possessed—none are spared.
By pointing out character defects in such a wide-ranging way, 老舍 advances a kind of criticism of the Chinese society of his day. But 《樱海集》 is not a “critical” work, at least not in the sense that modern people use the term. It isn’t a systematic, theory-driven critique of Chinese society; nor is it especially tragic or concerned with issues of justice. Rather, 《樱海集》 is a moral work. The stories in 《樱海集》 are cautionary tales filled with negative moral examples. They are the modern literary equivalents of fables.
The stories paint a pessimistic and probably unbalanced picture of Chinese life. Readers interested in positive moral examples—the righteous government official or revolutionary, the loving and longsuffering mother, the diligent young student who succeeds in life despite enormous opposition—will not find them here. Some of 老舍’s negative moral examples are also offensive to contemporary Western sensibilities. His portraits of women are pretty unflattering. 老舍’s women are ostentatious, stubborn, and quick to anger. (To be fair, the men don’t come off much better. Most of 老舍’s male protagonists are feckless hypocrites.) Others will find 老舍’s portrayal of poor people unsympathetic. The peasants in 《樱海集》 are lazy and spend what little money they find on drugs:
Quote他拾起钱来，吹了吹，放在耳旁听听：“是真的！别再猫咬尿泡瞎喜欢！”放在袋中，一手扫地，一手按着那块钱。他打算着：还是买双鞋呢，还是……他决定多买四毛钱的“白面儿”，犒劳犒劳自己。
It is interesting to consider 老舍’s portrayals of Chinese people in 《樱海集》 in light of then-upcoming theories about politics and art in China. In his lectures at Yan'an in 1942, Mao advocated a new pro-proletariat literature and denounced “petit bourgeois writers” that write “pessimistic literature” and “harm the people.” Were 老舍’s mid-1930’s stories compatible with the new Chinese literature Mao would soon advocate? Was 老舍’s literature “pessimistic”? [For the curious, I blogged about Mao’s Yan'an literature lectures in an earlier post on this blog.]
The Chinese language in 《樱海集》 is not especially difficult. The vocabulary is more challenging than contemporary Chinese fiction writers like 余华 and 韩寒, but far easier than writers like 张爱玲 and 莫言. 老舍’s word choices are frequently different from those found in contemporary fiction. This may confuse language learners unfamiliar with early 20th-century Chinese literature. For the uninitiated, try reading other authors from the same period. (I read short stories by 丁玲, 沈从文, and 施蛰存 before. That helped.)
My new year’s resolution was to read one million characters in books and articles in 2019. I have now reached that goal with a little over a month to spare. This year I read mostly fiction. I also read Mao’s literature lectures, an article by IBM, a undergraduate thesis on the music of American saxophonist Sonny Stitt, and a third of the Bible. It’s been a great and rewarding experience.
From time to time, people ask about the value of studying Chinese language given recent political and economic changes in China. It’s a fair question; there are many reasons to study Chinese and people differ in their motivations and goals. For me, the desire to engage in the cultural and literary traditions of a large and important foreign world was and is a main driver of my Chinese study. This desire was sustained and strengthened this year. I intend to keep reading in Chinese, both fiction and non-fiction. For literature, my near-term goals for the next couple years are to continue with works at or slightly above my current reading level; to move on to major works by 张爱玲, 莫言, and 阎连科; and to tackle tougher early 20th-century works by authors like 鲁迅. I’d like to wade into 文言 someday too, though that day is still a long way off.
I had a lot of fun writing these posts and interacting with all of you. In the future, I may continue writing posts here. For now, however, because of many pressing demands on my time, I will put this blog on hiatus and return to posting intermittently in the excellent and underutilized “What are you reading?” thread.
Thank you to everyone who read or commented on this blog this year.
Link to《樱海集》:
https://www.aixdzs.com/d/117/117466/Some statistics:
Characters read this year: 1,000,931
Characters left to read this year: 0
Percent of goal completed: 100%
List of things read:
《三八节有感》by 丁玲 (2,370 characters)
《我在霞村的时候》by 丁玲 (10,754 characters)
《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》by 毛泽东 (18,276 characters)
《自杀日记》by 丁玲 (4,567 characters)
《我没有自己的名字》by 余华 (8,416 characters)
《手》by 萧红 (7,477 characters)
《牛》by 沈从文 (8,097 characters)
《彭德怀速写》by 丁玲 (693 characters)
《我怎样飞向了自由的天地》by 丁玲 (2,176 characters)
《IBM Cloud文档：Personality Insights》 by IBM (25,098 characters)
《夜》by 丁玲 (4,218 characters)
《虎雏》by 沈从文 (46,945 characters)
《在巴黎大戏院》 by 施蛰存 (6,181 characters)
《分析Sonny Stitt即兴与演奏特点——以专辑《Only the Blues》中曲目 《Blues for Bags》为例》 (5,483 characters)
《一个女剧院的生活》 by 沈从文 (61,154 characters)
《致银河》 by 王小波 (17,715 characters)
《在细雨中呼喊》 by 余华 (132,769 characters)
《熊猫》 by 棉棉 (53,129 characters)
《1988：我想和这个世界谈谈》 by 韩寒 (81,547 characters)
《偶然事件》 by 余华 (20,226 characters)
《第七天》 by 余华 (84,847 characters)
《圣经》 (新译本) (1,055,606 characters; 315,144 read in 2019)
《樱海集》 by 老舍 (83,649 characters) - 18
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Latest Entry
Titanium 天性防弹
Titanium
天性防弹
Original by Sia
Translated and performed by Enjune Zhang
You shout it out
你高声呼喊
But I can't hear a word you say
具体说什么都与我无关
I'm talking loud not saying much
我只发话却不摊牌
I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet
我饱受指责 每一颗子弹击中我都会反弹
Shoot me down but I get up
你枪声刚落 我又站起来
I'm bulletproof nothing to lose
我天性防弹 无所忌惮
Fire away fire away
我不惧射击 请你随意
Ricochet you take your aim
子弹落地 你再度瞄准吧
Fire away fire away
不惧射击 请你随意
You shoot me down but I won't fall
你一发即中 我安然无恙
I am titanium
我天性防弹
You shoot me down but I won't fall
你一发即中 我安然无恙
I am titanium
我天性防弹
Cut me down
你让我陷落
But it's you who'll have further to fall
但你也绝不会因此而好过
Ghost town and haunted love
往昔不再 爱已没落
Raise your voice sticks and stones may break my bones
你放狠话 石头木棍使我开口但我不说
I'm talking loud not saying much
我只回话拒不坦白
I'm bulletproof nothing to lose
我天性防弹 无所忌惮
Fire away fire away
我不惧射击 请你随意
Ricochet you take your aim
子弹落地 你再度瞄准吧
Fire away fire away
不惧射击 请你随意
You shoot me down but I won't fall
你一发即中 我安然无恙
I am titanium
我天性防弹
You shoot me down but I won't fall
你一发即中 我安然无恙
I am titanium
我天性防弹
I am titanium
我天性防弹
I am titanium
我天性防弹
Stone-hard machine gun
心硬若磐 枪已上膛
Firing at the ones who run
向你开炮你就别想逃
Stone-hard as bulletproof glass
心硬若磐 如玻璃防弹
You shoot me down but I won't fall
你一发即中 我安然无恙
I am titanium
我天性防弹
You shoot me down but I won't fall
你一发即中 我安然无恙
I am titanium
我天性防弹
You shoot me down but I won't fall
你一发即中 我安然无恙
I am titanium
我天性防弹
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明鏡所以照形，古事所以知今
Quote意思是：对照明镜是为了看清自己的面容，研究古事是为了知道今天的时势。说明研究并借鉴古代的经验教训，才能更好地作出决策，求得好的形势。
语出《韩诗外传》卷五 原文是：夫明镜所以照形，往古所以知今。夫知恶往古之所以危亡，而不袭蹈其所以安存者，则无异乎却行而求逮于前人也。成语 却行求前 即出于此。
I heard it in:
同舟共济创造美好未来——在亚太经合组织工商领导人峰会上的主旨演讲 (2018年11月17日)
Jointly Charting a Course Toward a Brighter Future – Keynote Speech at the APEC CEO Summit
然而，不是所有故事都这么美好，人类也有过惨痛教训。上世纪发生的第二次世界大战，让人类陷入了滔天浩劫。就在离我们不远的地方，曾经爆发第二次世界大战期间惨烈的珊瑚海战役、瓜达尔卡纳尔战役。今天，这片海面已经波澜不惊，但我们不能忘却历史上的风风雨雨。“明鏡所以照形，古事所以知今。”我们回顾历史，是要以史为鉴，不让历史悲剧重演。面对历史大潮，如何才能为世界经济发展把握正确方向？如何才能为国际社会找到有效治理思路？这里，我愿提出以下主张。
my English version: "Like looking in a mirror, the past can be looked upon to understand the present"
