Using daily tasks to learn Chinese

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I unwittingly hijacked a thread about how to find a replacement battery for a phone while in China. https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/61375-buying-samsung-note9-battery/?tab=comments#comment-480833 

 

Wasn't my intent, but by telling several anecdotes over the course of several days, I kind of veered away from the main topic. I apologize for that. Will try to repair the damage by moving the anecdotes to a new thread, here. The thing they have in common was that each of these practical tasks helped me master some bits of the language. 

 

If you are someone who likes learning the same way, instead of relying completely on classwork and textbooks, you have probably had similar experiences. I would look forward to hearing of your own "practical language" exploits or adventures. Please post them here. 

 

@thelearninglearner started the thread with an inquiry about where to find a battery for his Samsung Note 9. 

 

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And I'm not anywhere near shenzhen to go to the market and look over batteries myself. 

 

He had initially just wondered about a good on-line source. I suggested an "on-foot" alternative.

 

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Not sure where you are located, but it it is a good-sized city in China, you probably can find an authorized dealer that either exclusively or mostly sells Samsung brand electronics. These are called 专店 in case you need to ask around. Chances are that this 转店 could answer your questions and steer you. 

 

The way this worked in Kunming (pre-covid) was that the 转店 might have its own repair department on premises if it was a very large store, but usually not. They, and all the smaller stores, would have the name and address and phone number of their service depot, usually located out of the way, some place where rent was cheaper. 

 

These authorized service depots (usually called 服务中心) were often near a large electronics wholesale/retail market (which were often called 电脑城 even though they dealt in more than computers)。My experience is that they were often tucked away up on a top floor without any flashy signage. 

 

This is also how warranty service was carried out. One thing that varied from place to place was that the retail store would sometimes take the phone in for you and send it over to their repair center by way of their own messenger. But usually not. 

 

I realize you said you just want to buy the battery and that you know how to do the installation yourself. I don't know if these places will just sell you the part. You would have to ask.  

 

 

Then we moved, a couple days later, to a separate task that illustrated a similar technique. 

 

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Must admit that most of my younger Chinese friends order everything over the internet. It will soon become an obsolete or at least a "legacy" skill to hunt up and buy things in person. 

 

A couple years ago, middle of winter, the heat-producing light bulbs in the overhead fixture of my home shower bath burned out. I came to discover that the fixture was an old ones and the bulbs it required no longer had the same base as the modern ones. The screw thread was different. 

 

With the help of a network of elderly "aunties" 阿姨 who were friends of the lady who cleaned my house, I developed a lead on a wholesale electric appliance market on the other side of town. They were said to have an exhaustive supply of oddball fixtures for use in renovations of older properties. In Chinese cities, as you know, these 装修 projects are very popular.   

 

Nobody quite remembered the exact address, but by now I had adopted the project and was feeling like some famous detective, perhaps Hercule Poirot. I was on the trail, it was going to be an enjoyable challenge, like a treasure hunt.  

 

Took a bus to the right part 小区 of the city, covering quite a few miles, then started talking to taxi drivers. Struck out with that, so I started going to retail hardware stores in that general area, asking the boss about their local wholesale supplier. Bingo. Only 5 or 6 blocks away. 

 

The actual wholesale market was huge but was tucked away up a network of alleys such as to not be visible from any major thoroughfare. Once I got into this interesting maze, I wandered around searching for my problem bulb. I had brought one from home as an example, which helped a lot. Discovered all sorts of second hand treasures and imported or off-brand electrical items. 

 

Vendors kept telling me I needed to see Mr. Zhang, who was a specialist in heat bulbs. I found his tiny shop, filled with dusty shelves from floor to ceiling. Mr. Zhang, now up in years, explained the history of my old shower fixture and the background story on my particular bulb. He told me they worked OK, but had lost market share because they were more expensive to manufacture than the new style modular replacements. 

 

I stocked up, bought half a dozen. By now it was noon and I had lunch in a rice noodle 米线 shop that was mainly catering to electricians and contractors. Most of the people were wearing hard hats. Had a good meal for a very reasonable price, only 6 Yuan. For 2 Yuan more you could top the bowl with either some tofu 加豆腐 or a fried egg 加煎蛋。

 

Walked around after lunch until I found my way back to a larger street, figured out the best bus, climbed aboard and headed home. I realize, of course, that this was not an efficient use of time. But, being retired, I was not in a rush and felt pleased to have had such a fine low-key urban adventure. 

 

 

And last of all, I reminisced about an inspired teacher who used the "Easter egg hunt" method with me one summer in Zhuhai. 

 

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Getting practical things like this done is also a great way to expand your language abilities. I used to always rehearse beforehand and review after.  

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Fairly early, when I lived in Zhuhai, I had an imaginative teacher who used to send me out to accomplish practical tasks like this every weekend. She called it her "Easter egg hunt method." It was a type of active homework. The side benefit was that it would acquaint me with the city.

 

We would pretend I was a newspaper reporter, and she was my editor with a "hot" assignment. On Friday she would give me a clear verbal explanation of the task. Often the task was related to a question I had asked her earlier. I remember one illustrative example.

 

I had asked her about the shuttle bus that went from the city to the airport, because I was soon going to fly to another city. Instead of just telling me, she turned it around and made exploring it my weekend project. At the time I was staying in a hotel. Could only read a very little bit; was mostly relying on Pinyin. 

 

She sent me out from the table at the cafe where we had been studying to ask hotel staff how get a bus to the Vanguard Shopping Center. I was to ask at the front desk, a clerk or a bellman or the concierge. Had to know how to say it in Chinese (it was 万家）and she taught me how to write the characters. Could not use English. If they tried to switch to English, I was to stop them.

 

So, I managed to establish that the 54 bus going east would get me there and I learned how often it ran, where it stopped, where I should board. I also had to find out the fare, because these city busses did not make change. Went back and told these things to my teacher so she could be sure I was on the right track. She said I was and that I should carry on with the rest of assignment on my own tomorrow. 

 

Boarded the bus and had to ask the driver to please let me know when we arrived at the stop closest to the Vanguard shopping center. It was in Gongbei 拱北, not far from the border crossing. 

 

I was to take my camera and snap "proof photos" at strategic points along the way. This was to show I had actually been where said I had. Couldn't have me just Googling stuff. 

 

I sat near the front. I reminded him when I thought we were getting close. As I got off, he told me to walk a block to the left and then cross the street and go down a short alley. Then I would see it. I made him repeat, since I hadn't grasped the whole message. He was kindly and did. 

 

Found the shopping center, then had to ask for the airport bus terminal, which turned out to be located on a basement level near a street that ran along the back of the shopping center. So, it was down the escalator, winding through and between small shops, asking many times along the way.

 

I had only been studying Chinese a very short time and this exercise helped with such basics as how to ask a real-life question in Chinese. In Zhuhai, it was 请问一下。Anything more abrupt was not polite. 

 

Not to belabor what is now obvious, but I eventually found the ticket kiosk, determined the price, the time schedule and so on. Snapped photos to prove it. I wound up also using my camera to snap pictures of other things I encountered along the way that were puzzling. Could show them to my teacher and discuss (in Chinese.) 

 

Before heading home to my hotel, I stopped off for a bite of lunch and wrote everything out in my notebook as clearly as possible, while the facts were still fresh in mind. Then Monday most of our class time was taken up by my "debriefing." She corrected me if the telling was not clear or if I used the wrong language. She was fluent in Cantonese as well as Mandarin, so she was strict with me about using the proper tones. 

 

She sometimes even "mock argued" with me. "Oh, you couldn't have turned to the right there. Are you absolutely sure? Did you see any additional landmarks that might convince me of your version?" It was a vigorous interrogation. 

 

Not the best teaching technique for everyone perhaps, but at the time I loved it. The language was jumping off the pages of a dry textbook and turning into something very much alive. And I was being dropped into the simulation of a situation where I had to "sink or swim" -- a situation where it was essential to learn fast.

 

Obviously, this wasn't the only method of study we used, but of all her techniques, this one was my favorite. 

 

 

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Not to make any extravagant claims about how this style of learning is enough: it clearly is not. But it can certainly make the process of language acquisition interesting.

 

Have you had similar experiences in your China journey? Have some worked great for you? Have others backfired?

 

 

[Takeshi]

This works, but you need people who don't mind their time being wasted helping you. Usually in China you'll be fine (especially if you are visibly a foreigner), because Chinese people are generally pretty nice, but sometimes it could be considered rude or impolite.

 

I did a similar thing the first time I came to HK and couldn't speak Cantonese. The first things I taught myself to say were things related to asking for directions, asking for help, and ordering food. Everytime I got on a bus, I always asked the driver if this bus went to [destination], and I found stopping confusing, so I'd often ask the bus driver to stop for me (which they usually would do). Now that I think about it, this was preferential treatment only awarded to confused foreigners.

 

I can't imagine asking for directions in the smartphone world of HK today though. Locals never ask people for directions, it would be considered socially awkward/impolite to ask for directions or talk to a bus driver when you could just use your mobile phone to check and not bother anyone in the process. You could probably still get away with it if you exclusively target old people though. I'm also more familiar with HK roads now, so I never have trouble stopping and don't talk to bus drivers anymore.

[Lu]

Do people in China and Hong Kong really mind giving directions in the age of smartphones? When I see people in my city looking at a map or standing at a corner peering at their phone, I actively seek them out to ask if they need directions. I never hesitate to ask random people on the street for directions (and they always help me), and wouldn't in China either. It usually takes less than half a minute, they get to feel good about their knowledge and helping someone and I get closer to where I'm going.

 

I used to always ask bus drivers to 报站 and they always did. Now I wonder if they wouldn't have done the same for Chinese out-of-towners, was that foreigner privilege? I only stopped because nowadays the buses I ride (or rode, before the 疫情 kept me out of China) have the electric signage inside (don't know the word).

 

I think ABC's teacher's approach is great. Gives the student practice, with training wheels (teacher is nearby), and makes everything extremely memorable. You might forget item no. 7 on the vocab list, but you won't forget what the bus driver said, or what the auntie who did understand what you needed said to the bus driver to explain. And as long as you ask things you actually need from people who can provide them without a problem, you don't unduly waste people's time. One shouldn't go to the post office to ask the price for every type of stamp and not buy any, but it's fine (in my opinion) to go to the post office and buy stamps and be a bit slow and deliberate about it because your language skills are not great yet.

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On 7/23/2021 at 1:11 AM, Takeshi said:

I can't imagine asking for directions in the smartphone world of HK today though.

 

A couple years ago I went to a night-time solo piano concert at Hong Kong University. Had seen it advertised in posters on the walls of the metro. I knew what building I had to find and I arrived on campus in plenty of time. But Google wasn't cutting it with the step-by-step last part of getting me to the concert hall. Changing levels was involved. 

 

I asked a small group of student-age people. I asked in Mandarin, they replied in English. If I had known how to ask in Cantonese, that's what I would have done. They were nice about it and I thanked them, went on my way. Oftentimes asking for directions leads to a little bit more of a casual exchange. Maybe they ask me how come I can speak Chinese and I ask them something, maybe about the place we are standing. 

 

I like doing that, although admittedly it is all a matter of personal preference. And I gave up years ago on trying to be hip or cool, so I've little to loose. 

 

The performance was magnificent. The complete Beethoven piano sonatas, played by Konstantin Lifschitz. The audience was also a treat. Quite a few were pianists, several near me had brought the musical score and were quietly thumbing through it while he played. I attended several nights. He played three sonatas per night.