A (Rather Silly) Video To Help In Your Studies

[The World of Chinese]

Hey all. As some of you know, our magazine has recently started making short, "educational" videos about some social situations you might run into in China. They're meant to be funny, mostly, but there's some actual cultural knowledge and useful language in there too (we hope). With the permission of the mods (well, at least roddy), I wanted to share the most recent one with you.

It's based on an article in the magazine written by longtime Chinese-forums user kdavid. The article, and the video, are about how to accept and decline invitations in China; or more specifically: how to tell when someone's inviting you because they really want you to go versus when they're just inviting you to be polite.

If that sounds interesting, you should check out the video here (we have Tudou, Youtube, and Vimeo links there): http://www.theworldofchinese.com/blog/language/1156-new-video-acceptingdeclining-invitations.html

And, if you missed the first one and want to learn a little about how to give presentations when you're working for a Chinese company (or in a class) you can check it out here: http://www.theworldofchinese.com/blog/language/1088-new-video-how-to-give-a-presentation-in-chinese.html

We hope you enjoy them!

[Friday]

The link doesn't seem to be working. Can you post a direct link to the place on Tudou? Do you sell magazines for foreigners studying Chinese? I have the box DVD set and textbook from 汉语世界, and thought that the company might have a magazine too, as the story in the DVD is about a magazine company, but can't find the magazine in any Bookuu or Xinhua bookstores.

[The World of Chinese]

Hi Friday! The link still works for us, but here are some direct links just in case:

Tudou: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/4Nb9YBTN90Y//

Vimeo:

Youtube:

We do indeed have a magazine; in fact, that's basically all The World of Chinese is at this point, a magazine and website. Things have changed a lot since the DVD set you're referring to. Anyway, if you're interested in checking out the magazine -- and I highly recommend you do, but I'm also pretty biased -- you can get it on our website (see the link in my sig), on Taobao, or at these locations in China:

Beijing: Jenny Lou's, Jenny's, April Gourmet, Beijing Friendship Supermarket, BLCU Bookstore, the Bookworm, Foreign Language Bookstore, Hutong School, Foreign Language Bookstore (Lufthansa Center), Friendship Store, Hanfenlou Bookstore, International Bookstore in International Culture Building, Jisi-HuiYuan Bookstore, Lion Mart, and the Peking University Bookstore.

Shanghai: Bookazine, Charterhouse, Cityshop.

[Wei Mo Ting]

Looks interesting. I love SciFi and thus decided to order the may copy of the magazine.

[jbradfor]

Oh yeah, watched it, liked it, meant to ask you a question about it but forgot....

In the video, when the "fake decline" was done, the excuse given was absurd and not believable. Is this really what is done to make it clear that it is a fake decline, or was this done for comic effect and in the real world more realistic declines are given, even for fake declines.

[The World of Chinese]

Some things were exagerrated for comic effect, what was the answer in particular that confused you?

[jbradfor]

It's been a while, but IIRC something about needing to wash a turtle?

[The World of Chinese]

Our editors confirm, "I have to wash my turtle," is not a common excuse in Chinese.

[jbradfor]

I kind of assumed that. What I was trying to ask is whether using an obviously bogus excuse is common, not whether using the obviously bogus excuse of washing your turtle is commonly used.

[Mike N]

I love the video ideas, 汉语世界! By the way, while I was in China last year, I did some photos for the Traditional Chinese Medicine edition (July 2010) but I never got a copy before I left Beijing. Would it be possible to back-order a copy? I have friends in Beijing who could pick it up locally if mailing it overseas isn't an option.

Subscribed to your channel!