Sunday, December 29, 2013
My Chinese Loot ;)
CHECK OUT THIS LOOT I BROUGHT BACK FROM CHINA! OREOS, SKITTLES, TOOTHPASTE, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!!!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Santa's in China!!
Fox News Philadelphia was tracking Santa Claus this morning. He had already delivered billions of gifts and was headed to Chongqing, China as his next stop :) See map below.
The Best Way to End My Semester Abroad :)
Seeing Lem, my Freshman roommate, was definitely the best way to close out a wonderful semester abroad. It had been almost a year since I had seen her. We had so much fun together. I miss her so much already!
Monday, December 16, 2013
It's All About the Tones
I'd like to take a moment to discuss with all of you the MOST IMPORTANT part of learning Mandarin Chinese. This is something that you MUST and I repeat MUST accomplish even before you attempt to speak to native speakers. For all of you who do not know that much about Mandarin Chinese, I am happy to report to you that this language has tones. Yes, tones... and getting these tones correct is VITAL when learning the language. If you conquer this, congratulations, you have passed the first part of learning Chinese, now what are you waiting for? Start speaking! ;))))
If you are trying to communicate with native Chinese speakers, and your tones are incorrect, believe it or not, they will have a very very difficult time understanding you. You might think you are the one doing the hard work just trying to force a sentence or two out of your mouth, but actually, these native speakers have the hardest job of all: Trying to understand what the heck it is you're trying to say! And not only that, if they don't understand you, then you both just end up feeling uncomfortable and awkward and embarrassed, right?
What do I mean by tones? You can think of these tones as certain pitches, and if your tones come out right, it sounds very nice and very standard indeed. Mandarin Chinese has four tones, (five if you include the neutral tone) First Tone, Second Tone, Third Tone, Fourth Tone, and when pronouncing each word, you must know the correct tones of that word.
Here is a very simple example:
Take the character 有. The spelling (or Pinyin) for this character is 'you'. One meaning of this word is "to have." Now, take this character 又. The Pinyin for this character is also 'you.' One meaning of this word is "again". Confused???
Although these characters are different, the two words have the same exact spelling, or Pinyin we call it. It's just that the first 'you' is pronounced in the Third Tone, while the second 'you' is pronounced in the Fourth Tone. So if you want to use the first 'you' meaning "to have," make sure you listen to how that Third Tone is pronounced, and pronounce it just as it's supposed to be pronounced. And remember, the character is not always there for reference, so knowing pronunciations is key!
Why do I choose to discuss this?? Well, it's very simple. During my time spent in Chinese language class (approximately 4 hours a day, Monday-Friday) I have experienced too many mistakes made by students trying to read a sentence or a paragraph in Chinese or trying to tell the teacher about their day. I'm just being honest here with all of you. Everyday I watch the teachers' brows furrow and faces draw a blank as they are trying to make out what it is these foreign students are trying say. The main problem with foreign students when they are trying to learn Chinese is the tones. They just can't seem to get over that hurdle, the most important hurdle when learning this language.
Of course, my tones are not always perfect, but I am proud to say that 98 percent of the time, my tones are correct. I'm a foreigner who has learned to conquer this first step in learning Chinese, so clearly this is not an impossible hurdle to get over, so the question now becomes, why is it so hard for others???
The answer to this is also very simple. It's all about passion. If you do not have passion in learning a foreign language you will most likely not improve very much in that language you are trying to learn. This is very true. No passion equals very little improvement.
But what about the foreigners who do have passion, yet still cannot get those tones correct? My next reason for you then is talent. It helps to have a language learning talent when learning a new language. From the very first time I ever spoke Mandarin Chinese, my tones were considered to be "not bad," and I wasn't even learning the language at that time. Once I started to learn the language I devoted hours and hours a day to perfecting my tones because I understood that this was a priority. I knew that if my tones came out sounding horribly wrong, I could kiss speaking fluent Mandarin Chinese goodbye.
If any of you read my poem titled: I Think I've Met You Before (an earlier blog post) you can see how I personify the Mandarin language, the "you" in my poem. I Think I've Met You Before is a poem written by me to explain my familiarities with Chinese culture and Chinese language, and how I have an uncanny feeling that Asian culture is somewhere in my historical background (see first blog post American Girl Trapped in a Chinese World ).
The beauty of language learning is all about effort. Putting in effort to learn, and having a true desire to learn is extremely important. So if you are thinking about learning Mandarin Chinese, don't let these tones scare you, or hinder you from wanting to learn. Just make sure you get them correct before you talk to native speakers or even before you try to tell the teacher about your day. Trust me, perfect tones make a difference! ;)
If you are trying to communicate with native Chinese speakers, and your tones are incorrect, believe it or not, they will have a very very difficult time understanding you. You might think you are the one doing the hard work just trying to force a sentence or two out of your mouth, but actually, these native speakers have the hardest job of all: Trying to understand what the heck it is you're trying to say! And not only that, if they don't understand you, then you both just end up feeling uncomfortable and awkward and embarrassed, right?
What do I mean by tones? You can think of these tones as certain pitches, and if your tones come out right, it sounds very nice and very standard indeed. Mandarin Chinese has four tones, (five if you include the neutral tone) First Tone, Second Tone, Third Tone, Fourth Tone, and when pronouncing each word, you must know the correct tones of that word.
Here is a very simple example:
Take the character 有. The spelling (or Pinyin) for this character is 'you'. One meaning of this word is "to have." Now, take this character 又. The Pinyin for this character is also 'you.' One meaning of this word is "again". Confused???
Although these characters are different, the two words have the same exact spelling, or Pinyin we call it. It's just that the first 'you' is pronounced in the Third Tone, while the second 'you' is pronounced in the Fourth Tone. So if you want to use the first 'you' meaning "to have," make sure you listen to how that Third Tone is pronounced, and pronounce it just as it's supposed to be pronounced. And remember, the character is not always there for reference, so knowing pronunciations is key!
Why do I choose to discuss this?? Well, it's very simple. During my time spent in Chinese language class (approximately 4 hours a day, Monday-Friday) I have experienced too many mistakes made by students trying to read a sentence or a paragraph in Chinese or trying to tell the teacher about their day. I'm just being honest here with all of you. Everyday I watch the teachers' brows furrow and faces draw a blank as they are trying to make out what it is these foreign students are trying say. The main problem with foreign students when they are trying to learn Chinese is the tones. They just can't seem to get over that hurdle, the most important hurdle when learning this language.
Of course, my tones are not always perfect, but I am proud to say that 98 percent of the time, my tones are correct. I'm a foreigner who has learned to conquer this first step in learning Chinese, so clearly this is not an impossible hurdle to get over, so the question now becomes, why is it so hard for others???
The answer to this is also very simple. It's all about passion. If you do not have passion in learning a foreign language you will most likely not improve very much in that language you are trying to learn. This is very true. No passion equals very little improvement.
But what about the foreigners who do have passion, yet still cannot get those tones correct? My next reason for you then is talent. It helps to have a language learning talent when learning a new language. From the very first time I ever spoke Mandarin Chinese, my tones were considered to be "not bad," and I wasn't even learning the language at that time. Once I started to learn the language I devoted hours and hours a day to perfecting my tones because I understood that this was a priority. I knew that if my tones came out sounding horribly wrong, I could kiss speaking fluent Mandarin Chinese goodbye.
If any of you read my poem titled: I Think I've Met You Before (an earlier blog post) you can see how I personify the Mandarin language, the "you" in my poem. I Think I've Met You Before is a poem written by me to explain my familiarities with Chinese culture and Chinese language, and how I have an uncanny feeling that Asian culture is somewhere in my historical background (see first blog post American Girl Trapped in a Chinese World ).
The beauty of language learning is all about effort. Putting in effort to learn, and having a true desire to learn is extremely important. So if you are thinking about learning Mandarin Chinese, don't let these tones scare you, or hinder you from wanting to learn. Just make sure you get them correct before you talk to native speakers or even before you try to tell the teacher about your day. Trust me, perfect tones make a difference! ;)
Thursday, December 12, 2013
I'm Losing my English!!!!
My Chinese tutor told me this would happen! Have any of you ever studied a language so much that you begin to forget how to say or spell certain words in your own native language??
Let's face it...I'm losing my English!! I completely forgot how to spell the word "embarrass" during class last week. Felt very EMBARRASSED after I spelled it wrong in front of everyone! Just happy I spelled it right this time:) haha
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