Popular Post ouyangjun Posted October 14, 2015 at 03:31 PM Popular Post Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 03:31 PM Hey there. I've been on these forums for a while, but never a heavy user and go in and out of phases of spending more or less time here. Figured this was a good thread to get back into it... So why Chinese? In the early 2000's I went to China with my university engineering program for about 3 weeks. Our engineering program senior trip went to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong with the purpose of interacting with some universities in China. We spent most of our time eating street food and finding places to drink cheap beer. Go to the 2007 time frame and I was working for a company in America. The GM at the time had done an expat stint in Hong Kong and Shanghai and knew that I had at least been to China before. I was in the process of finishing up my MBA and the company was looking to give me some stretch assignments. I took on a role which put my time at 50% in America and 50% in China, Japan, and Singapore. My homebase was still America, but I was spending some decent time in Asia. During this time I never studied Chinese. To me it was not worth it at the time as I was not there long term and was traveling to a lot of different Asian countries. In 2008 the same company was happy with my work and offered me an expat role to move to Shanghai. It was a 3 year expat deal and at this time I knew very little to no Chinese. I relocated from America to China with nothing but two suitcases. Since I knew I would be in China for 3 years, I decided that I was going to focus on picking up the language. My thought at the time was that I could continue to hone my professional skills and if I could add Chinese on top of that, it would really set me apart from others. During the course of the three years my Chinese got pretty good. I was able to use it in my daily life, became more interested in Chinese history, and loved seeing immediate rewards from the work I would put into my Chinese studies. As my 3 year expat contract was coming to an end, the company extended me for another 3 years in China. At this point I really started to hammer down. I signed up for HSK tests and started using those as motivation to drive my study (passed the HSK 5 back in ~2012). Now in 2015, I'm still in China and my Chinese is better than ever. I'm no longer with the original company that sent me here, but am with a bigger company in a bigger role and now living in Shenzhen. So if you ask me why did I start Chinese... It was for my career, a drive to differentiate myself from others, and add skill-sets for my future. It evolved into an appreciation and study of Chinese characters, Chinese history... the act of self-gratification from seeing immediate results from the hard work that I put in, and selfishly the feeling of "being different" by having decent Chinese and not being like the majority of the foreigners in China who can't speak/read Chinese at an acceptable level... 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotChinese Posted October 16, 2015 at 01:13 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 at 01:13 PM @ouyangjun That's really good that you did that. I met plenty of people who'd been sent over to China for expat jobs and were just... well... English-speaking ex-pat pigs, mostly. I met one bloke who said he'd been in China for years. We were at a bar and his way of getting served was, "Hey hello, hey nihao, one more beer, nihao thank you nihao!" What a tosser. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Two Times Posted October 16, 2015 at 03:06 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 at 03:06 PM @ouyangjun That's really good that you did that. I met plenty of people who'd been sent over to China for expat jobs and were just... well... English-speaking ex-pat pigs, mostly. I met one bloke who said he'd been in China for years. We were at a bar and his way of getting served was, "Hey hello, hey nihao, one more beer, nihao thank you nihao!" What a tosser. Agreed. Warm regards, Chris Two Times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted October 16, 2015 at 03:37 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 at 03:37 PM Reminds me of the British tourists years ago abroad on the Continent who thought that as long as they spoke slowly and loudly in English they would be understood. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somethingfunny Posted October 17, 2015 at 07:43 AM Report Share Posted October 17, 2015 at 07:43 AM Pretty sure thats still the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K3nshiro Posted November 13, 2015 at 12:49 PM Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 at 12:49 PM Hi there, Just a lurker that joined I speak many languages, but mostly all european, I'm trying to get one asian language into my curriculum as well. I had ditched russian and started japanese, but chinese (here in Spain) is being more important here in Spain now. Who knows if I might need it...I hardly have time to study, married man with kids...so slowly I'll try Cheers, Dirk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted November 13, 2015 at 05:19 PM Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 at 05:19 PM Hello and welcome K3nshiro, it can be difficult finding time with a busy life. One of the best bits of advice I heard for people who are busy is little and often, 20 mins - 30 mins a day is better than 6 hours on a Sunday for example, Hope you enjoy learning chinese , enjoying learning is almost like half the work is done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaicat Posted December 14, 2015 at 08:36 PM Report Share Posted December 14, 2015 at 08:36 PM Hello everybody!! I am new using forums and learning Chinese. It's definately the best forum I found regarding Chinese language and culture. It has such a wide range of topics. Just love it. So, why Chinese? I always wanted to learn a language as mysterious and attractive as Chinese. At the moment, it's a long term challenge. I want to learn it little by little with no pressure. And as ouyangjun posted: Learning Chinese would help me to differentiate myself from the others in order to get better job opportunities. But, most of all, the main reason why I chosed Chinese, it's because of a personal motivation. I always felt attractive to Chinese culture - the characters writing, their festivities, their customs and traditions... - and I always wanted to learn more about China. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McKennon Posted January 7, 2016 at 08:05 PM Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 at 08:05 PM It is quite simple: many things worth knowing are written in Chinese and nowhere else. 沒有出路! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryv8 Posted February 9, 2016 at 09:27 PM Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 at 09:27 PM Hi, my name is Marianna. i have been studying Chinese for 3 years now. I was really interested in chinese culture and after my 6 months experience in Shangai I decided to keep on studying it because I want to become both a traslator and an interpreter. Unfortunately I had stop studying it for a while because for my M. A dissertation, but now I want to catch it up and try to get Hsk 5. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 10, 2016 at 09:24 AM Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 at 09:24 AM Welcome to the new members! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish 小鱼 Posted February 15, 2016 at 02:15 PM Report Share Posted February 15, 2016 at 02:15 PM I'm 6 months into being settled as a full time English teacher in Inner Mongolia, north China. I'm fluent in reading and writing very basic Chinese, and I can read and pronounce all pinyin and tones, but I want to become much more advanced in vocabulary and grammar, so here is to learning! 好好学！ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted February 17, 2016 at 10:29 AM Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 at 10:29 AM Welcome to the site! How's Hohhot? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_ Posted February 18, 2016 at 11:07 AM Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 at 11:07 AM . 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted February 18, 2016 at 11:50 AM Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 at 11:50 AM Good luck! I was/am tired of being a stereotype. So I quit my job and went to BLCU to study Chinese. we are all stereotypes 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_ Posted February 18, 2016 at 12:00 PM Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 at 12:00 PM we are all stereotypes Well I'd like to be less of one then. haha 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish 小鱼 Posted February 18, 2016 at 02:55 PM Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 at 02:55 PM RE: Roddy! I have no idea how to use another comment as a quote (I'm 21 and simple technology baffles me, whoops) but to Roddy who asked how Hohhot is - it's incredible! I've been in love with far northern China for a long time and dream-came-true I made it there. Hohhot is an amazing city but absolutely beyond belief freezing in winter, covered in ice and -28C sometimes. There is so much of Mongolian culture there too, and much more so in and around other cities of Inner Mongolia, and it is something else to behold. I love to study Chinese culture anyway, but now I can learn about amazing parts of Mongolian history and traditions too. I also realised how important 白酒 (white wine) is to a lot of Chinese or Mongolian life, (though I really cant stomach it - tastes like I'm being punched by a fireball.) Hohhot, being the capital, has probably the largest population of foreigners, but I still got my fair share (a daily constant) of staring, pointing, "外国人!" ("foreigner!") whispered near me, and secret pictures taken of me. I've been to quite a few Chinese and Mongolian weddings - mad affairs and completely different from anything I've seen before, but so much fun. For anyone travelling around China, I'd absolutely recommend Hohhot, or Baotou (a nearby city) to put on your to-see list. Also, go to a grasslands area or the Gobi desert. Worth every moment. Fish 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish 小鱼 Posted February 18, 2016 at 02:57 PM Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 at 02:57 PM RE: The_Globe_ - loved what you wrote, I want to be less of a stereotype too, we'll make sure we're among the exceptions. Best of luck! ^_^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonic_Duck Posted February 18, 2016 at 04:34 PM Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 at 04:34 PM To quote someone: [quote name="nameofposter"]quotedtext[/quote] 白酒 (white wine) That is most definitely a misleading translation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted February 18, 2016 at 05:43 PM Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 at 05:43 PM You can also quote using the quote button in the tool bar. Copy and paste the text to quote and then highlight it and then click the quote button. And welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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